If the last 30 days of play has been an audition of sorts between Alex Colome, Jeremy Hellickson, and Nate Karns, for the fifth starter spot ahead of Spring Training, then Colome saved one of his best performances for last. Suffice it to say, Colome was impressive in his 6-1/3 inning stint, allowing only five hitters to reach base on four hits and a walk, while blanking Cleveland and striking out six. Moreover, he put down all seven of the leadoff batters he faced, and allowed one lonely base runner to reach second throughout the course of his outing.
Colome’s fastball was on point, and he was able to induce eight of his 13 total weak contact outs on that pitch alone. He baffled the Indians with his slider all the while — coaxing 13 uncomfortable swings (five whiffs) from the opposing hitters. Not bad for a pitcher who has a history of command and control issues.
Forget that Colome is projected to be on the 25-man roster in one capacity or another next season, thanks in part to the fact Colome’s out of options, last night’s start against the Indians was his compelling argument for a spot in the starting rotation, until Matt Moore returns from Tommy John surgery in late May or June.
I thought it would be interesting to compare the three pitchers vying for the fifth starter spot next season (assuming that Jeremy Hellickson isn’t traded in the off-season). In doing so, I looked that Colome, Hellickson, and Karns’ body of work over the last 30 days.
While Colome pitched seven fewer innings than Hellickson, he has averaged a greater number of innings per outing. That is, he’s pitched much more efficiently which has allowed him to go deeper into games. If this trend continues, I’d feel much more comfortable with Colome saving the bullpen, in a manner of speaking, every five days.
The New What Next
The final game, sound the death knell. Alex Cobb will get the start opposite of TJ House. This should be an interesting pitching matchup — after all, both Cobb and House have similar strikeout, walk, and ground ball numbers. On the subject of House, FanGraphs’ Jeff Zimmerman writes,
• The left-hander throws from a low ¾ release point (almost side arm) and lefties should have a problem hitting him. This season his FIP vs LHH is 2.82 and 3.92 vs RHH. Right-handed hitter won’t exactly tee off on him, it is just lefties will struggle mightily.
• His pitches all operated in a horizontal direction starting with his 87-93 mph fastball. Because of his low release point, it comes across the plate sideways.
• Additionally, he threw a change and slider. It is tough to differentiate these pitches from each other. They both come in at 81-84 mph, but the slider breaks more across the plate.
• He threw a 74 curve a couple of times. It looked like a decent pitch.
• He is getting a huge number of groundballs (61%, good for 2nd in the league, min 80 IP). His mechanics and pitches don’t seem to lead to such a high GB%.
• His fastball is the source of the high groundball rate since it sits at 65% for the season. All of his other pitches all have at least a 50% GB%.
You can read more on the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 9/28/14 Starting Lineup
Guyer LF
Myers RF
Longoria 3B
Forsythe 2B
Rodriguez 1B
Loney SH
Franklin SS
Molina C
Kiermaier CF
Cobb RHP
Noteworthiness
- With his eighth inning stolen base, Ben Zobrist joined Andrew McCutchen and Hanley Ramirez as the only players to hit at least 10 homers and swipe at least 10 bags in each of the last six years.
- Wil Myers snapped the Rays 19 inning scoreless streak with a broken bat single in the fourth. James Loney snapped the ensuing four inning scoreless streak with an RBI single in the eighth.
- Marc Topkin writes, “In the unlikely event they (the Rays) can’t work something out, Maddon could manage out the last year of his contract then have the option to see what offers he could get as a free agent. And if the Rays didn’t sense they could strike a deal, they conceivably could let him go, or even trade him, this offseason.