All-Star Astros relief ace Ryan Pressly underwent surgery on his right knee Friday, but the right-hander is determined to make it back to action before the end of the season, as detailed in a piece from Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “It’s always frustrating when you miss time, rather it being in Spring Training or offseason, or even now,” Pressly said. “Stuff like this happens. It’s a baseball injury and you just have to figure out a way to get back as fast as you can.”
Pressly had already missed time with a knee injury this summer, so Astros fans are surely hoping that this direct address of the hurler’s nagging injury will get him ready for the postseason. Statistically speaking, there’s basically nothing to dislike about Pressly’s 2019 output. With a 2.50 ERA, 11.62 K/9 rate, and SwStr% exceeding 17% in 50.1 innings this year, Pressly should give October opposition another thing to fear aside from the Stros’ vaunted starting trio of Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, and Justin Verlander.
More notes on pitching from around the game of baseball…
- Speaking of Verlander, Chris Thomas of the Detroit Free Press has details on a recent, bizarre incident in Houston involving the veteran pitcher and journalist Anthony Fenech. In a possible violation of the MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, the Astros denied clubhouse access to Fenech (a Detroit Free Press writer) this week, after being requested to do so by Verlander. As Thomas’ report lays out, Verlander is apparently still sour over several perceived violations on his privacy by Fenech during the pitcher’s days in Detroit, including Fenech’s tweeting of a private, astronomy-centric conversation between Verlander and Al Kaline in 2017. Obviously, readers should bear in mind that this Free Press article is likely to advocate for an employee facing possibly unfair public scrutiny, but it does offer interesting insight into the fiery, vigilant personality that Verlander employs both on and off the mound.
- 26-year-old righty Nick Pivetta has been sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, courtesy of a Phillies organization that has watched him struggle to a 5.38 ERA in 88.2 innings in 2019. Pivetta, long touted as a potential breakout candidate due to his bat-missing abilities, has been particularly stung by the long ball this year, as 22.4% of flyballs against him have left the yard. Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports paraphrases manager Gabe Kapler as having said that Pivetta needs to use this demotion to “look in (the) mirror and show more accountability” (link).
ah yes Pivetta is gone (again)
Maybe Gabe Kapler should take his own advice. Terrible manager.
He was given a team with 1 good starter. The bullpen was devastated with injuries. McCutchen and Bruce suffered huge injuries. Herrera was suspended. It’s a miracle this team is still in the wildcard race. I’m not a huge fan of Kapler, but I am sick of the fanbase blaming him for problems that aren’t his fault.
I feel the same. The pitching is not on Kapler. He’s also not responsible for Rhys turning into the second coming of Dom Brown.
Considering the pitching was solid a year ago,the choice to replace Kranitz with Chris Young needs to considered as much as Klentaks lack of additions to the rotation.Robertson looked like an addition that should’ve solidified the back end of the pen.Injuries are definitely a reason this team has fallen,Kapler definitely deserves a little credit for them staying in the race.Hitting Hoskins leadoff is still a head scratcher though.
Why all the hate…..Pivetta has been very good…….at turning around and watching baseballs and hopes vanish into the night air
I was disappointed to hear about the Verlander story. The Astros should have handled it differently.
I’m not a big fan of Verlander and this move reminds me of another such player that I wasn’t a fan of either, Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar had the Red Sox put a line of tape on the floor and he would sit there and make sure no reporters crossed it. I believe he also had Steve Buckley barred from the locker room. For all the money these guys make you’d think they’d learn to take the good with the bad.
Whenever I see a comment like this about how a player we’ve known to be upbeat and positive everywhere he’s played except for Boston I take a closer look. As usual, it turns out to be the Boston sports fan and media culture at work. Nomar said he didn’t have anything to do with the infamous “red line” and even Steve Buckley reported a cordial relationship with Normar despite having ripped on him for years. Boston, it’s so…. special. And if you don’t think so, just ask a Boston fan.
Tiger fan here. Never understood the blind love for Verlander. Most feel this guy can do no wrong. He’s hailed for being such a competitor, but he flat out told management he did not want to stick around for a rebuild. This guy could have at the very least, been a mentor for all of the young arms in the system.
Loyal Tigers’ fans were left with nothing but memories of their support for him over the years.
I think Verlander waited till the last second to agree to Astro trade. Not sure if he wanted to leave. Media has many great talented people. But a few trying to make a name for themselves anyway they can. I’ll take Verlander’s side on this one.
I agree some media (barstool etc) are out to get their names up but Fenech isn’t the guy to take Verlanders side on though, he’s a highly-regarded veteran and Verlanders the one acting like a spoiled child here. A player should never be allowed to prevent a guy from doing his job.
Since I know nothing about Mr. F, i’ll stand corrected. I could wait for a second opinion from Jack Morris about him. (LOL).
How do you think it felt to win the World Series in 2017? Isn’t that what you’re working toward your whole life? But yeah, the guy should have wanted to stick around to mentor 22 year olds instead. These guys are humans.
Sounds like sour grapes from the OP Tiger fan. They had years to build a competitive team around Verlander and Max Scherzer, two of the greatest pitchers in recent memory. But they blew it, just like OKC did when they had Durant, Harden, and Westbrook. Astros fans here in Houston are happy to have given Verlander a home where he had the chance to win the first of many championships yet to come.
All you can do is make it to the playoffs. Anything can happen in a short series, and it always slipped away for the Tigers. Had 3 Cy Young winners going against Baltimore. Verlander, Max, & Price(all lost). Vmart had bad knee, put into 4th spot every day(instead of 8th spot).
If the Kaline exchange is really what crossed the line for Verlander, he needs to get thicker skin. I could see if it was something really private or put him in an awkward position, but what’s so wrong with that? You’d think at the very least he could’ve just told Fenech it was OTR and to delete the tweet.
There were three times Fenech and Verlander were at odds. The Kaline episode which really wasn’t too bad. The next time Fenech kept asking questions about a skirmish in the Tiger dugout between Verlander and Victor Martinez. JV would say no comment and Fenech kept asking. I think it had something to do with an on field fight and VMart was being chummy with an opposing team member. The final straw was after Verlander was injured, he mentioned something about the Tiger medical staff misdiagnosing his injury. Verlander thought he was talking off the record because it wasn’t at the usually interviewing area. He even told Fenech not to say anything. Fenech says he told Verlander to think about it and if he really didn’t want it written to call him and let him know before the next press cycle. Verlander never called, so Fenech wrote it.
The article about the injury was the one that really ticked Verlander off. Fenech knew Verlander didn’t want it published. Verlander told him that. Fenech tried to coax him into rewording it so it wouldn’t sound so bad. Fenech kept rewording it, trying to get Verlander to agree to printing it. In the end, Fenech said he had approval, Verlander said he didn’t.