Randy Wells will be called-up to start Friday's game in Milwaukee. This isn't his first trip, as the former Rule 5 pick got an inning as a Blue Jay before being returned to the Cubs. The Cubs found a few innings for Wells in 2008.
Over four total outings (5.1 IP), Wells didn't allow any hits, but fell behind often and didn't miss many bats with any pitch. He ended up with just one strike out against three walks. All the walks, and the K, came against right-handed hitters.
In the minors, Wells has maintained a 3:1 K:BB ratio, and has lowered his BB/9 from 3.9 in 2007 to about 2.5 for 2008 and 2009. He's been tidy this year, and tough to hit, in the Pacific Coast League.
Hopefully his GO:AO ratio that he put up (9:5) in 2008 was for real. That ratio corresponds to a 64% ground ball rate but isn't in line with his minor league career. For the most part, Wells has been in the upper 40s, although his early returns for 2009 are a good 10 points higher (source).
I hope that's because of his sinker. Wells throws a four-seam fastball (F4), a sinking two-seam fastball (F2), change-up (CH) and slider (SL).
cfx#lhhrhhmphpfx_xpfx_zdeg
CH145982.0-5.56.7218.9
F2117488.2-5.96.0224.5
F42341990.3-2.99.8196.4
SL61582.53.91.6111.7
During his 2008 stint, he liked to go to the change when ahead, the fastball when behind, but had a good balance of all four pitches on 0-0 counts. Not like he was throwing strikes, but at least he has stuff that he's willing work with more than one time through an order. A steady stream of first-pitch fastballs would not bode well for a prospective starter, so it's nice to see Wells mix it up in the majors, even if the results weren't there.
This is a big picture - three views of the pitch flight, and the slices/layers chart snuck in there (the scale on the latter is 45%, btw, since this is a beta version of this chart, the labels are too small/fuzzy).
Click for a full-sized version
Original Story:
http://www.cubsfx.com/2009/05/randy-w...
Over four total outings (5.1 IP), Wells didn't allow any hits, but fell behind often and didn't miss many bats with any pitch. He ended up with just one strike out against three walks. All the walks, and the K, came against right-handed hitters.
In the minors, Wells has maintained a 3:1 K:BB ratio, and has lowered his BB/9 from 3.9 in 2007 to about 2.5 for 2008 and 2009. He's been tidy this year, and tough to hit, in the Pacific Coast League.
Hopefully his GO:AO ratio that he put up (9:5) in 2008 was for real. That ratio corresponds to a 64% ground ball rate but isn't in line with his minor league career. For the most part, Wells has been in the upper 40s, although his early returns for 2009 are a good 10 points higher (source).
I hope that's because of his sinker. Wells throws a four-seam fastball (F4), a sinking two-seam fastball (F2), change-up (CH) and slider (SL).
cfx#lhhrhhmphpfx_xpfx_zdeg
CH145982.0-5.56.7218.9
F2117488.2-5.96.0224.5
F42341990.3-2.99.8196.4
SL61582.53.91.6111.7
During his 2008 stint, he liked to go to the change when ahead, the fastball when behind, but had a good balance of all four pitches on 0-0 counts. Not like he was throwing strikes, but at least he has stuff that he's willing work with more than one time through an order. A steady stream of first-pitch fastballs would not bode well for a prospective starter, so it's nice to see Wells mix it up in the majors, even if the results weren't there.
This is a big picture - three views of the pitch flight, and the slices/layers chart snuck in there (the scale on the latter is 45%, btw, since this is a beta version of this chart, the labels are too small/fuzzy).
Click for a full-sized version
Original Story:
http://www.cubsfx.com/2009/05/randy-w...
