Tagged: Bullpen

Bullpen Notes: Vasquez Up, Mickolio to Reno


Photography: Jordan Megenhardt

By Greg Dillard

The D-backs shook up their bullpen Wednesday, recalling right-hander Esmerling Vasquez from Triple-A Reno, and optioning right-hander Kam Mickolio to Reno.

Vasquez is a familiar name at Chase Field as this marks his third season with the big league club. He made his debut in 2009, and has spent the majority of the last two season in the Major Leagues. During that time, Vasquez has posted a 4.81 ERA in 110 games.

Vasquez enjoyed a strong Spring Training, but just narrowly missed making the Opening Day roster. He didn’t have to wait long, just under three weeks, before receiving the call to the big leagues.

In his first day back in the Majors, Vasquez took the mound in the top of the fifth inning and retired Skip Schumaker to end the inning. He threw another full inning, allowing just one hit.

In his lone outing for Reno this season, Vasquez tossed a scoreless inning without allowing a base runner.

The young hurler is pleased with his recent results and is excited to be back in Sedona red.

“I’m working hard and I feel more comfortable with my mechanics,” Vasquez said.

As Vasquez embarks on his third season at the Major League level, he hopes to continue improving and learning.

“Every year you learn more,” Vasquez said. “When you see a couple pitchers who have a lot of time, you watch and you learn. I take something.”

Gutierrez rebounds after recent struggles

After struggling on the mound in recent outings, allowing three earned runs in each of his last two appearances, D-backs relief pitcher Juan Gutierrez began to look like his old self on Wednesday night.

Gutierrez entered the game in the top of the seventh inning, and threw two innings of one-hit, shutout baseball against the Cardinals.

In his two innings of work, Gutierrez struck out three of the seven batters he faced.

“Gutierrez threw good,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “We had him on the mound before the game trying to get him to not overdo it. He threw the ball great tonight, and located much better. His breaking ball was much sharper.”

In the seventh, Gutierrez allowed a leadoff double, but quickly turned things around. One batter later, he induced a groundout off the bat of Jon Jay.

The next two Cardinals hitters, Allen Craig and David Freese, were strikeout victims.

The eighth was a little smoother for the right-hander. Schumaker lined out to the third baseman Melvin Mora before Gutierrez received a fly out and another strikeout to cap off his impressive performance.

Paterson tosses scoreless ninth

Gibson called on southpaw Joe Paterson to take over the pitching duties in the ninth, and Paterson showed why he belongs at the big league level.

Paterson toed the rubber, hoping to provide a quick inning for his team.

“I felt good,” Paterson said. “I wanted to come in, throw strikes, and get us back in as quick as we can.”

Paterson struck out opposing pitcher Eduardo Sanchez to start the inning. Next up was Cardinals centerfielder Colby Rasmus, who had already collected three hits in the game.

Paterson froze Rasmus for strike three and the second out of the inning. After Daniel Descalso singled to left, Paterson ended the frame by getting Jay to hit a weak groundout back to the mound.

It was another solid outing for the D-backs’ lone bullpen lefty. Paterson entered tonight’s contest with a 0.00 ERA in five appearances.

“It was good,” Paterson said. “I shouldn’t have ever gone full count with the pitcher, but it happens. My goal was to try and get guys out pretty quick. I was glad to go out there and pitch.”

