DePaula strikes out ten in five no-hit innings in latest start

April 21, 2013 by Mike Axisa 44 Comments

According to Donnie Collins, RHP Chien-Ming Wang was sitting 86-88 mph with his trademark sinker in yesterday’s game. He hit 90 once. First start of the year, so hopefully he’ll add a few ticks down the road. His days of 93+ are long gone by now though.

Triple-A Scranton (5-1 win over Syracuse)

2B Corban Joseph: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI — 13 hits in his last 30 at-bats (.433) with four doubles and three homers
CF Melky Mesa: 0-4, 1 K
LF Zoilo Almonte: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
C Austin Romine: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K
3B David Adams: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (fielding) – eight hits in his last 17 at-bats (.471)
LHP Vidal Nuno: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 5/2 GB/FB – 59 of 91 pitches were strikes (65%), plus he picked a runner off first … starting to reach the point where he has to be considered a big league option given the back of the bullpen
RHP Cody Eppley: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — ten of 15 pitches were strikes (67%)

Double-A Trenton (10-6 win over Erie)

LF Ramon Flores: 3-6, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI – 16 hits in his last 39 at-bats (.410)
2B Jose Pirela: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
RF Tyler Austin: 0-3, 3 BB — got picked off first
C J.R. Murphy: 0-4, 1 BB, 2 K
1B Kyle Roller: 3-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
CF Slade Heathcott: 0-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 SB — off to a slow start so far
3B Rob Segedin: 2-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 K — quietly having a monster year
RHP Zach Nuding: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 7/5 GB/FB — 57 of 92 pitches were strikes (62%) … 18 strikeouts in 19.2 innings
LHP Jeremy Bleich: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GB/FB – only 12 of 25 pitches were strikes (48%)
RHP Branden Pinder: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB – ten of 15 pitches were strikes

High-A Tampa (8-3 loss to Brevard County)

CF Mason Williams: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K
2B Rob Refsnyder: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HBP, 1 E (throwing)
LF Ben Gamel: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K
C Gary Sanchez: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
RHP Corey Black: 4.1 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 5/2 GB/FB — 21/6 K/BB in 20.1 innings

Low-A Charleston Game One (10-2 loss to Hickory in seven innings) makeup of yesterday’s rainout

SS Cito Culver: 0-3, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
1B Greg Bird & 3B Dante Bichette Jr.: both 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K
RHP Cesar Vargas: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 4/5 GB/FB — first dud outing of the season

Low-A Charleston Game Two (1-0 loss to Hickory in nine innings, walk-off style)

SS Cito Culver: 0-4, 3 K
1B Greg Bird: 0-3, 1 K
C Peter O’Brien: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K — ten hits in his last 29 at-bats (.345) with seven homers and a double
3B Dante Bichette Jr.: 0-3, 2 K
RHP Rafael DePaula: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 2/1 GB/FB — 33 strikeouts and nine walks in 17.1 innings so far

Frank

If CMW can be a Jon Lieber type, that would be perfectly fine as a 5th starter.
jjyank

Man, 33 K’s in 17.1 innings is impressive, even if he is old for the league. Really great to see DePaula throw up all those K’s without giving up any runs or hits. I wonder how agressive the team will be with him. He lost a lot of development time, for sure, but he seems to be really overmatching his competition right now.
- YankeesJunkie
  
  If he goes another 3 or 4 starts striking out 2 batters per inning there is really no much other choice than to give him a chance against better competition.
- Laz
  
  First good start of the year though. And they will certainly limit his number of innings. I figure he gets several more starts before they evaluate him. The reason he might come up is if they feel that he should face some real competition and not get in bad habits from always facing the hackers.
  - Bo Knows
    
    1st good start? His 1st and 3rd were pretty good, and its obvious the team is limiting his pitches, because he’s usually taken out around 70-75 pitches (except for his second start where they took him out after 56 pitches)
- Greg
  
  Development time, schmevelopment schmime. If he’s striking out over 40% of opposing hitters, he’s too developed for the SAL.
  
  Experience can get overrated with pitchers, simply because it’s the hitters who have to react to them. He might’ve been out of the pros, but clearly he was developing during those few years in limbo. He’s here now, and nobody puts his pitches in play. His lack of a track record doesn’t mean you need to start from scratch and teach him how to pitch, it just means you have to figure out where he belongs, and that’s at least the FSL.
handtius

Hey Mike, You mentioned Nuno as a possible piece for the bullpen, but what about giving him a shot to start if Nova keeps slipping? Wouldn’t mind seeing what he can do with a start. Having another lefty in the rotation, if he’s up to snuff.
- Chip
  
  I would imagine that he’s get lit up the second time through the league as his stuff is really fringy.
  
  Of course, you could probably say the same things about Jose Quintana and Josh Collmenter so who knows.
  - Greg
    
    He’s a lot more marginal than Quintana, fwiw. More in the Collmenter/Milone maybe even Buerhle range with the FB
    - Cool Lester Smooth
      
      He doesn’t have Buerlhe-level velocity.
      
