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Summoned from Class AA Harrisburg on Tuesday as part of the Nationals' bullpen makeover, Krol saw his first action last night when he entered for the top of the sixth inning of what was at that point a 7-1 ballgame. The stakes might not have been terribly high, given the score, but Krol didn't know the difference. This was as significant an inning as he had pitched in his life.
"Butterflies were stirring," the 22-year-old left-hander said. "I was just running [in from the bullpen] not thinking about anything, really. Kinda going out there and just doing my job. I wasn't really thinking about the situation or the big stage. I was just trying to focus and do my job."
It took a couple of minutes for Krol to get his feet wet; he served up a leadoff double to Omar Quintanilla and then advanced him to third base on a wild pitch. But then he settled in and showed everyone why the Nationals were so high on him in the first place, striking out Daniel Maurpy, David Wright and Lucas Duda in succession.
Krol relied mostly on a fastball that consistently sat in the mid-90s, and though he had some mechanical issues with his curveball, that has been an important pitch for him this season as he's made a name for himself out of the bullpen.
The suburban Chicago native had a rooting section in the stands, including his parents, who happened to be in Harrisburg with him at the time of his promotion and made the short drive with him to Washington to witness his MLB debut.
So, who is Ian Krol, and how did he come to pitch at Nationals Park last night? A seventh-round pick of the Athletics in 2009, he had success as a starter in the low minors but stalled last season at high-Class A and Class AA after being suspended by the organization for a tweet that included a homophobic slur.
When the Nationals pulled off the three-team, Michael Morse trade with the Mariners and A's over the winter, they immediately received pitchers A.J. Cole and Blake Treinen from Oakland, with another player to be named to the deal later. Krol turned out to be that player, officially acquired at the end of spring training.
He reported to Harrisburg, converted to a reliever and has had nothing but success since, posting an 0.69 ERA, an 0.808 WHIP and 29 strikeouts in 26 innings of work.
And now he's got a big-league appearance under his belt, a very impressive one at that.
"It still hasn't sunk in yet, to be honest with you," he said. "I'm still on cloud nine. Hopefully later when I get into bed and go to sleep, it'll all settle down and be done with it and the nerves will go away. We'll see."
84 comments:
Diamond in the rough. Thanks for reminding us of the good thing that happened in an otherwise dismal night, Mark.
I was nervous for him especially since I started the call for him to be brought up a month ago. Lefty power relievers that remind me of Aroldis Chapman are rare. Think about how Aroldis is with his 98 to 100 and a few ticks behind him you have Kroll.
I hear he has a changeup. You'd never know it. Of course it's 1 start but much needed.
He was fun to watch last night, though I think he got a gift from the 1B ump who punched out Wright on a check swing. His velocity is impressive, and his delivery is a little bit deceptive. Me likeee.
Section 222, you are so good at search & find, can you find where I told you-know-who they could bring Krol up from AA and he told me no way they do that
Sec222, he got a gift from ump on Wright but Wright went around and the 1st base ump probably would have punched him out anyway. Confirmed by FP (also a homer).
I'm a bit surprised Espi hasn't poked his head out of the sand and said something yet; if he has I didn't read it.
Was strange seeing all the kids on the mound for the Nats.
They said the rain would hold off until tomorrow, but each time I check the percentages go up--Now at 60-70% and I see a lot of dark clouds. I wouldn't mind a rainout tomorrow, but the last thing we need today is Gio starting and then waiting out a delay and wreaking further stress on our bullpen.
Do you know the last time we saw Soriano was May 31? That's a long time between appearances for a closer. He doesn't like to go out there just "for the work," especially against division opponents.
From the previous post where I was talking about the 3-0 count swing-away by Rendon and how the Nats seem to have an aversion to taking walks.
Just to check and see I went to the stat book, the Nats have taken 150 walks this season which is 25th in the Majors!
Atlanta is 5th with 208 walks and #1 is Billy Beane's team with 248.
This seems like organizational dysfunction to me. FP jokes that Span should just start with a 3-2 count but Span won't take a walk (well actually he will) unless the pitch is well off the plate.
