SB Nation - Eddie Kunz

Triple Play Applesauce - Wagner to BoSox possible, Brooklyn no-hitter, Minaya back to Mets for 2010

Joe Budd — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:17:58 -0000

At this point, I'm starting to take a certain pride in how awful this season has been. I can say to future generations of Met fans, "you think you've got it bad now, I remember when the Mets ended a game by... hitting into an unassisted triple play... dropping a popup..." It's like showing off my scars. They build character.

Meet the Mets

The Boston Red Sox have claimed Billy Wagner off waivers and the Mets appear to be in the process of working out a deal. Problem is, there are some roadblocks. One is Wagner himself, who would want to close immediately. Secondly, the Boston bullpen sounds less than thrilled about the addition.

Fred Wilpon assures Met fans that chaos will continue for at least another year.

The Mets got a no-hitter from Brandon Moore at Brooklyn.

Ted Berg asks why we're all jumping to conclusions that Gary Sheffield's latest spat was hit fault?

Sunday's game opened with an inside the park home run and ended with an unassisted triple play. What can we possibly expect this afternoon? My guess is a no-hitter by Cliff Lee with a cycle by Shane Victorino.

A plea for peace from Phillies Nation.

The Mets have interest in Japanese teenage pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

Reese Havens hit his 12th home run of the year while scoring four runs in St. Lucie's 9-4 win over Sarasota.

Josh Thole, Nick Evans, and Eddie Kunz will be a part of any September call-ups for the Mets.

FanGraphs takes a look at Billy Wagner's return.

Around the NL East

The Nationals, led by Craig Stammen, pounded the Brewers 8-3, snapping their 5-game losing streak.

Atlanta pulled ahead of Florida in the division with the help of Brian McCann's 5 RBI.

The Braves got more good news with Tim Hudson's encouraging rehab performance.

Marlin first baseman Nick Johnson is likely out for the Met series as he continues to struggle with running. No decision yet on the DL.

In random statistics, the Marlins are quickly approaching their 1,000th batter hit by pitch.

Philadelphia put Greg Dobbs on the disabled list and called up slappy Miguel Cairo.

Around MLB

Fire Jim Bowden argues that Adam Dunn is as bad defensively as his fielding metrics say.

Armando Benitez is going to Houston, or at least Houston's triple-A farm team.

John Smoltz struck out 9 over 5 innings in his Cardinal debut. Seven of those nine strikeouts were consecutive.

The Tribune Company is finally getting rid of the Cubs. For $845 million to the Ricketts family.

Ozzie Guillen is unsure whether Jake Peavy is returning this year. Chicago may have rolled snake eyes on that deal.

Reds pitcher Aaron Harang is out for the remainder of the season after an emergency appendectomy.

The Rockies have signed Jason Giambi.

San Diego just can't get enough grission. They have re-signed David Eckstein for an additional year.

1969 wasn't just the Miracle Mets, it was Ball Four and the Seattle Pilots' only year. Now there's a film about the Pilots.

Mets Top Prospects: #22 Eddie Kunz

Sam Page — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:00:18 -0000

Due to various circumstances, we're a few weeks late delivering number 22 on this list, but with the recent announcement Kunz will be one of three September call-ups we're suddenly timely! You'll see him soon, but don't expect much. The ruff rider has certainly lived up to his nickname this season.

Vitals

Born 4/8/86

Physical Stats: 6'5" 265 lbs.

Position: Relief Pitcher

Bats/Throws: R/R

Drafted: 1st round 2008, Oregon State

Current Team: Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A International League)

Scouting Report

"Beefy" may be the best term to describe Kunz. Big, strong, and thick, Kunz uses his size to throw his best pitch, a hard sinking fastball, with good velocity and plenty of movement. He uses it to generate groundballs with great effect, however if he wants to generate swings and misses with any kind of consistency, he's going to need to deepen his repertoire. Unfortunately, the fastball is his only real plus pitch. His slider flashes average, but is only an effective weapon against right handed hitters, and though he's discussed working on a changeup, he's yet to show one that is a usable weapon against the advanced hitters of the International League. After a decent start this year, Kunz has really tailed off in the later months, which raises some questions about his conditioning.

