Minor League Games - September 2nd, 2022

[Austinfan]

Morales outplayed McGarry at AA so far, and he's a year younger.
I think maybe his stuff is underestimated?
For both of them, command is the issue, not stuff, so AAA is a good testing ground.

[andyb]

I agree with PC here. McGarry's stuff is just better than Morales who has been very inconsistent at AAA (though better lately). Levels don't matter that much when the stuff is good. I bet there is a tiny chance they are even considering Painter given the rotation troubles. Stress on tiny. McGarry is older though and can handle the few extra innings. He is worth considering I think though I worry he is not pitching on reliever rest at all.

[Austinfan]

Levels do matter b/c they test different skills.

AA is where young pitcher face hitters who can hit ML fastballs on a regular basis - you can't just throw it down the middle of the plate and expect good results.

AAA is where you start facing a lot of hitters who will spit on secondary stuff out of the zone and get you behind in the count - they may not be able to hit a ML slider, but they're experienced enough not to try if it's out of the zone.

You can rush a guy in a relief role if he has a plus FB and one average secondary pitch - at least in a middle inning role. But is that good for development?

[andyb]

Stuff is more important than skills though. Sometimes guys with stuff can skip through levels pretty quickly. Painter for instance. Skills are important too of course, but that is often the second or third time around the league. If McGarry can throw enough strikes (a big question), he'll probably do pretty well in the majors now which is the whole point of these late promotions. It is not like 5 innings in AAA will give him giant new skills.