      Hell, he doesn’t have Tommy Milone’s velocity.
      - Greg
        
        Milone throws significantly harder than Buerhle, and Buerhle averaged 85 last year and less than that this year. It would be pretty shocking if Nuno didn’t throw at least that hard.
        
        Cool Lester Smooth
        
        Damn, I hadn’t realized how much Buerhlez’s fastball had declined. The one time I saw Nuno the stadium gun had him at 84-86 with the fastball. He might have dialed it up to 87 once or twice, but I’m not positive he managed to.
- zs190
  
  With the way 40 man roster is, someone not on it right now is unlikely to be promoted this early in the year. When Tex/Grandy come back next month to free up a few spots and there have been a decent amount of games played, I think you’ll start to see guys like Nuno or Montgomery get chances.
  - Laz
    
    Right, and would think Warren and Phelps might get a crack at that spot before Nuno. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a trade just to clear off a few spots for a few fringy prospects.
- Greg Corcoran
  
  He has had an uptick in velocity this year though. He’s now like 88-90
Ron

Please stay healthy DePaula
Jack Florham

“…days of 93+ behind him….” I think it was 2005 at the stadium against Arizona and he went head to head against Webb. CMW was sitting 95/96 all night that night.
Wayne

Zach Nuding and Rafael DePaula are the hottest pitchers right now for us. I hope i get to see Zach Nuding this year in the majors or by august of 2014 at least!
KCSwiss

Couple of things

1. Does anyone else think CoJo should at least get a shot with the big team to be better than Nix? I know he cant play SS but still?

2. I really really want Ramon Flores to turn into something great, just seems like all he does is get on base.

3. Rafael DePaula needs to be challenged! I understand only a few starts at this level and he hasn’t been completely dominate but he is 22, need to see what he can do against more advanced hitters.
- Greg
  
  Obviously this would never happen, but he’d probably be a better option than Lyle Overbay.
  
  He won’t be playing anywhere unless Cano gets hurt, in which case the Yankees are screwed anyway, but he’s the best hitter on the AAA roster and if they are to get any use out of him, it might be in a left handed DH/1B role.
- Bob Buttons
  
  1) No. Supposedly his arm is too crap to play third and short. Do we really need a backup second baseman? Plus, we don’t need a lefty batter. Our LHP lineup is crappy enough as it is.
  
  2) If you can get on base great that is a great asset. He’s suppose to hit for okay average too. Really, those two are all you need in a lead-off hitter. Speed is a bonus but not absolute requirement.
  
  3) I think the Yanks are cautious about that because of what happened to the big three and the killer bs. The last thing we need right now is another high-ceiling guy to crash and burn.
  - Tom K
    
    3) The problem with this line of thinking is that no two prospects are the same. You cannot be gun shy just because something didn’t work in the past. Plus, what they did with Joba in the minors was perfectly acceptable. He was mowing everyone down, so there was absolutely no need to continue let him dominate levels he was too good for. You don’t want to rush prospects – but you also don’t want to bore them. You have to let the prospect dictate where they should play.
    - Bob Buttons
      
      I’m not saying that’s my stance on DePaula, I’m just saying I think the Yankees may think so.
  - Voice of Reason
    
    Regarding 3,
    
    What part of the Hughes/Chamberlain/Kennedy/Banuelos/Betances/Brackman (I assume that’s who you mean) experience do you think is or should inform their treatment of De Paula?
    
    Hughes was an early bloomer who never really progressed or had secondary stuff major leaguers would miss, Chamberlain was ML ready and then some from jump street then he hurt his shoulder and came back never throwing the same stuff again, Banuelos…he needed TJS, dunno what the problem is there, Betances and Brackman couldnt throw strikes outside of one season, then it got worse. Kennedy’s himself. Where does rushing or not rushing come into any of this?
    - Cool Lester Smooth
      
      Phil Hughes absolutely had an MLB-caliber breaking ball coming up. He lost his curveball after tearing his hammy in ’07.
    - Bob Buttons
      
      Geez I’m just saying the FO may think so, but if you really want to go into details.
      
      Joba was never really given a full season’s worth of innings in the minors, especially considering how he was only on board at pick 41 because of injury concerns. Same thing can be said about Hughes when they made him pitch a season in relief in the majors instead of keep getting innings and shuffling him back and forth for starts here and there (yes, I’d rather have any top SP prospect make starts in the minors than to be in a pen.) Breaking youngsters in from BP is common practice, but you don’t do a full season of it.
      
      What I mean by cautious is they want to see what they got for a bit more time before deciding. It’s kinda obvious that their handling of Joba/Hughes were screwed up. They also gave up too early on Kennedy. Maybe they don’t want to call up a guy after like 3 or 4 starts because he did fairly bad in one of them. Is that too much?
      - Voice of Reason
        
        Hughes wasn’t a prospect when they shifted him into the pen, and working up to a full season’s IP load is a different thing from promoting a minor leaguer to high A – Hughes provided great value in the pen too, and it’s hard to see how he’s any worse for wear now. Joba was never given a full season’s IP, but again, he was also never not ML ready. When you’ve got a guy like that who you know is injury prone, it’d be awfully silly to let him ripen (or more likely rot) on the vine, you gotta get while the getting’s good sometimes, easy come easy go, idioms.
        