Mechanics

Kunz pitches from the stretch with little leg kick, relying on his height and quick arm action. He has good tempo, but I am generally weary of pitchers who generate most of their motion to the plate from leaning their massive frames forward. Eddie's mechanics explain much of his two biggest recurring problems: his bad control, which he attributes to his massive frame leaning too far in one direction, and his platoon split, which can partially attributed to his lefties picking up his 3/4 arm slot easily.

Check this clip for more Kunz, fellow September call-up Josh Thole, and Brett Wallace being fat.

Statistics

Year	Level	G	IP	BF	H	R	ER	SO	BB	ERA	WHIP
2007	NYPL-A	12	12.1	52	8	9	9	9	8	6.75	1.333
2008	AA+AAA	50	54	235	48	24	20	47	27	3.33	1.389
2009	AAA	33	53	231	47	31	30	31	29	5.09	1.434

FIP	SO%	BB%	SO/BB	BABIP	GB%	FB%	LD%	IFF/F	HR/FB
3.92	17.30%	15.40%	1.125	0.229	76.20%	21.40%	2.40%	30%	0%
3.41	20.00%	11.50%	1.74	0.308	68.90%	22.40%	7.50%	18.80%	2.80%
5.24	13.40%	12.50%	1.069	0.261	63.40%	16.00%	14.90%	7.40%	21.40%

Mark Says: Kunz is still a prospect, but just barely. The fact that he's virtually the only prospect the Mets have left in Triple-A right now is what earns him this ranking. He has all the tools needed to retire right handed batters at the major league level and his groundball numbers are very appealing, but he's also shown very little progress during his tenure as a professional baseball player. Most troubling among all of Kunz' "statistical numbers" has been his K/BB ratio. Pitchers just can't afford to walk nearly as many batters as they strike out, despite what Oliver Perez might have you believe. This is an even larger problem against left handed batters for Kunz, as he has thus far faced 224 lefties in his professional career, and managed to strike out just 27 while walking 29, a trend that has held up this season (90 lefties faced, 9 strikeouts, 11 walks). On the flipside, it is also important to note that with 21.4% of the flyballs Kunz has given up this year resulting in homers, his ERA and FIP are probably both distorted, and not in a good way.

Sam Says: Two common criticisms of Kunz from scouts last year were that he was "soft" and "pitching scared," and both of those problems are reflected in his stats. "Soft" implies a conditioning issue, which may explain why his stuff is getting hit so hard this year. "Pitching scared" suggests he's nibbling, which is not a formula for success with a sinker-first pitcher, Mike Pelfrey being living proof of that. Bad luck figures to be at least part of his newfound homerun problem, but there's nothing encouraging about a number that big. Forgetting the "prospect" label for a moment, Eddie Kunz has been by far the worst pitcher at Buffalo, with his 5.93 tRA -1 WAR being impressively bad for a reliever. His September call-up may become a good confidence-building exercise, but Kunz shouldn't be anywhere near the ML bullpen next season.

Fun With Comparable Players

Scott Boras says:

Chad Qualls: Qualls' path to the big leagues may not have been exactly the same as Kunz, but he is a promising example of a relief pitcher able to get by on using the gloves of his infielders rather than swinging strikes. Like Kunz, Qualls had his share of struggles upon reaching the upper-minors, in large part due to somewhat shaky command, and in larger part due to his inability to miss bats. It wasn't until his age 25 season that Qualls managed to correct the former of these two issues, and from that point he took off running, building a career as a solid relief pitcher. However, unlike Kunz, Qualls had the advantage of beginning his career as a starting pitcher, and his improvement in command also happened to coincide with his eventual move to the bullpen. Kunz doesn't have such a fallback option, but he is still quite a bit younger than Qualls was by the time he made the switch, and also pitching against a higher level of competition than Qualls was at age 23. The moral of this comp is that Kunz doesn't necessarily have to be a quality major leaguer by next year or start striking out 30% of the batters he faces, but at the very least, he is going to have to get some separation between his strikeout and walk ratios one way or another.