In Span's case a walk gets in a pitcher's head and is a sure thing vs. relying on BABIP with his weak swing to get a hit and then you consider Werth, Harper and RZim will be right behind him. His job is to get on base by all means possible, create havoc on the basepaths and SCORE RUNS.
I was at the stadium last night, and the only reason the wife and I stuck around through the 7th inning of that debacle was to see Krol and Davis pitch. Krol got a standing O for striking out the side, which about the only highlight of a very dismal night.
You know it's a bad sign when you leave the game after seven and still manage to get caught in a traffic jam trying to get on 395.
Trivia, the Nats are the only team in the Majors with 2 players named Ian.
There are 4 active players with the 1st name Ian. The other 2 are Ian Kinsler and Ian Kennedy.
Also the only team in the majors with two players named Zimmerman(n).
They are ALSO the only team to use two crappy former starting pitchers from the 2009 Pirates this year.
A rainout tonight would be a good thing for the Nats. Push Gio to tomorrow, Karns to Saturday and there's no need for Ohlendorf. Even if tomorrow night is rained out too and a doubleheader gets scheduled Saturday or Sunday, there's still no need for Ohlendorf. The Mets are back here at the end of July and the end of August, so plenty of opportunity to schedule a makeup for tonight as part of a doubleheader later in the season.
Ghost, I think the exchange you were thinking of starts here with your comment at 12:55 pm. (Permalink doesn't work for some reason.) It's actually fairly civil and rational. This comment, on the other hand, is not. It's a classic. Dim bulbs indeed!
http://translator.wpdigital.net/translate/pitchfx?atbat=8233870&9eb83c537b5a2c5c2a1468e3ed0c3a
That ball in the dirt was a changeup to David Wright. Can't wait to see the kid throw when he isn't as nervous.
#Nats Single-A affiliate - Hagerstown Suns will move to Fredericksburg for the 2015 season, according to @ZacBoyer.
Wanna see injuries? Take a look at this. The chart is scary.
Dodgers
http://www.mikesciosciastragicillness.com/2013/06/06/who-is-responsible-for-the-never-ending-string-of-dodger-injuries/
They are ALSO the only team to use two crappy former starting pitchers from the 2009 Pirates this year.
POD (If Ohlendorf gets a start, of course.) Kind of our season in a nutshell right there. Last year, our first non-1-5 starter was Wang on May 30, Detwiler having started the season in the No. 5 spot. And I think the next was Lannan in the legendary July 21 game. This year we've already had Duke, Karns, and soon, Ohlendorf. Scary.
I still believe that regardless of the general hitting woes, injuries to Harper, Werth, and Zim, the crappy bench, Danny, etc., if our starting pitching was as reliable as it was last year we'd have a much better record.
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
Davey needs 7 relievers he can count on. By DFA'ing Henry and Duke it opens up 2 more spots on the 40 man.
By the way, Ian Krol is a lefty and has options. Add him on to the 40 man after you DFA one of the busts and see how Krol does.
May 21, 2013 12:55 PM
peric said...
He's in Harrisburg. They haven't been pulling from Harrisburg of late. The days of JimBo are gone I guess. Even Harper got pulled from Syracuse.
May 21, 2013 1:33 PM
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
Peric, Rendon got pulled from Harrisburg so there is your 1 example.
Krol is hot right now. It could be a lousy cup of coffee if he isn't ready but Davey needs to fix the front end of the bullpen and until Mattheus is ready to return we get to see Abad. Nothing would change my mind on Duke or Henry. Henry could still surprise down the road in the Orioles bullpen but I doubt it. He's too inconsistent for any team striving for the post-season.
May 21, 2013 1:38 PM
Section222, put yourself down for a beverage for that great research.
Summoner!
Ok Ghost, but I gave the links instead of block quotes for a reason. Not everyone wants to relive those dark days or hear the self back-patting. :-)
Thankfully Twitter didn't exist when I was long and stupid.
Section222, that other link was darn good too. How quick his theories have gone down in flames.
Now all I need is for Chad Tracy to punch a wall and Corey Brown to come up in his place and all the guys on the DL to return and this team will look like a team ready to go on a run!
Erik actually makes some reasonable points about our lineup in the previous post. I still think that Harper, Zim, ALR make a good middle of the lineup and Desi, Rendon and Ramos/Suzuki are above average bottom of the lineup.
There are 2 key issues in my mind: 1) Rizzo got Span because he is considered a classic leadoff hitter in terms of speed and lack of power, the problem here is that Davie does not play the speed game at all so the best possible leadoff man in Davie's game is a high OBP guy regardless of speed. That's why it worked so well with Werth last year.
2) Zim has not hit like a middle of the order guy this year consistently. If what we see from Zim now is who he will be going forward then Erik has a point and the lineup will have a problem. I remain optimistic about Zim based on a killer 2nd half last year and flashes this year. Werth is fine batting 2nd for the same reasons he was fine leading off (hopefully last night was an exception).
I think Davie won't want the extra pressure on Rendon by batting him 2nd at least for time being.
karlkolchak said...
They are ALSO the only team to use two crappy former starting pitchers from the 2009 Pirates this year.
LMAO but keep in mind that Zach Duke was the best pitcher in the rotation last year in AAA ---LMAO
Really interesting story on the Dodgers NL. I guess we're not the only fan base to wonder how much responsibility the training or medical staff bears for injuries.
And look at the number of comments!
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
From the previous post where I was talking about the 3-0 count swing-away by Rendon and how the Nats seem to have an aversion to taking walks.
Me: I couldn't beleive that either. FP said something about that right before he swung, and I though he was kidding. No way a rookie should get a 3-0 gree light, it should be earned and used right to be kept.
Caps Fan said...
A rainout tonight would be a good thing for the Nats. Push Gio to tomorrow, Karns to Saturday and there's no need for Ohlendorf. Even if tomorrow night is rained out too and a doubleheader gets scheduled Saturday or Sunday, there's still no need for Ohlendorf.
Me: It is possible, but a doubleheader would have to be Sunday (travel day) and likely a day night one to get both gates. Saturday is really not an option due to 4PM start time and concert after the game.
Ghost,
I pushed for Corey Brown last year but clearly he's not regarded as highly by the Bras as he is by us. I agree that even mediocre is an uptick over Tracy.
otoh the real key are the injured players. It's not like we are missing some minor cogs. The guys out are: our best player, our co best starter, our no. catcher and a reliable middle reliever. That's a lot to over come.
keep in mind that Zach Duke was the best pitcher in the rotation last year in AAA
That's a cautionary note for the possible impact of Brown et al. And remember, if Brown comes up and rakes, peric was beating his drum a long long time ago. Credit where credit is due, in absentia, if it happens.
oh and also out no. 4 starter.
JD, I think Erik's lineup will be used if Span can't start taking walks. It makes more sense against Lefty starting pitching.
Then again any lineup with a healthy Bryce Harper is an upgrade. He is sorely missed.
Just think of this with Span table setting:
Span L
Werth R
BHarper L
RZim R
ALR L
Desi R
Rendon R
Ramozuki R
or this against LH pitching
Werth R
Rendon R
BHarper L
RZim R
ALR L
Desi R
Span L
Ramozuki R
Saturday would be the perfect option for traditional one admission DH because of the 4:05 start time, but no way are they cancelling that concert! Remember Dierks Bentley?
Sec 222,
point well taken. Lots of players are stars in AAA but never make it to the show (You have seen Bull Durham. no?). I saw Brown quite a bit in spring training and remember Bernie was away at the WBC so he played a lot and I didn't come away impressed that much.
"Rizzo got Span because he is considered a classic leadoff hitter in terms of speed and lack of power"
He also got Span because the team needed a center fielder. In fact, it was probably that that tipped the deal on Span, the fact that he hits best at leadoff was a secondary consideration. And don't say "Oh, but they had Harper and Werth and Bernadina already to play center. Why the need for Span?" Just think for a minute about what things would have been like in the outfield this season without Span. If things haven't worked out perfectly so far with him at leadoff (even though he's been fine there) that's a small price to pay.
Section222, Corey Brown is one of my boys but at least I know his limitations and never called him a future superstar like P****.
Brown is bench filler here now as I wanted him starting here until Bryce was ready.
