Stammen, who was optioned to Syracuse earlier this month to make room for Stephen Strasburg's arrival, has righted his ship in the minors. In three starts with the Chiefs, he is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA, having allowed only one run over his last 13 2/3 innings.The right-hander also lines up well to slide into the spot in the Nationals' rotation made available when John Lannan was demoted to Class AA Harrisburg last week. Stammen could start Tuesday on five days' rest, making him a more likely choice than left-hander Matt Chico (who is 4-5 with a 3.36 ERA in the minors this season but just pitched on Friday and would have to come back on short rest to start Tuesday against the Braves).
Manager Jim Riggleman said prior to today's series finale against the Orioles that the Nats have settled on Tuesday's starter. They won't announce the move until tomorrow, though, because they first have to select a player (most likely a reliever) to remove from the roster.
Ross Detwiler, who is expected to join the big-league rotation at some point this summer, still isn't ready according to organizational sources. The left-hander, who missed the season's first two months following hip surgery, has allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings at Harrisburg and Class A Potomac. But he was scratched from his last start due to a minor back injury, has yet to throw more than four innings at a time and is not yet throwing at full velocity.
2 comments:
Good luck to Craig, hopefully he straightened out his mechanics in the minors and does not have to make the trip back to Syracuse again.
Certainly it would be encouragement to Lannan as well to see that Stammen has earned his way back so quickly after working on his issues. Stammen pitches well, you keep him up here for awhile and let Lannan show that he's a better option than Atilano, Martin, or Livo before he's called up. Stammen pitches not so well and he can absorb some innings before Lannan comes back or another starter comes up.
Regardless, Luis Atilano has showed me a lot this year. I don't know where we'd be without him this year, and it's tragic that defense let him down when he pitched well enough to win today.
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