Aumont Joins Diamond Jaxx
There’s a press release up at an external site, but if you don’t like that, you can confirm the roster. This doesn’t look like a temporary move for today’s doubleheader either, as they released a player to make room for him.
So, what have we learned about our ’07 first-round pick in the past few months? Aumont struggled out of the gate, with some mediocre command marring his April performances and leaving him with a 9/6 K/BB in 10.1 innings. This improved significantly to a 16/2 in 14.1 May innings, but it was coupled with a few more of his hits leaving the park. In June, his performances were more towards the middle; his control wasn’t quite as good, but his home run rate wasn’t quite as bad and hitters were having some difficulty making contact off of him. It would seem that he’s been in the process of adjusting back and forth over the past few months in response to what’s happening around him, which is definitely a good sign.
One more item of interest is that the difference in his splits versus lefties and righties is almost imperceptible, save for a couple of things. He gets twice as many groundballs against same-handed batters than he does opposite, which could help explain the higher home run rate versus lefties and the higher ERA with it. There’s also a slight increase in walks, which would be expected with him. Otherwise, the numbers are identical.
It really makes you think about what he might be able to do in the rotation, doesn’t it?
Am I forgetting somebody in thinking that (after Adam Moore to Tacoma) this is just the second significant promotion of the season? Does Hensley to AA/A+ count?
Times have changed in the organization, at least in terms of promotion schedules.
Do you expect any other moves upward (or releases?) once the draft picks start rolling in?
One of the other things I should mention that I noted over at my regular haunt is that Halman is now on the DL, and hasn’t played since the thirteenth. I don’t know if that’s a real injury or just giving him a break.
And no, there hasn’t been any other significant promotions aside from Moore/Aumont/maybe Hensley.
There could be some additional upward movement once the promotions come in. If they’re comfortable testing out one of the High Desert outfielders, there might be an opening in West Tenn. Additionally, if they somehow work it out for Carp to stay with the big club (hypothetical), that would shift up everything in the first base glut and make it easier to find a good spot for Poythress.
It’s funny — when I saw the Rainiers in New Orleans, they had about six 1B/corner types in the lineup, and that was before they signed Nelson.
What with that situation and the fact that neither Hubbard or Limonta seem particularly deserving of a promotion (though Hubbard has locked in a bit lately), I have a difficult time seeing where the right opening is even if Carp remains with Seattle.
I’d love to see Dunigan get a crack at AA before the season is over, and it does seem likely that finding a place for Poythress will provide motivation to shuffle, but how do you see that shaking out?
I wouldn’t sell Hubbard short. Limonta’s too erratic to be deserving at the moment, but despite some weak .800ish OPS months in April and May, Hubb is hitting .349/.442/.635 in June.
If I were doing one-for-one moves up, it would be Hubbard to Tacoma, Dunigan to West Tenn, Sanchez to Clinton (for lack of better options), and ideally Poythress in Clinton. Alternatively, you could throw Poythress in High Desert and keep Sanchez in Clinton.
That sounds pretty reasonable. I admit that Hubbard’s considerable AA chronology had me questioning his ability to continue up the ladder.
Thanks as always for answering questions as promptly and thoroughly as you do.
Is there any talk about starting Aumont now that he has some innings and out of High Desert?
A first round draft choice becoming a starting pitcher? HERESEY! But seriously, given the new regime’s superior talent evaluation, who knows?
If they can switch their opinions about Brandon Morrow so many times without killing the guy’s career, they can certainly get Quebec’s finest in the rotation soon enough.
It just probably won’t happen ’till 2010 or 2011.
[has its own thread now, and please don’t post things like this randomly in the first thread you see; email the authors if you think they don’t know about it already, which is rare]
yeah, anybody who saw his leg buckle backward pretty much knew it was at least the ACL. Will be interested to see if Saunders comes up now or if they leave Carp up for a bit with Jr in LF (not that anyone would recommend that).
I got to see some video of Aumont yesterday, and from what I saw there is no way in Hell I would allow him to start another game. His mechanics aren’t just flawed, they are wildly erratic.
Seriously, Aumont needs to have his entire delivery torn down and rebuilt from the freakin’ ground up.
Lonnie
The video Lonnie is referring to can be found here in slow-mo and here at regular speeds.
I’m not entirely convinced that he wasn’t throwing out of the stretch, or trying to in the first video, but it looks like he’s putting a hell of a lot of stress on that knee in his landing in any case. We knew his mechanics needed some work, and there are other inconsistencies from one follow-through to the next, but again, without the context, I don’t know if he was throwing out of the stretch or not.