If we have to have rain outs then I prefer we somehow get to skip Karns and Ohlendorf not Gio. knock wood but I like tonights pitching matchup a lot.
Every week when I'm doing the Opening Day Starters post I look at the injury list for every team. Last year the Blue Jays had a boatload of injuries (especially pitchers) and it's the same this year.
I'm not a doctor but I wonder if injuries can be put into categories.
Freak: comebackers, collisions, and the like.
Predictable but not necessarily preventable: pitcher's elbows, shoulders, etc. Older players injuries, like Chipper's knees.
Preventable? Muscle strains and tears.
For example, Mike Morse strained his quad running for home. He turned on his "speed" (such as it is). Now, what I wonder about is (a) warmup and training regimen; and (2) teams that play in warm weather normally, or in a climate-controlled stadia--how prepared are they for non-ideal weather?
Ghost,
I don't think Davie is much into platooning either. I doubt we see the 2 separate lineups you propose.
Your 1st lineup resembles our lineup at the beginning of the year with Rendon instead of Espinosa. We got out of the gate reasonably well and ALR and Zim were ice cold so I do think the potential is solid.
JD, Corey Brown had statistically a poor Spring Training both in the field and with the bat, but he is an upgrade over Chad Tracy is all I know.
Not saying he is a superstar but he's still one of these kids with real athletic ability that could help this team coming off the bench.
JD, no doubt with the early slumps that hurt and its effects were felt in other ways as it ended up costing Bryce dearly with the pitch-arounds.
JD, you're right of course about the injuries to our core being the biggest issue. And actually, it's not any one thing, but the confluence of a whole bunch of bad news that no one expected.
Bad News:
Harper -- injured.
Werth -- injured.
Bench replacements -- lousy.
Ramos -- injured.
Stras -- now injured, not as effective initially as hoped.
Det -- injured.
Haren -- inconsistent, if not lousy.
Mattheus -- stupid.
Zim -- throwing lousy.
Danny -- hitting lousy.
PH's -- lousy.
Good news:
Harper's first month.
Soriano as advertised.
JZnn.
???
The balance has to shift soon, right?
JD, Davey was platooning until it became clear that Moore wasn't holding up his end.
"Me: It is possible, but a doubleheader would have to be Sunday (travel day) and likely a day night one to get both gates."
In April 2011 they played a traditional doubleheader vs the Brewers on a Sunday to make up for a Saturday (or maybe it was Friday) rainout. IIRC that was the first time they did a traditional doubleheader rather than a day-night, and they have done it again several times since then. In fact, I'm hard pressed to recall any day-night doubleheaders recently, but it seems there have been one or two traditional ones every year since 2011.
Caps fan,
I was and remain a supporter of the trade for Span and I love his defense. I was just observing that Davie doesn't take advantage of Span's speed at all because he does not believe in the risk/reward of base stealing.
I am not a huge fan of base stealing but I don't think one should remove that weapon completely from on'es arsenal. If nothing else it disrupts the pitcher's concentration. I think you have to make the other team at least respect the potential of the running game.
I think they would schedule the double header for the next time the Mets come here- not now. Maybe we would be stronger then. We did that before- scheduled it for later. You can only do that with teams you play often. Looks like tonight is the iffy game- might be moving out by tomorrow night. I would love having another minor league team in the area- new stadium in Woodbridge and the Suns not far south of that. Baseball heaven. NoVa is Nats country. Heard Drew on the radio while in the car about an hour ago. Great guy and a great interview. Navigated the tough stuff very deftly. The guys must all hate seeing the media coming these days.
"Good news:
Harper's first month.
Soriano as advertised.
JZnn.
???"
Span as advertised.
LaRoche's May. (Of course you then need to add his April to the bad news column.)
NL,
Not really, it was more like searching for something to pop somewhere. Moore started against lots of right handers as well. I think that when the injuries started Moore was the 1st sub thrown in there in the hope of a power surge to kick start the offense.
Deuces at 2:16, and how. (Hope this doesn't mean I'm trying to pick a fight.)
Caps Fan,
Span's offense has been below his career norms:
This year .267 .318 .360
Career .283 .354 .386
The .318 in particular is not a great number for a leadoff hitter.
Section 222 said...
