Alright Thats it, Its obvious

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on May 16, 2009 12:39 AM EDT Comment 15 comments

Ok, I know some of us have pondered this before.

But Come on, no I mean seriously Come on.....

Beloit ~~Starting~~ turned Relief Pitching pitcher Shooter Hunt

is Hurt physically, unless he's got severe mental issues. -I pray not- I mean he can't be that good at Tulane University just a year ago to this...his line tonight May 15 2009: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 SO, 3 ER .....his season ERA shoots up to 10.70

Ready for Bad?

Hunt has given up 23 runs in 17.2 IP (21 Earned)

Ready for Staggaring?

Hunt yes my Shooter my favorite gun, all shiny and neat, never fired has allowed

33 Walks throughout those same 17.2 Innings pitched!

~~Yikes~~

He's hurt ....gotta be right? Its gone undetected and He's not telling anybody anything

In my Eyes, two apparent major depressing flaws in our Beloit brick

1. Hunt not being honest or not knowing what being hurt is...(how many other players are like this in our Org. ???)

2. Our Medical staff, trainer, team doctor, physician whatever can not detect an arm problem .

UGH

Shooter and Hunt it and Lock and Load and Shoot and wala a succesful hunt

is not to be this year

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Explanations....anyone?

I want to say he was overused @ Tulane
I want to say he has a Rocco Baldelli type fatigue disorder that can be somewhat treated
I want to say he just isn’t ambitious right now being in the slow moving Twins Minors
I want to say he is hurt

I will not stand for him having to have Tommy John Surgery or simply being just this bad, this erratic this lost, has he forgot how to pitch the ball over the plate, are we messing with his mechanics?

sheesh

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on May 16, 2009 1:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hunt is way overrated to begin with

I have been trying to tell everyone this for quite some time now. He does not have the “stuff” everyone thinks he has. He does not throw that hard…his mechanics don’t look all that different this year than last…but teams have learned to simply lay off the curveball…because, while it is nasty…he cannot throw it for strikes consistently.

His fastball is all over the place…it is rarely above 90mph…mostly in the high 80’s…

Really…honestly…I cannot fathom why anyone would be so high on this guy…it is crystal clear why all the other teams passed on him in the first round. I pretty much wrote him off last year…and having seen him this year…I have absolutely no illusions about Hunt.

I honestly do not think this is injury related. I just think he has pretty bad mechanics…and way overrated “stuff”. He is destined for failure much more so than JD Durbin (who I never thought was that good either)

by NorthDakotaTwinsFan on May 16, 2009 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The curse of the sandwich pick

Rainville, Fox, Sanchez, and Hunt. Can it get any worse?

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on May 16, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Stuff

So you said his curveball is nasty, but also that he has bad stuff. Well, which is it? Being able to put it over isn’t the same thing. The whole idea of the minors is he could try to learn to DO that.

And mechanics are fixable. Honestly, I don’t doubt your observations at all, but, to me, they are a sign to be OPTOMISTIC about Hunt, not pessimistic. Maybe the Twins are trying to find him some good mechanic and he’s struggling through that process now. Obviously learning to throw that curveball for a strike would be key, but everyone has to learn to do that sort of thing, and it gives him high upside with that pitch.

Not saying he WILL pan out, just saying what you aid gives me a lot of hope for his upside, which I believe is his strength.

Plus, I just have to, HAVE TO, root for a guy who’s name is Shooter Hunter.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on May 17, 2009 6:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what does "stuff" mean?

to me it is more than just having a nasty breaking ball. I think the thing most people have heard about Hunt is that his “stuff” includes a mid 90’s fastball. I have yet to see that. I saw him last year…and this year….in fact I have seen him several times. His does not throw that hard.

So..when I say he does not have great “stuff”…I mean to say he does not have any sort of combination of pitches that projects well. His curveball is potentially plus plus (provided he could force hitters to respect it…which he has yet to do…he throws that pitch 59 feet more often than he throws it for strikes)

by the way…I have met the kid and like what I saw. Nice kid. He is not brash…cocky..arrogant…none of those things…so I wish him all the best. That does not, however, negate the fact that if you did not know his name, when he was pitching, he would appear to you to be the worst pitcher in that league. He simply is all over the place. His fastball is two feet outside one pitch..and darn near over the backstop on the next. I mean, he is wild in an epic way.

