Last Buffalo no-hitter had been thrown by Bartolo Colon in 97.

The Pittsburgh Panters - they're not in good shape.

Does anyone else remember the centaur in the very old Hercules cartoon; he always exclaimed in his soprano "Great Zeuch" or maybe I suppose it was great Zeus. I am old.

I was trying to imagine where in a perfect world what does a TJ Zeuch upside look like? The best I could think of is an Ivan Nova type? I still think his KK:BB ratio needs to improve before he deserves a promotion.

Herc! Herc!

I was trying to imagine where in a perfect world what does a TJ Zeuch upside look like?

One I read was Doug Fister.

I'm not a big fan of Zeuch's profile. I think the Jays would be thrilled if he turns into Ivan Nova, and so would I. The AAA walk rate is not good, but in his last five starts it has resembled his minor league norm (2.29 per 9), so he's getting better after coming back from injury.

A bottom of the rotation innings eater would be a great outcome. He has an uphill battle with the lack of K's, though.

Walks haven't been much of a problem for Zeuch prior to this introductory stint to AAA though, which is why even with his low K rate he's still managed to stay near a 3:1 K:BB ratio through his career

The AAA ball is a key factor IMO.

As an aside, I'm surprised y'all haven't made the switch to K% and BB% instead of k/9 and bb/9.

It's much more accurate. K/9 basically makes guys with lousy control look like better strikeout pitchers than they actually are.

IMO Zeuch has shown enough to be promoted in Sept. He will be added to the 40 man roster anyway.

However there are a lot of arms needing to be tested and evaluated by the end of this season. J Adam, B Boshers, Font, Godley, Kingham, N Ramirez and B Stewart. So no point in bringing him up to sit. Maybe he needs more innings. He is going deep into games so maybe he does not need the innings. That is always a tricky thing and this is a cautious FO.

Missing word.  (Murray) seems to throw quite a few pitches.

Do we really need to evaluate Adam, Boshers, Kingham? Don't we kind of know what we have in those guys at this point?

If Zeuch's gonna make the 40-man, I assume he'd make more sense to evaluate over at least those 3, personally.

I agree with what you say Jevant.

To me Atkins tests everything when rebuilding. I think the position players roster is rebuilt except for some extras.

One of Maile and McGuire is an extra catcher (3rd). Maile is a major league catcher and still young and cheap. I believe Atkins values that. He has years of control but I hope Atkins does not mention that because it went over everyone head.

Grichuk and Gurriel are good enough ML players. T Hernandez is close to being good enough. Drury is still being tested. McKinney and Fisher are 1st round picks that have advanced to the Majors but need a longer test. This test will be influenced by injuries I am very sure. Vlad, and injuries will provide 3B playing time for Drury if history repeats. No Bo or Biggio in AAA or AA yet, maybe A Kirk soon. This may limit Atkins to adding very few (hopefully none) A Hansons for miracle discovery.

Pitchers like Adam, Kingham etc ... have strong arms that have a chance (small chance). Sept usage IMO will tell us/me Atkins search criteria in the sense that IMO Zeuch is "something" (ML) and the other are close to not being ML ready now. Lots of auditioning.

guys like Brad Keller and Dakota Hudson seem to be finding some success with similar statistical profiles as Zeuch.

If Zeuch turns into Ivan Nova or Doug Fister, that would be an A++ result. Everyone would be thrilled with that, but that's far from likely.

Do we really need to evaluate Adam, Boshers, Kingham? Don't we kind of know what we have in those guys at this point?

After that great job we did evaluating Derek Law. Is there anyone here who didn't think he was DFA material a month ago?

Career:
K%, BB%, GB%, ERA, xFIP

Ivan Nova:
16.8%, 6.3%, 48.9%, 4.28, 4.17
Dakota Hudson:
17.3%, 11.4%, 58.1%, 3.63, 4.49
Brad Keller:
16.9%, 9.1%, 50.2%, 4.10, 4.88

I think Dakota Hudson's ERA is a above where he ultimately settles, but if Zeuch performs somewhere in the middle of those three that's a serviceable starter. I think one thing to note is that Hudson and Keller are move Sinker/Slider pitchers, while Nova is a Sinker/Curve pitcher like Zeuch. None of these three pitchers throw much of a change-up.

Two home runs for Orelvis Martinez today.

Keller is working on a changeup, and is making strides.  He's 24 years old and we really don't know where he will land. 

Pearson makes his Buffalo debut tonight, and later Manoah goes for Vancouver. 

Urena is the only hitter for buffalo this year, other than Bo and Vlad, that isn't old for the level. And this is the first year ever that he hasn't been young for his level.

He had a rough start but has been solid the last 2 months

4/14-6/14: 137pa, 2.9bb%, 28.5k%, .303babip, .228avg, .102iso, 41wrc+
6/15-8/18: 238pa, 6.7bb%, 15.5k%, .361babip, .311avg, .128iso, 102wrc+

Combined with his decent versatile defense, he's pretty much in play as a bench IF right now imo, and next year for sure.

Only 1.2% of Keller's pitches this year have been change-ups according to Fangraphs.

The Pittsburgh Panters - they're not in good shape.

Noted and corrected. Hagen Danner has been reassigned to Lansing from Vancouver. He never set foot in YVR. It was simply a paper transaction. I believe it is today that the deadline for minor league affiliates to send players down a level but I don't think there is anything imminent at this time. Calling players up a level remains in play.

One thing that would throw Herc off is that it's pronounced Zoik.

Like Waguespack, he's now throwing harder than he used to.
At 91-93, he's not far off from Stroman's sinker, but it's coming from higher.
Maybe more like Sanchez's sinker, but with better location.

We've seen both Stroman and Sanchez win games without striking out many, and it's very encouraging that the juiced ball hasn't been a factor. It's obviously going to be harder in the bigs and there will  be more uppercut swings.

I'm not worried about the walks. A ground ball pitcher needs to get double plays and be effective with runners on base.
Pitching well out of the stretch, holding runner, fielding.
We'll see soon enough.

Nate Pearson is through six innings for Buffalo in his first AAA start. He hasn't allowed a run, has just two K's but hasn't walked anyone. Its a very efficient outing so far, just 76 pitches.

88 pitches now through 7. The radio guys seem to feel he is done for the day. Great AAA debut at any rate!

Im starting to wonder if the extremely fast outfield of Wall, Davis and Brito is having a positive effect on these past few starts in Buffalo.