Saturday would be the perfect option for traditional one admission DH because of the 4:05 start time, but no way are they cancelling that concert! Remember Dierks Bentley?
Me: I think the days on traditional one admission DH are over for a while with this team, due to the advance ticket sale now. They just won't give up that gate. Moreover, these concert are avertised in non baseball place (music radio stations), so I doubt they would mess with timing of the event and no way they would cancal unless it was bands fault.
But the more I think about, I rain out today makes a lot of sense. You wouldn't have to call another starter up for Saturday and you would play the game later in the year with Ramos and Harper, seems like a huge advantage to push it out. Friday is tuff because the Twins being an AL club they will try to get the game in. As noted Saturday makeup would be tuff. Sunday could be a day night doubleheader, because both teams have an off day on Monday and the Twins don't come to Baltimore so a makeup at other times would be tuff.
In summary. Rain out tonight. play threw the rain drops on Friday.
Apologies if this has already been posted, but evidently Byrd predicted his two dingers during BP. I always liked Marlon but he was getting on my nerves last night. At least at the dish. :-)
Hey Caps fan:
The gate is difference now. With an average of 30K a night, your not going to see one admission double headers anymore, unless late in the year due to timing issues.
I agree this use to happen (I went to a regular DH with the Pardes one of these last few years), but once a team gets this much advanced sale, they just aren't going to give it up. That is why the day / night DH was invented.
JD, true, now that I check it, he started 13 times against RHP and 10 times against LHP. He actually hits a little better against righties, although it's pitiful.
vs. RHP .182/.224/.345
vs. LHP .103/.153/.154
This is a guy who can't field, is slow on the basepaths, and started 14 games over the last 28 days.
I still think they re- schedule for the next meeting and not this one. More time to plan. Pretty sure either today or tomorrow gets rained out. I would like to see them get back on the horse today, though, instead of brooding about it. Gio has been all over the news again- hope he can block it out. I am making a vow to appreciate every curly W we get and never take one for granted again. They are so much harder to come by than they were in 2012.
Maybe that Byrd prediction explains the strange greeting he got at home plate after one of this homers (I forget which). All the guys collected there were laughing.
The DH against Braves when Lannan started was a day/night DH. The second DH of the season against the Marlins was traditional. They can only do day/night if they have an already scheduled 7:05 game and are willing/able to start the first one at 1:05. So no day/night on Saturday, though they could do a traditional were it not for the concert. On Sunday, the teams would probably prefer a traditional in order to get out of town earlier, though it's true that they both have off days to play with.
If tonight's game is rained out, Gio won't be skipped, he'll just start tomorrow, and JZnn would be rested to start on Sunday. I agree it would be in the Nats' interest to have a rainout tonight, and it's their call until the game starts. Remember that game last year against the Pirates that was "rained out" and it never rained?
I'm always skepitical of predictions of rainouts at 3pm unless it's absolutely pouring already with no signs of letting up.
Flash flood watch from national Weather Service:
FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING
* HEAVY RAINFALL OF 2 TO 4 INCHES WITH ISOLATED TOTALS UP TO 6 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED. EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINS MAY LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS AND SMALL STREAMS. THE GREATEST IMPACT FOR HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR BETWEEN 10 AM AND 8 PM.
The CBA precludes having a day-night double header on Sunday because the Twins have a home off-day on Monday,
no Club shall be scheduled to play
a road game starting after 5 P.M. if such game is a road game and is
followed by a home off-day, unless:
(a) a later game is required to be scheduled pursuant to a
national television agreement; or
(b) the road Club is playing at Texas on or after June 1
It is possible to waive that, of course.
I dont think there will be a game tonight or tomorrow looking at the forecast.
I think they will do a double header later in the season with the Mets. They could do a double header Saturday or Sunday or do a game Monday as well.
Dueces: I would never presume to tell anyone what to do or not to do but the next time someone wants a link, or whatever it was, let him do it himself. I for one am tired of hearing how right one person was and how wrong the other was. Its a baseball blog, people are going to be right and wrong all the time. I do appreciate that you just sent a link but you now know what that person will do with it.
Baseball people not who is first or right or anything else. Baseball.
