June 29: Hellweg has signed with the Hiroshima Carp, per an announcement from the club (link via the Japan Times). He’ll earn a $300K base salary and can increase that total via incentives.
June 25: The Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate announced on Monday that right-hander Johnny Hellweg has been granted his release in order to pursue an opportunity to play in Japan. Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com first tweeted the news.
Hellweg, 29, was once considered one of the Angels’ better prospects and was one traded to the Brewers alongside Jean Segura in the 2012 Zack Greinke blockbuster. Hellweg wasn’t able to establish himself with the Brewers, however, totaling just 30 2/3 innings with Milwaukee in 2013. Hellweg sustained a torn ulnar collateral ligament in 2014 that limited him to 20 innings that season, and he pitched just 60 2/3 innings in Triple-A in his final season with the Brewers organization in 2015.
Since that time, Hellweg has pitched for the Padres and has had two stints with the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Can-Am Association as well. The 2018 season was his second in the Pirates organization, and he’d been throwing quite well in Triple-A, leading to the interest from overseas. In 27 innings, he’s posted a 1.33 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 with a superlative 68.1 percent ground-ball rate.
Huge Bust..
Just like Mikolas?
Is he really? Some could say Japan counts as 1 step above AAA— Japan is AAAA, Competition-wise. This is a promotion, compared to AAA competition. Next is MLB? ;P
I agree
Hellweg and the angry inch…..
I just do not understand why the Pirates would not have given this guy a shot.He has been lights out at AAA.I understand that they can tell talent much better than I can but he could have been another Richard Rodriguez.I know that they have a lot of young pitchers to keep on the full 40man roster but I think that they are overvaluing some of them.We all know that they could use the help.
Very true, but if there’s one thing the Pirates should be able to evaluate it’s a bullpen arm. Also given the history of Pirates pitchers that I would call AAAA level pitchers, I trust them on this one.
because its the pirates
I mean he’s almost 30, the stuff has backed up and the Pirates would have to make a 40-man roster move to roster him on the big-league club. Bad teams don’t really need to give shots to 30-year-old rookies.
It seems to be a lot of those type of players this year who have played very good but just don’t get a chance again because they don’t fit prospect category. Teams don’t seem to bother with guys that only have a window to be successful for a year or two. They want guys that will give them at least 6 years. I think guys like Hellweg, Yanda Diaz, Nate Orf, Betancourt, Seirra, DeJesus, and others are getting screwed at chances to be big leaguers
Not sure I agree. Teams want to win, and they do everything in their power to put the best team of players they control on the field. Some of the multi-year contracts given out certainly fly in the face of your point – most organizations expect/hope for the first half of a contract to pay dividends, knowing that the last half is bad money. If a team feels a player can help them win for two years, that player will see MLB time.
I do not presume to speak for stuuby(great poster name),but I think that what he is saying is that the Hellweg type of player,those who do not fit the ” mold” of good young players,seemingly do not get the chances that they may have received twenty years ago.The chance of success for these players are relatively small so the teams now do not want to take the time to find out about them,and concentrate on their organizational prospects instead.
My point is that you can probabaly figure out in a month whether he is AAAA or not.
Regarding your point about contracts,that philosophy is one only the wealthy teams can afford as the small market teams could never waste the money at the back end of the contract.With the adherence to the salary cap even the large market teams are now shying away from the long term commitments like that.