Gutierrez, Demel Make Strong Pitches for Bullpen Spots

By Greg Dillard
The final spots in the D-backs’ bullpen continue to be an ongoing competition with a month left of Spring Training 
Right-handers Juan Gutierrez and Sam Demel did their part with impressive outings against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. 
In front of more than 8,000 at Tempe Diablo Stadium, Gutierrez and Demel both cruised through relatively easy innings despite a 9-8 loss for Arizona.
Gutierrez took the mound in the bottom of the fifth for Arizona, and immediately got Mark Trumbo to fly out to second baseman Kelly Johnson.
Angels’ catcher Bobby Wilson then got the only hit off of Gutierrez, a double to the right centerfield gap.
Although Los Angeles had a runner in scoring position, that was as far as it would get. Gutierrez responded by freezing Peter Bourjos on a strikeout, and then quickly sat down Maicer Izturis on another strikeout to end the inning.
For Gutierrez, it was a positive outing as he continues to prepare for the regular season.
“I’ve been making adjustments the last few outings,” Gutierrez said. “Working hard in the bullpen with my pitching coach.”
The late inning reliever has seen mixed results this Spring, but has quickly turned it around out on the rubber.
“He’s getting better,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. “He’s starting to dump his curve ball over (for strikes), his sequence was way better today. He’s feeling much better about himself.
“He made some mechanical adjustments,” Gibson continued. “He worked in a bullpen then he pitched in another game. He threw the ball better. When he dumps his curveball over, I’ve said it all along, his fastball is much more dominant.” 
After Gutierrez’s outing, it was Demel’s turn to face the Halos.
Demel got off to a fast start to the Spring season by throwing three consecutive scoreless outings before allowing a run last Tuesday against the Indians. He registered another scoreless outing against the Angels. 
Demel induced Bobby Abreu into a groundout to start the bottom of the sixth inning. His only blemish came when Jeremy Moore singled to center one batter later, but that was it for the Angels. Demel then retired Vernon Wells on a ground out to third baseman Ryan Roberts.
Brandon Wood then popped out to second base to end the inning. 
“I felt good,” Demel said. “The cutter was looking really good today, mixed in some good sliders. So I was pretty happy with today’s outing.” 
While he was pleased with his work against the Angels, Demel is motivated to keep improving as Spring Training progresses.
“The next few weeks, I’m really just going to go out there and worry about controlling both sides of the plate,” Demel said. “With the cutter and the fastball, and trying to mix in a little bit of the off speed and get that ready. Mainly controlling both sides of the plate for me.”

D-backs Find a Lefty in Paterson


Jpater.jpgPhotography: Jordan Megenhardt

 

In need of some left-handed help to add to a bullpen that was starting to lean dramatically to the right, the D-backs made a pair of moves over the last two days that should ignite some good competition in Spring Training.

 

On the heels of re-signing veteran lefty Mike Hampton to a minor league deal, the D-backs selected Joe Paterson in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday morning. If you made it out to watch the D-backs prospects play for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall league, you might already be familiar with Paterson, who was there representing the San Francisco Giants. (If the above photos look strange to you then, well your instincts are correct. Paterson was loaned to the Phoenix Desert Dogs for a day to get some work and help give a day off to some Desert Dogs hurlers.)

 

Paterson’s effectiveness is tied as much to his funky delivery as his actual stuff as the photos here should demonstrate. And lefthanders do seem to have a great deal of trouble picking up his pitches; they hit just .216 off him this year. He’s a nice, low-risk Rule 5 pick because lefty specialists are the kind of position that can be overpaid in the free agent market relative to the finite amount of innings they pitch. And because Hampton is on a minor league deal, if he and Paterson are going neck-and-neck next March, they actually could keep both by moving Hampton to Reno out of the gate.

 

The focus was pretty obvious for the D-backs during these winter meetings — the pitching needed major upgrades. The team, already happy with the first four spots in the rotation (Kennedy/Hudson/Saunders/Enright) was able to take a flier on a fifth starter in Zach Duke while also adding four new pieces to the bullpen (Putz/Hernandez/Mickolio/Paterson).

 

“The starting pitching is better, the bullpen is better, character I think will be better, experience is better, versatility will be better,” D-backs General Manager Kevin Towers said.

 

“There may be less power but we scored runs last year. We scored enough runs but we just didn’t hold them, if you look at our run differential. We were about league average in offense, they just scored too many runs on us.”

 

Random note: Joe Paterson played college baseball at Oregon State University. He pitched on the Beavers’ 2006 National Championship winning team where he was a teammate of D-backs outfielder Cole Gillespie.