Impartial Observer Says:

Mike MacDougal: MacDougal makes for a nice Kunz comp, not necessarily because he's become a great major league pitcher, but because he very, very slowly made enough progress to earn his way onto a big league roster, and even close out some games, even if it is for the lowly Nationals. Also a first round draft pick, MacDougal also spent the early parts of his career trying to get some separation in his strikeout and walk ratios. Though he's currently having his worst major league season in this sense, he's somehow managed to ~~be effective~~ get lucky, but he has also had some brief flashes of success in seasons where he has managed better true outcome numbers.

Steve Phillips Says:

Eddie Kunz: There's little Stevie boy could tell us that could really change the picture on Kunz. He's already hit one of the lesser of his possible outcomes from draft day. If anything, Kunz is exactly the kind of player you'd expect Steve Phillips to overrate, simply by virtue of the fact that he's a pretty crappy baseball player.

Value

Ceiling WAR: 0.5

Median WAR: something negative

Conclusion

Next season will be a big test for Kunz, as it's very unlikely that he'll impress enough in the spring to earn a big league job, and once advanced prospects start repeating levels, progress becomes vital to their status as potential future big leaguers. Though Kunz doesn't have the ceiling of some of the other relief pitchers we've discussed so far, it does seem likely he could be useful in some capacity even now, but it may take a disciplined and thoughtful manager to deploy him properly, and the idea that he may be a "future closer" is a thing of the past.

Beavers in the Pros Update, Part 1: MLB and AAA

Jake Bertalotto — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:00:19 -0000

More photos » by Manuel Balce Ceneta - AP

6 months ago: Boston Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury hits a single during the second inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, June 23, 2009, in Washington. Red Sox won 11-3. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Browse more photos »

Today we are talking a general look at how former OSU baseball players are doing in the minor leagues. We'll start by taking a look at players who are either in Triple-A or the Major Leagues, then move on to Double-A and Single-A.

Andy Baldwin is 5-4 in 14 starts this season with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. This is now his second year in Triple-A, and he has yet to get the call to the major leagues like many of his teammates. His ERA is currently at 4.81, and he's struck out 49 batters in 82 innings. Two weeks ago, Baldwin got to start in PGE Park against the Beavers in front of family and friends... he allowed three runs, seven hits and one walk over seven innings for the win.

Brian Barden is back in the minor leagues after a short but somewhat fruitful stint with the St. Louis Cardinals. In the month of April with the Cards, Barden hit .385 in 21 games, with 19 of them coming at third base. For his efforts, he received National League Rookie of the Month honors. But when May rolled around, things changed for Brian. His batting average fell to .235 during the month, and when the Cardinals needed help in the bullpen to get ready for interlague play, Brian was the one sent down. Known for his defense, Brian seemed to be providing much more than the coaching staff was looking for with his stellar offense in April. Barden is currently hitting .205 with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds in 39 at-bats. Kenji Johjima

Jamie Burke is in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners... for now. After a stint as back-up catcher to Kenji Johjima last season, Burke was again called up when Kenji broke his big toe earlier this month. However, Burke struggled offensively in eight starts while Johjima was gone, and currently carries a .122 batting average. Rob Johnson was also called up from Tacoma after Burke began to struggle, and has been playing the majority of innings in front of Burke. Johjima is expected to return to the Mariners today, which means Jaime is likely headed back to Tacoma.

Jacoby Ellsbury continues to shine in Boston, although Terry Francona is still trying to find a role for the Madras, Ore. native. Ellsbury had been hitting in the leadoff spot before he recently dropped to No. 7 because he wasn't getting on base enough. But since the switch, Ellsbury's on base percentage is up near .500, and his average is above .300. In Tuesday's series opener against the Nationals, Ellsbury went 4-for-4 with a walk. Right now, it seems like the Red Sox are trying to not change Jacoby, and let him be what he is. If the number seven spot works best, they should be happy to leave him there.

Cole Gillespie is well into his Triple-A career after making the jump from the Single-A Brevard County Manatees to the Nashville Sounds at the beginning of the season. After just 12 games with the Manatees, Cole was hitting .349. He is since hitting .223 in 56 games with Nashville, putting his combined batting average at .248.