Ugh...current radar to the west and southwest is looking ugly and that forecast for tomorrow is uglier still. Decent chance both games get rained out.
sjm308,
1000% correct.
Well, stupid Andrea, Why did you have to come to our area on the same day I planned to go to a game.
Everyone, blame Tropical Storm Andrea. She is pushing system ahead of her towards us then she is coming to us. YAY
sjm, come up with some good ideas and I will be the first to tell you how great you are. Sheesh. lighten up its a baseball blog not the cure for cancer.
sjm, agree. People going back to prove themselves right about this or that prediction or recommendation is my least favorite part of this blog and that includes rants and LoD. I really don't care. It doesn't increase the person's credibility in my eyes and it lessens my respect.
Good idea. Remembering how difficult it was to come up with "top 10 games" back in the day, and how much easier it was last year. Part of it was the stakes last year, I suppose, but part of it was the dearth of wins in prior season, so that they were precious when they came. As well, we'd look for little moments to appreciate within games. (Ah, lost my train of thought there due to a kitty who wanted some attention. Anyhoo.)
baseballswami said...
I am making a vow to appreciate every curly W we get and never take one for granted again. They are so much harder to come by than they were in 2012.
June 06, 2013 2:57 PM
I for one think that sjm is great and has plenty of good thoughts to share.
We each contribute something, in our own way. imho.
Here we go with the piling on. 1a, yes he has plenty of good thoughts to share. Me, nada.
You have plenty of good thoughts as well. The two are not mutually exclusive.
>We each contribute something, in our own way. imho.
I'm putting on my Gio shirt.
Ghost, no one said you didn't have good thoughts to share. Just that you don't need to prove it with history. Put up your thoughts and your reasoning and stand on those.
Why not have Section 222 look up those "Ghost of Steve M. is always right" rules someone posted a while back? That guy may have been on to something there.
I predicted sjm308 would say that about 5 weeks ago. If you don't believe me you can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
"lighten up its a baseball blog"
Indeed. Of course, I'd say that cuts both ways on this subject, Ghost. By no means am I put off by the tendency some have towards proving past predictions proved correct; however, I also don't really understand the need to do it.
All that said, I see no reason to make Ghost the Espinosa of this, er, "problem." There's plenty of love to go around on this front, imo.
And now for something completely different. Was catching up on old emails and found one from SABR that talked about the "Diamond Mines" exhibit at the Hall of Fame. The exhibit deals with the scouting profession, and there is a searchable database of scouting reports. Was just noodling around with it and turned up Jordan Zimmerman. Here's a link for those who might be interested in seeing the report or searching for others.
Dang, after reading, I think it gave me the wrong dude. I wanted "Zimmermann." Oh well.
lol, I was gonna say!
D'oh! And I call myself a pinch-lipped editorial type.
We were at the HoF a couple of months ago, saw the Diamond Mines exhibit. Great 15-minute talk by one of the guides/docents/whatevers. Cunegonde and I would have loved to spend a LOT more time there, but we were there with my old college roommate, who is not really much of a fan, and who, when he's ready to move on to another exhibit/room/building, will Stare At You while you're looking at a display.
I finally got tired of it (not the first time he's done it) and called him on it:
"Are you staring at me?"
"Huh? No..."
"Okay..."
(...and I resumed looking at the display, until...)
"You ARE staring at me!"
"Huh? No I'm not!"
At which point he lapsed into a lame Travis Bickel bit.
Irritating in excelsis, but he lives 20 miles from Cooperstown. Cunegonde and I are plotting a secret return that involves staying overnight at a local B&B.
Yeah, 1a, you notorious bully, you.
I believe the Rule in question is "Act like you've been there before, and don't showboat it." Or is "Don't show up other people, especially as you're beating them" more applicable?
Good grief, groovy guys and gals.peric seems to have withered away.I, for one, won't miss him. I almost quit reading this blog because of his crap, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. The quality of the blog should go up now. It's up to us to see that it does. Ghost, you're still here. peric's not. Just enjoy it, and move on.
And Bryce to see Dr. Andrews. Here we go. Just cut him now and get it over with. Espi will be playing in five days after a magical Zim shot. Ok.
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