But…I still root for him. I am a Twins fan…so I root for him. (but I just don’t hold out much hope that he will shock me…and yet…I wish he would) …and yes, what better name in baseball than Shooter Hunt?

by NorthDakotaTwinsFan on May 17, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Two things

Well, which is it? Before you said his curveball was “nasty” now you say it’s “plus.” Which is it? If it’s “plus” then maybe he doesn’t have great stuff, though there’s still time for him to age a little and gain some velocity. If it’s nasty, he DOES have good stuff, just not command of it… yet (hopefully).

And him being the best or worst pitcher in his league right now doesn’t really reflect fully on his projections down the line. If he HAS this nasty curveball, but a mechanical (or whatever) issue affecting control, it’s fine for him to totally stink in the minors while he tries to work it out. If he DOES work it out, that would give him a big upside and a high potential projection. Even how poorly he is pitching, for now, doesn’t necessarily reflect how difficult it will be to correct whatever flaw he has.

I’m just saying, if the guy has a big raw talent with some of his pitches, but he has command and mechanical issues, that’s fine, that’s what the minors is FOR. He can struggle in the low minors and not be a washout.

by AdamOnFirst on May 17, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One good pitch

That seems to e what he’s saying. His fastball is on the slow side and all over the place. He has a good curveball, but he can’t throw it for strikes. Even if he could, without command of the fastball or any life on the fastball, his upside would seem to be limited.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on May 17, 2009 6:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you're kidding right?

First of all…I said POTENTIALLY…so let’s clarify that right up front. So when you say “before you say it was nasty..now you say it is plus”….let’s clarify…I did say it is nasty..because it is….but I did NOT say it was plus. For it to be a plus pitch, he would need to be able to harness it…which he simply cannot…

Now…to further clarify…I said it was potentially “plus plus” (which by the way, in the baseball vernacular, is better than a plus pitch)…but the key word here is POTENTIALLY. The pitch is potentially as “plus plus” as Gutierriez’ sinker. Gutierriez has a plus plus sinker..no doubt. The rest of his stuff is below average at best. Even with a plus plus pitch, most pitchers would not project all that high unless they had other pitches that were average to above average. That is why Gutierriez does not project to be a front of the rotation starter…despite his stats in high A ball. The consensus among scouts is that he does not have a high ceiling.

So…as CMath noted…I was really saying Hunt has one POTENTIALLY super high quality pitch. And the rest of his arsenal is below average. Way below average. So I guess I do not agree that he has big raw talent….even if he did harness that pitch…and it became plus plus…he would still be light years away from being a quality prospect…but that is just my opinion…what do I know?

by NorthDakotaTwinsFan on May 17, 2009 11:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If he

If he makes it to the majors as an effectively wild pitcher, he’ll certainly have the name for it, so it’d be a pity if he can’t find the strike zone again.

by AdamOnFirst on May 16, 2009 2:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

With a name like his, how could he possibly be a bad player? I always rate players on their name, and they’re play tends to correlate with how good their name is.

by ianmader on May 17, 2009 4:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know, right?

David Eckstein? Kotsuke Fukudome?!

All stars have interesting names, like Jason Bay.

Like Buc Buchanon. Now THAT guy had the name pedigree. If only the foolish Twins hadn’t conspired against him…

by AdamOnFirst on May 17, 2009 6:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lets get this much straight

If Hunt improves his control by a decent amount he still has an uphill battle to make the majors….

Especially with the Twins…
He has to have a drastic turn-around or take a season off from baseball or something…..

thanks guys, btw I know i got a little carried away.

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on May 18, 2009 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What are you inferring by "Especially with the Twins"?

If you mean that they aren’t the type to rush a prospect, you’re certainly right. If you mean that the organization is stock full of excellent starting pitching prospects, however, you would be mistaken.

If Hunt can improve his control and move up the organizational ladder at a reasonable pace there is no reason why he couldn’t be at least a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher in five years.

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by Andersklasen on May 21, 2009 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Really? I wish i was 50% as optimistic as you are

in regards to the Shooter Hunt situation

But I firmly believe I am more optimistic than you are with our Minor League System starting pitching: guys I like/ Love right now:

Carlos Gutierrez (I can see why we traded Nolte now, well sort of)
David Bromberg
Swarzak/ Mulvey (big league calls in ‘09 baby)
Cole DeVries (local kid)
Michael McCardell
Bradley Tippett
Bobby Lanigan
--
Steven Hirschfeld has been Amazing thus far
IMO Alex Burnett should be in a Rotation somewhere, he’s not a closer…

I like our starting pitching basically….

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on May 22, 2009 6:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs