Wife finds a nice article about John Lamb

kinston indians

My wife Colleen, found a nice short list for pitchers during the 2010 season that was written by a well respected Major League Baseball employee, Jonathan Mayo. I only have one thing to say about the following article…wow!

Article was posted July 22, 2010 by Jonathan Mayo on his B:3 Big, Bald and Beautiful MLBlogs site.

We're on a roll here now and I wanted to keep the momentum going. Over the last two days, I provided 10 potential candidates for Player of the Year in the Minor Leagues. Now it's time to move on to pitchers.

Once again, here's the disclaimer: Pitcher of the Year does not necessarily mean prospect of the year. I'm looking at performance, not status. With that in mind, here are three nominees for your consideration. As always, please interact and give suggestions in comments.

Joe Gardner, RHP, Indians: Not a bad first season for the 2009 third-round selection. The right-hander has held hitters at two levels to a .188 BAA, fourth lowest in MiLB. At the same time, he's been a ground ball machine, topping MiLB with a 3.50 GO/AO ratio. He's struck out 113 in 104 innings and has a 1.07 WHIP to go along with a 2.77 ERA.

John Lamb, LHP, Royals: Other arms in this system may get the attention (Crow, Montgomery), but that should change now. The 2008 fifth-round pick just turned 20 this month and has already jumped a level, from Class A to Class A Advanced ball. And he's pitched better up a level. Overall, he leads Minor League Baseball with a 1.38 ERA and hitters have hit just .197 against him (good for seventh lowest in MiLB). His 0.98 WHIP is eighth lowest. He's seventh overall with 128 K's, doing that while walking just 32 in 110 2/3 IP.

Michael Pineda, RHP, Mariners: Just 21 years old, he's already in Triple-A. Combined, he's gone 11-1 with a 2.72 ERA in 18 starts. Over 106 IP, he's struck out 109 while walking just 26. The right-hander has held opposing hitters to a .219 batting average against (just .196 in his five Triple-A starts thus far).

Photo credit - Keith Lovett

 

With yesterday’s Wilmington Blue Rocks game being postponed due to heavy rains the Blue Rocks will try to play a double-header today in Kinston versus the Indians, Advanced Class A team on the Cleveland Indians.



Next start for John Lamb is set for Monday when the Blue Rocks return home to Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, DE.

Lamb has longest start but Blue Rocks lose in 13 innings!

kinston indians

Myrtle Beach, SC - Wilmington Blue Rocks lost the series and the game tonight following a 27 minute rain delay and a 13 inning contest with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Atlanta Braves Advanced Class A team. Despite the solid pitching by Lamb the Blue Rocks suffered from errors and missed opportunities with runners on base.

John Lamb tossed a career-best 7.1 innings and allowed just one earned run, his first in six outings and 35.2 innings. (Photo credit - Brad Glazier)

John Lamb was solid again with his longest outing of the year, as he took the ball to the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 3-2 advantage. Lamb was at 81 pitches to start the inning but gave up a lead off single for the third of the night. On a 1-0 count a sacrifice bunt moved the lead off runner to second with the put out throw from Lamb to first base. Lamb finished with 88 pitches, 69 percent in the strike zone, 18 first pitch strikes, 8 first pitch balls, 13 ground ball outs and did not have any fly ball outs. The lack of fly ball outs was really a little unusual for most of his past performances, but still effective none the less.



Blue Rocks went to the bull-pen for Harold Mozingo who promptly surrendered a hit allowing the first earned run to be tallied against Lamb in his last six starts. Mozingo continued to pitch well on his own accord until his removal in the 13th by Barry Bowden.



Lamb finished the longest work of his second professional baseball season with 7-1/3 innings, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 8 strike outs and 0 walks. He managed to shave a little off his current earned run average and continues to lead all levels of Minor League Baseball.



Blue Rocks had plenty of hits through the game put just didn’t get the timely ones needed to blow the game open. Four different Rocks had multiple hits during the extra inning game, including Navarro, Colon, Mejia and Francis. Salvador Perez was the only Blue Rock with a single hit for the night, although there were a few that did not get a hit during the game. The team finished the night going 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
 
 
 
Pelicans grabbed the win and the three game series in the bottom of the fourth extra inning. The Blue Rocks suffered only their third loss in an extra inning contest for the Carolina League Northern Division, as the current first place team. Tonight’s blow also put the Blue Rocks back into an even .500 level of wins and losses as they climb into the bus and head for Kinston to play the Indians.

Lamb has a quality start on road in Kinston, NC.

kinston indians

With my son getting his first start on the road in Kinston, NC, I had some extra Dad nerves keeping me on edge throughout the day. Some pitchers only throw well on their home mound, while others really don't seem to care. Sure glad he falls into the last of the two mentioned categories.


John Lamb had his first Carolina League start away from Wilmington, DE tonight and he was up to the challenge against one of the leagues toughest teams to play in their home park. The Kinston Indians, High Class A team of the Cleveland Indians, has been extremely hard to beat in the historic ballpark.

Grainger Stadium in Kinston, NC.

Lamb and the Wilmington Blue Rocks played well enough to hold of the 9th inning rally by the Indians to win by a final 3-2. Keaton, the first Blue Rocks reliever, got the official win taking his record to 2-0 out of the bullpen. Bowden picked up his 5th save of the year by getting the final two outs of the game with runners in scoring position.

Lamb pitched the first 6 innings while facing a total of 23 batters. He gave up 4 hits, with 1 earned run, struck out 7 and walked 2. Although Lamb, whom might not agree with this overall analysis of his performance, really only made one bad pitch to Karexon Sanchez, form Venezuela, that left the yard.

Lamb managed to get out of trouble a couple of times during his performance that simply demonstrates his ability to work with, or without, base runners. He managed to keep his Carolina League Earned Run Average at 1.50 through his first three starts as the youngest ball player in the Advanced A level professional baseball league.

Needless to say the nerves settled down in the household as the game progressed and the ball was handed to the Blue Rocks bullpen, leaving John Lamb with a no decision effort.

Good luck Blue Rocks with the rubber match tomorrow night before heading back home to Wilmington, DE.
 
 
- - - James Lamb
 
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