Email a copy of 'Reds Designate John Lamb, Select Contract Of Ariel Hernandez' to a friend
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By Steve Adams | at
Email a copy of 'Reds Designate John Lamb, Select Contract Of Ariel Hernandez' to a friend
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Turtle
A calculated risk on Lamb and probably a good one. As for Hernandez, if you have a guy with two 80-grade pitches, you protect him. Those guys are rare.
myaccount
Genuine question: If hernandez has two 80 grade pitches how come he ended up in an independent league and hasn’t gotten past A+ ball as an almost 25 year old? Late bloomer?
Turtle
Good question. A lot of it is consistency. When Hernandez is on, his arsenal is terrific. When he’s off, which is quite often, he’s Ricky Vaughn. A fairly good comp might be Derrick Turnbow..
m0m0
A big IF but if he can get his injuries in check I think he’d make an overpowering lefty out of the bullpen.
redsfanman
Nothing about Lamb is ‘overpowering’, at least not since he had Tommy John surgery years ago. His fastball averaged 89.5mph this season, his focus is on changing speeds and keeping guys confused, throwing pitches at 65mph (curve), 75mph (changeup), cutter (85mph) and fastball (90mph). He has one of the largest discrepancies in velocity between pitches he throws in MLB, which is largely how he got so many strikeouts in 2015.
I’m a big fan of Lamb’s – he’ll make opposing hitters look silly when they’re looking for 90mph and get a 65mph pitch – but his stuff is starter/swingman/inning eater stuff. I don’t see him as a lefty specialist or setupman.
I hope he clears waivers and remains in the Reds’ system. If not, fine, good for him, I hope he gets healthy and gets an extended look elsewhere. Great American Ballpark isn’t exactly an ideal environment for him, while somewhere like Petco might be.
24TheKid
I’m thinking Seattle should give lamb a shot, how hard does he throw tho?
24TheKid
Never mind I thought he was a reliever, should have read the article more closely the first time.
Turtle
Lamb has potential, if he can stay healthy, to be a solid lefty out of the pen. If he remains in the Reds organization, he might find himself in that role when he returns.
angelsinthetroutfield
I’d like the Angels to take a hard look at Lamb. Eppler seems to like former prospects (Meyer/Banuelos) so adding Lamb may fit that mold. Does he have options?
Turtle
Lamb is out of options and the Reds say he won’t be ready for the start of the 2017 season.
schellis 2
Lamb is a soft tosser injures have sapped his velocity and without it there isn’t enough of velocity change for his stuff to work. At best I see him as a breaking ball reliever like Sean Marshall.
Shame because he did have swing and miss stuff in 2015. Multiple back injuries have just taken to much from him though I really hope I’m wrong and he finds that lost mph. Needs to get back to even the low 90s to succeed. Last year he was working in upper 80s
nicklauth
Very wild. He has improved his BB/9, but it’s still high.
Phillies2017
Lamb can elect FA so sorry Reds fans, unless you re-sign him, he’s going elsewhere. Honestly, Lamb’s a guy I would claim. He’s a young lefty starter who ranked eleventh in the Reds system pre-season. His velocity can max at 92-93 and if the rotation thing doesn’t work out, put him in the BP. Maybe lessening his per game work load will improve his velocity as it did for Wade Davis, see him start hitting 95 again as a lefty set-up man.
elscorchot
I liked what I saw of him in a couple games I watched him pitch last year. Could be a low cost option for Marlins. They’re looking everywhere for pitching, and showed an improvement last year in helping to correct their pitchers, sans Chen