|
The Braves have a 29-year old rookie dominating making hitters look foolish with his "invisi-ball." The Braves are starting to look stronger with the return of Rafael Soriano and John Smoltz, and Chipper Jones continuing his torrid pace. Troy Percival goes on the shelf, and Randy Johnson accomplishes another career milestone in this edition of the Rundown.
Meet Jorge Campillo. He is a little known 29-year old rookie for the Braves and throws an invisible pitch. That makes it hard to hit. Ok, so he’s not really throwing invisible pitches, it just seems that way, at least according to teammate Chipper Jones.
“He's throwing the 'invisi-ball' up there," Jones said. "Just goes to show you, you don't have to throw the ball 95 mph. If you change speeds and you're locating with three or four different pitches, you can win, you can shut people down and you can frustrate people. Campy is locked in right now."
Locked in might be an understatement. Campillo is simply dominating major league hitters. Including five innings of one-run ball against the Brewers Thursday he has thrown 36.1 innings allowing 25 hits and issuing just 5 walks. He has struck out 33 batters, and allowed just a single home run (a solo shot Thursday to Russell Branyan).
Prior to this season Campillo had just 17.2 innings of major league experience and one previous start (with Seattle) that lasted just one inning. He spent 1997-2004 pitching in the Mexican League and then spent 3 years in the Mariners organization. He only ended up in the rotation this season after injuries forced him into the role, and he has been a find for the Braves striking out 16 and walking none in 15 innings so far as a starter. Campillo has not allowed an earned run since joining the rotation.
The “invisi-ball” Jones was referring to is a 76-MPH changeup. It is a terrific pitch as catcher Brian McCann can attest to. He struck out on three pitches against it in Spring Training. Campillo’s arsenal is very pedestrian, but he succeeds despite it a la Toronto’s Jesse Listch. His fastball averages just 86-mph according to PitchFX and he throws it just a third of the time. Most of his pitches are a variety of off-speed stuff that he locates well, and is currently baffling hitters. Campillo clearly has come out of nowhere, and if you think this won’t continue well, you’re probably right. His .255 BABIP and tendency to give up fly balls (48% career) signals a regression to the mean is coming soon. Might as well ride him out until it happens however.
• Atlanta’s bullpen could soon look mighty fearsome. Rafael Soriano was activated, and pitched a scoreless ninth in his first appearance since April 6. Meanwhile, John Smoltz pitched two perfect innings striking out three batters at Single-A Rome. He has found a new three-quarter delivery that has allowed him to alleviate the pain he had been experiencing his right shoulder. The current tentative plan is for Smoltz to return the Braves on Saturday and being ready to pitch again by Monday.
• Jones went 2-for-4 Thursday with 2 walks to push his average to an absurd .420. Even as he is swinging a scorching hot bat he has remained selective walking six times in his last four games.
• A day after leaving a save situation early clutching his hamstring Troy Percival hit the DL. While Dan Wheeler got the one-out save in his place on Wednesday it appears he will not be the de-facto closer while Percival is injured. Manager Joe Maddon said that the team has “several guys who can close a game” meaning he may go the dreaded committee route. I would bet on Wheeler, then Al Reyes, JP Howell, and finally Trever Miller in that order.
• The aforementioned Litsch moved to an improbable 7-1 Thursday throwing 7 shutout innings in a 12-0 romp over the A’s. He has struck out just 37 batters in 65 innings this season, but has kept opponents off the base paths by issuing just 9 walks. In worse news for the Jays, second baseman Aaron Hill collided with the recently activated David Eckstein and suffered a mild concussion. Toronto can ill afford another injury and the loss of any more offense from a weak lineup.
• If it wasn’t official before it is now: David Wright owns Brad Penny. He hit two two-run homers off the big righty and is now 11-19 in his career against him with 4 home runs, 10 RBI, and 5 walks. The Mets beat the Dodgers 8-4 and earned Willie Randolph another day as manager.
• Jason Bartlett has never been known as much of a speedster setting a career high last season with 23 swipes. He did however steal three bags against the White Sox, but it didn’t do the Rays any good as they fell 5-1. Bartlett already has 10 steals this season and would finish with 32 at his current pace. He won’t help in any other category, but he is playing everyday and hit better of late (a respectable .291 in May).
• Ian Stewart now has five hits in his last three games, and has played second base in all of them. Grab him while you still can. The power is real.
• Justin Upton ended a 1-for-27 slump by blasting a second inning Barry Zito offering over the left-center wall at Candlestick/Pac-Bell/AT&T/Monster Park. The D-Backs still lost their fourth straight however, and are just 2-8 in their last 10. A strong effort by Randy Johnson was wasted in the game. The Big Unit struck out nine batters in seven innings and gave up just two runs, not bad for a 44-year old with back problems. Johnson tied Roger Clemens for second in career strikeouts with 4672. He has more strikeouts than the rest of the Arizona pitching staff combined.
|