Eddie Kunz is still engaged in a lengthy audition to be the eighth inning set-up guy for the Mets, but he still has some kinks to work out. Kunz has struggled against lefties for some time-- righties are hitting .157 against him, while lefties are hitting .265. Scouts are worried that his "violent" delivery will damper his control, which means that he could be used only situationally in the big leagues against right handed hitters. He currently has a 4-2 record with the Buffalo Bisons, and has a 2.48 ERA.

Aaron Matthews has methodically moved his way through the Blue Jays' minor league system, and is now playing with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51's of the Pacific Coast League. The John Day, Ore. native is currently batting .280 with the 51's in his fifth year as a professional baseball player. Matthews is a fan favorite in Las Vegas due to the effort he displays in the outfield and behind the plate.

Mark McLemore is back with the Triple-A Round Rock Express after reconstructive elbow surgery kept him off of the mound for two years. He's 1-3 since his return on June 1 with a 4.21 ERA.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

2008 Mets Post-Mortem: Pitchers And Pitches

Eric Simon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:00:05 -0000

I love stats. I acknowledge their flaws, and I certainly don't believe they tell you everything there is to know about baseball (does anyone actually?), but they really are just a lot of fun to pore over. Thanks to countless intrepid folks who have contributed the ways and means for distributing and disseminating baseball statistics, we have the tools available to learn far more about the game and its players than we ever have before.

One ridiculously useful site for baseball statistics (among other things) is FanGraphs, which is where all of the stats for this article (as well as the WPA graphs in my daily recaps) were extracted from. I wanted to take some time to look at the Mets' pitchers, their pitch velocities and pitch selection from 2008, so let's do just that.

Fastballs

The fastball is almost every pitcher's bread-and-butter. Better than 85% of pitchers threw fastballs at least half the time. Almost 11% threw their heater three-quarters of the time or more. Three guys threw 90% fastballs, though only one -- Tampa Bay's Grant Balfour (91.3%) did so over a significant number of innings. Eddie Kunz threw a higher percentage of fastballs than anyone else in baseball (92.3%), but he only threw a total of 55 pitches.

So folks throw a lot of fastballs. But how fast do they throw 'em? Here are the average fastball speeds for Mets pitchers this season.

Player	FBavg
Brian Stokes	95.0
Billy Wagner	94.5
Robert Parnell	94
Aaron Heilman	93.3
Edward Kunz	92.9
Mike Pelfrey	92.7
Jorge Sosa	92.2
John Maine	92.1
Johan Santana	91.2
Oliver Perez	91.2
Brandon Knight	91
Carlos Muniz	90.2
Duaner Sanchez	89.8
Joe Smith	89.4
Jonathon Niese	89.4
Claudio Vargas	89.3
Scott Schoeneweis	88.8
Tony Armas Jr.	88.8
Pedro Martinez	87.7
Nelson Figueroa	86.9
Pedro Feliciano	86.9
Ricardo Rincon	86.4
Matt Wise	84.2

It shouldn't be surprising that relievers dominate the top of this list. They come into a game for an inning at a time -- if that -- and can really air it out because they know they've only got 20 or so pitches before they hit the showers. Whereas starting pitchers have to pace themselves, relievers don't have to show such restraint. Anyone watching Mets games the last two months of the season has seen that Brian Stokes throws gas, and this chart corroborates that observation.

Mike Pelfrey had the fastest average heater among Mets starting pitchers at 92.7 MPH; Pedro Martinez had the slowest at 87.7. If that looks a little low, consider that his average fastball in limited action in 2007 was 86.2 MPH, so 87.7 is a clear improvement.

Of some concern is Johan Santana's average heater speed of 91.2. He was at 91.7 in 2007 with the Twins, and while a half-mile per hour doesn't seem like much now, it's definitely something worth keeping an eye on as he adds years to his ledger and mileage to his arm. His slider speed dropped (84.9 to 83.5) as did his changeup (81.9 to 80.0). The good news is that the disparity in speed between his fastball and changeup actually increased, though the velocity dip across the board is hardly encouraging. Whether that had anything to do with the deterioration in his strikeout rate (9.66 to 7.91 per nine innings) is not yet clear.

