Bates was voted the best defensive 1B in the California League, FWIW.

Bates just turned 23 in March, so he's not exactly "pushing 24". I think it is a good thing to bump him to Portland at this stage, though, if for no other reason than to see how much of the power is real and how much of it comes from playing in one of the best hitting environments in a hitters' league. I have the usual concern that I have when a guy has more HR than he does doubles and triples.

-- MWE

Masterson got lit up for 8 ER in 5 IP tonight. 2 HR allowed. Yuck.

Masterson got lit up for 8 ER in 5 IP tonight. 2 HR allowed. Yuck.

Well I'm glad to see he's human. Even though I have to hate him since he's a Red Sox, he seems like a fun pitcher to follow. I've always had a thing for groundball pitchers, though.

Have you seen the video that some dude linked to here? Apparently he throws a very unusual looking 3/4 arm.

never missing an opportunity to plug my blog:
masterson video


i think it bears emphasizing that he was struck in his right leg with a batted ball in his last start. he was pulled from the game after six innings and 81 pitches, which seemed like a real short leash considering he was absolutely dominating. at the time he was hit, he didn't show any ill-effects, but it's possible that his thigh could have swelled up after a short period of time, and that he was still bothered by it into this start.

AAron Bates

I see what you did there!

Thanks for the vid, steagles.

It looks to me like he throws low 3/4. You can get pronounced left to right movement that way, even with a 4-seamer.

Yeah, I that made me chuckle too, Biff.

12 days later, still the same weekly thread. :)

Hey, wiseguy, am I allowed to go on vacation from my volunteer duties around here? :)

New mL thread is up.