Blue Jays lefty David Purcey is "drawing attention from clubs," tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal also notes that the Cubs had a scout on hand Sunday for Jason Frasor's ugly Sunday stint (four hits and four earned runs in a third of an inning). Rosenthal says Frasor was under the weather during the appearance.
Purcey, 28 in April, was J.P. Ricciardi's first-round pick in 2004. He posted respectable strikeout rates at most minor league stops, but was plagued by control problems. He seemed to figure it out by his third Double A stint in '07, trimming his walks per nine to 2.3. However, surgery to remove cysts in his forearm and triceps cut that season short. Purcey kept the walks down the next year at Triple A, and showed flashes of brilliance in his '08 MLB debut season. The '09 season was a step back, with Purcey losing his rotation spot by May due to his walk problem.
Now MLB.com's Jordan Bastian says the Blue Jays have trimmed Purcey's repertoire and are leaning toward making him a reliever. Once the Blue Jays' #3 prospect, Purcey's outlook has been downgraded over the years by Baseball America from a potential #2 starter to a mid-rotation guy to a reliever. He still brings the power stuff that made him a first-round pick in '04, and there might be another club out there with ideas on fixing his command.
I wonder what pitches they are going cut from his arsenal? He was mainly, according to pitch-fx, a 4S-FB and slider pitcher who mixed in a curve, change and 2S-FB. Just from looking at his pitch graphs I would make him a pure four-seamer and slider pitcher with the curve thrown occationally as a off-speed offering.
I think if he can really tighten his control with his two best pitches and maintain the abilty to throw the one off-speed pitch for a strike when needed, Purcey could be a pretty nasty one inning reliever.
There’s actually a nice article here about that: http://www.ghostrunneronfirst.com/2010/03/david-purcey-closer-loogy-or-swingman.html
removed: curve and changeup
-so he has a fastball and slider only
They cut him back to only fastballs and sliders.
A tweet from Jordan Bastian: Cito, on Purcey: “You would’ve been amazed with what you would’ve seen this morning.”
If that’s the case I really think he is destined for the pen. If you don’t have that third pitch or off-speed pitch you aren’t going to make it 6 innings. However there are plenty of lefthanders who throw only fastball-sliders, like Billy Wagner, who have had productive and long careers.
Purcey would be much more valuable as a good reliever than a medocre to poor starter, especially on a team with enough starters like the Jays.
they dropped his curve and changeup, he only has a fastball and slider now
Purcey has shown flashes of brilliance from time to time but just isn’t consistent enough, the club must have no confidence in him if they want to send him to the pen. J.P. knew how to pick them, I’m still waiting for our catcher of the future.
“J.P. knew how to pick them, I’m still waiting for our catcher of the future.”
Yes, drafting young baseball players is an exact science & every team has a Matt Wieters type just waiting to break down the door. Catcher (& SS) has been a black hole for many years – so much so that it goes much farther back than the Ricciardi ERA.
J.P. is gone. Time to let go.
Purcey dropped his curveball and changeup, and is in fact just throwing the 4-seamer and slider. At least that’s what the Toronto Star is saying. From what I remember watching from him he threw a decent but very inconsistent curveball.
It’s too bad, the guy has shown flashes of brilliance but just hasn’t put it all together. I guess there’s still hope.
Purcey also has ADHD, which has sometimes been used as an excuse for his erratic control: http://www.thestar.com/article/481029
The one thing standing between the Cardinals and ring# 11………………… David Purcey!!!
not really true that the jays have no confidence in him, they just have absolutely no space for him in the rotation….between marcum, mcgowan, litsch, romero, cecil, drabek, stewart, rzep, and morrow, where was he going to pitch? it’s better to stick him in the bullpen and see if it works because his trade value right now is practically 0, and there’s no room for him in the rotation.
In death, every one of us has a name, and his name is Robert Pauls….. er, David Purcey…………..
David Purcey may be drawing attention but there’s no way AA sells low on him, there’s no reason to, he still has options.
If he’s simply a reliever now (albeit could be a very effective one), his value dips quite a bit. Although, his value wasn’t very high to begin with. Since Carlson is hurt, I say we hang onto him and ship Frasor out, still.