For those curious types, the fastest average fastball belonged to Joel Zumaya at 97.5 MPH. The slowest belonged to Tim Wakefield (72.9), though the slowest non-knuckleballer was Chad Bradford at 79.6. The slowest non-knuckler, non-sidearmer was Jamie Moyer for the fiftieth consecutive season at 81.2 MPH. The average big league fastball was thrown at 90.5 MPH.

Pitch Types

Let's move on from pitch speed and on to pitch selection. Here is the breakdown of pitch type for all Mets pitchers this season, sorted by highest fastball frequency.

Player	FB	SL	CB	CH	CT
Brian Stokes	69.30%		20.80%	9.80%
Billy Wagner	71.10%	28.50%		0.40%
Robert Parnell	75.30%	21.50%		3.20%
Aaron Heilman	64.00%	12.00%		24.00%
Edward Kunz	92.30%	7.70%
Mike Pelfrey	81.20%	12.80%	0.80%	5.10%
Jorge Sosa	50.30%	44.70%		5.10%
John Maine	70.50%	10.10%	1.00%	18.40%
Johan Santana	59.60%	11.70%		28.70%
Oliver Perez	69.20%	26.90%	1.30%	2.60%
Brandon Knight	62.00%	20.90%	13.20%	3.80%
Carlos Muniz	63.80%	31.80%		4.40%
Duaner Sanchez	46.40%	19.00%	3.70%	30.90%
Joe Smith	66.90%	31.10%		2.10%
Jonathon Niese	63.30%	0.40%	24.70%	9.40%	2.20%
Claudio Vargas	62.90%	23.20%		13.80%
Scott Schoeneweis	78.80%	20.80%		0.50%
Tony Armas Jr.	57.40%	36.80%	0.70%	5.10%
Pedro Martinez	56.10%	1.60%	16.00%	19.00%	7.30%
Nelson Figueroa	55.50%	19.70%	18.50%	6.30%
Pedro Feliciano	55.40%	38.40%	0.20%	6.00%
Ricardo Rincon	31.10%	60.70%		8.20%
Matt Wise	42.10%	0.80%		57.10%

(FB=fastball, SL=slider, CB=curveball, CH=changeup, CT=cutter)

One thing that jumps out immediately is that the Mets have a lot of pitchers who all sport basically the same arsenal: Fastball, slider, changeup. Jon Niese, Brian Stokes and Pedro Martinez preferred the curveball to the slider, and Niese and Martinez threw some cutters, but otherwise everyone threw the same three types of pitch. I'm a little surprised that the Mets lacked a single pitcher who throws a split-fingered fastball. Approximately one in eight (11.7%) big league pitchers threw at least 1% splitters in 2008; none threw them for the Mets. The splitter can wreak havoc on a pitcher's elbow, and who's to say that Rick Peterson didn't have a hand in steering the Mets away from that sort of injury risk. We know he was a mechanics freak, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that he advised the Mets to avoid pitchers who featured a splitter.

Quick Hits

Jose Contreras led all qualified starters with splitters accounting for 24.6% of his pitches.
Taylor Buchholz threw more curveballs than anyone else (34.9%).
Tom Glavine threw 43.2% changeups, more than anyone else.
The Cubs' Mike Wuertz threw 60.8% sliders, again, more than anyone else.
Four pitchers were regular knuckleballers: Wakefield, Charlie Zink (Red Sox), Charlie Haeger (Padres) and R.A. Dickey (Rangers).
Two others threw at least one knuckleball: Josh Banks (Padres) and Ryan Franklin (Cardinals), though the latter threw them so infrequently (.4%) that they were probably changeups or curveballs that were simply mis-categorized.
The Angels' Darren O'Day threw 2.5% of his 671 pitches for pitch-outs.
C.C. Sabathia threw more pitches overall than any other big leaguer: 3,814. NL Cy Young candidate Tim Lincecum was second at 3,682, and Sabathia's fellow free agent-to-be A.J. Burnett threw 3,650. Johan Santana was fifth with 3,598 pitches tossed.