        The point is, nobody should be establishing any hard and fast rules based on the wildly differing experiences of a handful of pitchers.
        
        Bob Buttons
        
        Again, I’m not trying to establish that it is the right way to go, but it may affect the FO’s decisions, consciously or not.
        
        Hughes in the pen, to me, may have had an affect on how he tailed at the end of the 18W season. Dead arm was because he’s fat, I’ll agree to that. I’m not saying that he’s worse/better, but the stint in the pen may have affected his durability during the seasons which would have been critical to his development.
        
        Joba, I still say it’s better to let him blow through a season in the minors. Their handling of him was too messed up. Obviously having the bullcrap shift and back isn’t good for the guy’s development or psyche.
        
        I’m not saying we should or should not establish any rules. My point is that it offers a plausible (regardless of probability) explanation for his extended stay in a level that he dominates most of the time. Also, like it or not, sometimes our decisions are largely dependent on our subconscious. Whether this was one, we wouldn’t know.
      - Cool Lester Smooth
        
        Kennedy was worse than AJ Burnett last year with an easier schedule. Hell, the if difference between IPK and Hughes was that Hughes gave up a few more homers than did IPK while playing in the AL East as opposed to the NL West.
- YankeesJunkie
  
  1. If he can’t play SS he will have a hard time bring any value to team.
  
  2. Ramon Flores is one of those under the radar guys who does get on base but until he adds little more power till his game he is more an under the radar guy than a breakout prospect.
  
  3. Anytime a pitcher strikes out 17K/9 it is exciting and hopefully he continue to do it up in Tampa when he gets there sooner rather than later.
CashmanNinja

I am beyond excited with how DePaula is performing so far. I realize he’s a little older than the competition, but he’s doing exactly what he has to do to succeed and advance to higher levels. If he was there and was just doing “ok” then he’d be “just another guy”, but the fact that he’s a freaking strikeout machine is just incredible. He’s obviously not major league ready by any means, but he’s showing mlb potential. I’m excited and I’m thinking that if he can go another 2 starts of 5-6 innings with similar results then he could get moved up against better competition. And he’s been damn good this year. His “bad” start wasn’t even bad by any means because his stuff was filthy…he just needs to become more of a pitcher than a thrower and 5 innings with only 3 walks and a boat load of K’s…yeah, he’s becoming a pitcher — and one with lights out stuff.
- Bo Knows
  
  I wouldn’t concern myself with innings, the Yankees are limiting him right now so even when he complete’s the 5th inning, he’s probably only at 70-75 pitches despite all the punchouts. I’ve been hounding since his second start that he should only be in Low A for maybe 5-6 starts because its obvious the only thing that is going to give him trouble is himself, so its a waste to keep him unchallenged when he clearly needs it.
- Voice of Reason
  
  I don’t know how much of a thrower he even is, that one start accounts for most of his wildness. There’s no strike/ball breakdown for today for whatever reason, but he was at 69% and 76% strikes in his other two starts, which is extremely high. And even at the A level, if you’re getting that many strikeouts, you’re doing some pitching.
forensic

Those sure were two pretty different games, at least pitching-wise, in the Low-A DH.
CONservative governMENt

Very happy with the upper level hitters and DePaula. With Hensley’s broken hip the Yankees need DePaula, Campos and Ramirez to perform to bring balance to the farm.
- Voice of Reason
  
  Where the heck is Ramirez anyway?
http://www.penuel-law.com/ Cuso

Bichette. Again.

Dude…
qwerty

Depaula reminds of when Betances mowed down lesser competition. I wasn’t impressed with him either.
Bob Buttons

Huh, didn’t see this my first read around, but O’Brien is on fire.
I mean, seven homers, in what? Ten games or so?

Scouting department sure is skilled at digging up their catchers.
- Brian in MA
  
  He was a college senior draftee. He’s old for Low-A ball by at least 2 years. He should be destroying those pitchers, and he is. If he makes it to AA and still mashes, then maybe he can be considered a prospect. thats when he will start facing pitchers who might actually make it to the big leagues.
Wayne

Rafael depaula is not dellin betances. Betances is much taller and his mechanics were hard to control. Rafael Depaula is the perfect height for a pitcher at 6ft 3in and a much better delivery. Just because one guy did’nt workout doesn’t mean the same will happen to depaula. By the way he could be in aa by the time he finishes next year. Bro we have so many guys that are in either aa or will eventually be in aa that could be in our rotation eventually and really make an impact if we give them enough time. I mean for damn sake depaula, Ramírez, nuding, turley, and encinas and nuno who is the least talented but is in aaa. Be patient they will contribute eventually. Some of these are bound to workout if we give them a legitimate chance. And i emphasize those last 3 words. Trust me!
John C

Is Hensley now gonna miss the entire season?
- Cool Lester Smooth
  
  No, he’s just out till the ASB at the latest.
I’m not the droids you’re looking for…

Black. Bleich. Blech.