Archive for Suk-min Yoon

Minor League Recap: August 4-August 10

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

We’re going to keep this Minor League Recap short and sweet, just like they used to be. For most of this season (leaving out the 6 weeks I took off from actually doing a recap), I’ve included a little blurb on every single player I’ve mentioned. It’s gotten to the point where some of it has just become nonsense, and as I admitted in last week’s installment, sometimes I simply just can’t think of anything instructive to say.

The Baltimore minor league affiliates had a week to forget. I think it’s safe to say that the hot streak of Norfolk Tides, which had cooled 2 weeks ago, is officially over as they only came away with one victory last week. Bowie was the only team that came away with AT LEAST a .500 record, but even that doesn’t look quite as good since they were outscored by 6 runs. None of these 3 teams are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but I would not hold out hope for a postseason appearance.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 1-5 (W-L), 16 RS, 30 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-3, 21 RS, 27 RA

Frederick (High-A): 2-4, 21 RS, 33 RA Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Minor League Recap: April 7-April 13

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

First, apologies for the minor league update coming to you a day late. No excuses from me, so I won’t tell you some intricate story how the cat knocked over a glass of cranberry juice (no, it was beer, yeah that’s what it was!) just as I was about to hit the post button. Better late than never, right? Also, as an FYI, I can already tell you that it’s going to be AT LEAST a day late next week too.

Other than it being a pretty tough week for all 3 affiliates, I don’t have much more to say, so let’s get right to it.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 2-4 (W-L), 25 RS, 32 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-4, 25 RS, 27 RA

Frederick (High-A): 1-5, 18 RS, 35 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): OF Julio Borbon – 7/21 (H/AB), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB’s, 5 SO’s

Borbon was picked up by the Orioles in the minor league portion of this past winter’s Rule 5 draft, giving them some much needed outfield depth in AAA after losing Xavier Avery and L.J. Hoes in two separate trades.  Probably the most impressive line from Borbon’s week is the fact that he walked 7 times (career 5.7% walk rate in more than 850 major league PA’s). Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Projecting the 2014 Orioles: Pitching

Posted in Offseason, Pitching, Projections with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Last week we looked at what the Zips projection system over at Fangraphs thought the Baltimore Orioles position players were capable of in the 2014 season.  Comparing those projections to the wins (fWAR) the team received at each of the offensive positions in 2013 resulted in the 2014 Baltimore offense to be worth 4.7 wins worse than the previous year’s team.  Today we’ll take a look at the pitching staff and see if we can bring that number back into the positive.

Starting Pitcher

2014 Zips Projection

2014 Zips Projection

In 2013, Baltimore starting pitchers as a whole were one of the weakest parts of the roster.  The starters combined for only 7.4 fWAR, which placed them 24th among all major league starting rotations.  Much of that production came from Wei-Yin Chen, Chris Tillman, and Miguel Gonzalez.  Scott Feldman and Bud Norris also added about 1 win each in a little less than half a seasons worth of work for the Orioles.  Other than that, 9 other pitchers produced anywhere in between 0.5 fWAR (Jason Hammel) and -0.8 fWAR (Freddy Garcia).  I looked at how the starting rotation fared in depth at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot earlier in the offseason, so if you would like a more detailed analysis, you can find it here. Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Some Thoughts on Suk-min Yoon

Posted in Free Agency, Pitching with tags , on February 20, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

On Wednesday, I mentioned that at some point I would probably share my thoughts on Baltimore’s recent signings of Korean right-hander Suk-min Yoon and free agent starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.  Well today is your lucky day as I’ve deemed myself ready to discuss Suk-min Yoon.  Hopefully soon, I’ll discuss the Ubaldo Jimenez signing as well.

I’m starting with Yoon for a couple of reasons.  First, he signed before Jimenez, and second I don’t really know much about him, so this shouldn’t take too long.  Other than checking out a couple of videos on YouTube, I’ve never seen him pitch and don’t have any additional thoughts or analysis from what is already readily available to you (the reader) if you had performed the Google search yourself.  Although according to the video I just linked to, Yoon seems to regularly throw well over 100 mph, which is amaz…wait, nope that’s in km/hr.

Anyway, the Orioles signed Yoon on Monday to a 3-year deal worth a total of $5.575 million.  The deal includes incentives based on games started that could net Yoon an extra $7.5 million or so.  Yoon is 27 years old and has 3.19 ERA over 9 seasons playing in the Korean Baseball Organization (the professional baseball league in Korea).   He’s pitched mostly as a starter in the KBO (earning league MVP honors in 2011), but has had some experience in the bullpen, including the 2013 season due to some shoulder tendonitis.

Based on what evaluators have been saying, the general consensus on Yoon is that he’s either a back-end #4 or #5 starter, or an effective reliever in the major leagues.  If that’s the case, it’s hard not to like this deal.  At best, the Orioles get a back end of the rotation starter and at worst an effective reliever for less than $2 million per year.  To help you get better acquainted with Yoon, I’ll dump a couple of links on you from people who know more about him than I do.  Highly suggest taking a minute to look at both.

Camden Depot’s Jon Shepherd talks with Korea’s Yonhap News’ Jee-ho Yoo about Suk-min Yoon

Suk-min Yoon Scouting Report by former Lotte Giant Ryan Sadowski

Leave a comment »