Ryan Atkinson had his ups and downs in the bushes of Arizona's farm system.
He pitched well enough at Double A Jackson in six games to earn a promotion to Triple A Reno on May 12th. He struggled at Reno.
"That's a tough place to pitch," Reds' third base coach J. R. House, who was Atkinson's manager at Jackson last season.
Atkinson pitched in 19 games for the Aces proving House's words to be true. Atkinson pitched in 19 games at Reno. He gave up 30 earned runs, five home runs in 25 innings for a 10.80 ERA. To illustrate how the park with high altitude and very low humidity, has its effects. Alex Young, who shutout the Reds for eight innings on Saturday, is 7-3 with a 3.34 ERA with the Diamondbacks. At Reno Young was 4-3 with a 6.09 ERA. The Aces team ERA is 6.48.
He missed 18 days with shoulder fatigue and pitched two rehab games in North Scottsdale before returning to Jackson on August 4th. He finished the season with nine games and a 4.09 ERA.
Atkinson for the season pitched in 42 games. He was 4-2 with a 6.91 ERA. In 57-1/3 innings Atkinson walked 34 and struckout 71 batters. He has an even 400 minor league strikeouts.
The big league club sees good things for him in the future.
"He had huge growth and development over the year and a half that I've known him," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "He has developed a good feel for a secondary pitch other than his change up, he throws a very aggressive, heavy fastball. He added a third pitch to the mix, that he's landing so, I'm really impressed with his stuff. I loved the presence. They guy is a very standup, young man who is comfortable in his surroundings. That goes a long way. I've yet to see him perform obviously at the big league level. I think his time is coming. He just needs to keep pressing on."
No comments:
Post a Comment