A quick look around the American League Central…
- Tigers manager Brad Ausmus is concerned about the early season performance of reliever Bruce Rondon, who got the loss against Boston on Sunday after allowing three earned runs on two walks and a hit. Rondon failed to record an out in the eighth inning, when he entered with a one-run lead, and has allowed a combined six earned runs in his past two appearances. “His velocity has been down, and his location has not been good,” Ausmus told Jason Beck of MLB.com. Ausmus isn’t ruling out using Rondon in lower-leverage situations until he rights the ship, but the club hasn’t discussed demoting him to Triple-A. The 26-year-old was outstanding for the Tigers across 36 1/3 frames last season, evidenced by a 2.97 ERA, 11.15 K/9 and 2.97 BB/9. His velocity has indeed dipped a bit since then, as Ausmus mentioned.
- It appears the Indians will activate right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall before their home opener Tuesday, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Chisenhall, who’s working back from a right shoulder injury, picked up four hits in a Triple-A game Saturday, prompting Indians manager Terry Francona to say, “When a guy gets four hits, it’s probably a pretty good indication that he’s feeling OK.” Activating Chisenhall could lead to a minor league demotion for fill-in Abraham Almonte, who has posted an unusual .250/.500/.250 batting line in 12 plate appearances this season.
- Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey will have heavy involvement in the amateur draft process, writes Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Falvey, whose organization holds the top pick in this year’s draft, will go on the road to help scout prospects in person. He ventured to Southern California on Friday to watch high school right-hander and potential No. 1 pick Hunter Greene. “I love seeing amateur players,” said Falvey, who was formerly in Cleveland’s front office. “It’s hard not to love that part of it. It’s how I got my start in baseball and it’s what I still love to do. I’ve seen a lot of video of some guys and so being able to see them in person is good.”
Really? Almonte has only had 12 plate appearances. I can’t think of a slash line that would actually be unusual.
It’s the .250/.500/.250 slash tho it’s like Ji-Man Chois last year which was like .100/.350/.100 since he had like 1 single but like 10 walks.
Bruce Rondon had a horrible spring and should not have made the team. Now that the season has started, Brad Ausmus is surprised Rondon single handedly lost a game? Maybe Rondon isn’t the only Tiger problem here.
I hear yah, send them both down to Toledo and bring up Jimenez.
Judging spring training by the stats may lead you to keep an all star team in the minors. What has me worried, is that Rondon looks 20 lbs heavier than last year, and he wasn’t slim then.