Ty Madden/Landon Sims

[messageboardsuperhero]

What you are seeing with Ty Madden tonight is exactly why we are going to give Landon Sims the opportunity to start for us next year. MLB teams see Madden as a reliever, and they have much less value in the draft. Sims has started his whole life and wants to be a starter going forward.

It’s best for us as a team and long term as a program for Sims to be our Friday guy next year. He is more valuable for us on the field in that role, and it is better for us in crooting to have him maximize his professional stock.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Agreed. If he can get a halfway decent change working next season and stretch out 6-7 innings. Could be a top 10 pick.

 

[57stratdawg]

Madden goes #32 to Detroit. Solid draft for Detroit pitching so far.

 

[ronpolk]

I like him as a closer but if we are only going to pitch him once per weekend, he probably should start.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

If he develops an effective change up he should start.

 

[Go Budaw]

What you are seeing with Ty Madden tonight is exactly why we are going to give Landon Sims the opportunity to start for us next year. MLB teams see Madden as a reliever, and they have much less value in the draft. Sims has started his whole life and wants to be a starter going forward.

It’s best for us as a team and long term as a program for Sims to be our Friday guy next year. He is more valuable for us on the field in that role, and it is better for us in crooting to have him maximize his professional stock.

I get what you’re saying, but Madden is already a starter too, so I’m failing to see the connection there. Can’t just make MLB teams see a guy as a starter by making him a starter in college. He’s gotta develop pitches and velocity that holds up 2-3 times through the order. He can possibly not do either one of those things, and still wind up being a dominant Friday night SEC guy, but it wouldn’t translate to the pros.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

I get what you’re saying, but Madden is already a starter too, so I’m failing to see the connection there. Can’t just make MLB teams see a guy as a starter by making him a starter in college. He’s gotta develop pitches and velocity that holds up 2-3 times through the order. He can possibly not do either one of those things, and still wind up being a dominant Friday night SEC guy, but it wouldn’t translate to the pros.

MLB teams can’t see Sims as a starter unless we give him that opportunity- we can’t change how they view him after that. No one could blame Texas for Madden’s stock falling, unless they had pitched him out of the pen his whole career.

 

[Cooterpoot]

It doesn't matter how we pitch Sims. Madden has been a starter. Yet, he's projecting as a middle relief guy. It doesn't matter. Sims in the pen is huge. He can close, he can throw middle, or he can start. Did all basically.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

Obviously is he can be a quality starter that would benefit us more and it will make him more attractive to the big leagues. He was already a starter and got moved. For a reason. Hopefully he can switch back into that role and succeed

 

[Go Budaw]

MLB teams can’t see Sims as a starter unless we give him that opportunity- we can’t change how they view him after that. No one could blame Texas for Madden’s stock falling, unless they had pitched him out of the pen his whole career.

Madden’s stock didn’t fall that much. And it’s not about blaming Texas, MSU, etc. The first objective is to win as many baseball games as possible. If moving Sims to Friday night is our best chance of doing that, it’s what needs to happen. If keeping him in the pen and letting him potentially throw a couple of times per weekend, then that’s what needs to happen. Either way, he has to do things that go well beyond changing his pitching schedule in order to prove he can start in MLB.

 

[onewoof]

I'm no MLB scout but I do know Lieter and Madden were the best 2 pitchers we faced at the CWS. Followed by the guy from Virginia and then Rocker.

 

[mcdawg22]

Brandon Woodruff agrees.

 

[johnson86-1]

Obviously is he can be a quality starter that would benefit us more and it will make him more attractive to the big leagues. He was already a starter and got moved. For a reason. Hopefully he can switch back into that role and succeed

I don't think him being a quality starter would benefit us more. He probably is more valuable as a starter with how we used him in the regular season, but as long as we're willing to stretch him when it counts, I think it's probably more valuable for us to bring him in in high leverage situations.

 

[johnson86-1]

It doesn't matter how we pitch Sims. Madden has been a starter. Yet, he's projecting as a middle relief guy. It doesn't matter. Sims in the pen is huge. He can close, he can throw middle, or he can start. Did all basically.

It won't matter if he's a starter and they project him as a middle relief guy, but if he projects as being a starter but never gets to start in college, I'd have to think that will hurt him some compared to an equivalent player with the same projection but that has shown he can consistently give you 6 or 7 quality innings and get through the order multiple times.

 

[Cooterpoot]

It won't matter if he's a starter and they project him as a middle relief guy, but if he projects as being a starter but never gets to start in college, I'd have to think that will hurt him some compared to an equivalent player with the same projection but that has shown he can consistently give you 6 or 7 quality innings and get through the order multiple times.

Doesn't matter. He's projected on his ability. It doesn't matter if he starts or not. And he has started. If Mac comes back and we getting Walling or one of the other guys, Sims is in the pen. Otherwise, we look at him to start.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

I don't know why this whole 'Sims to starter' thing exists, but it does. I don't know why Ginn wanted to be a starter either, he could have been a hell of a closer. If it's not something to do with draftability or whatever, I don't know what other reasoning there is, because Sims has the mentality of a closer. I know they say his arm doesn't 'bounce back' or whatever, so who knows.

And beyond that, I don't think starting pitching is going to be a problem for us next year. Fristoe and C. Smith are likely weekend starters and we do have other options (Tepper, Simmons, B. Smith), even before the newcomers get here. Who knows if we have another closer, have to see what happens with the draft with Stinnett and Johnson. Tullar is another dependable arm. I am guessing Hunt will help us too. And Patrick.

I'm not opposed to Sims starting or anything. I just don't see why it's this 'thing' that has to happen.

 

[kired]

MLB teams draft early round guys to be starters. If it doesn't work out, they get moved to something else. But teams rarely draft college closers to be an MLB closer, at least not with a high pick. If Sims wants to be a first rounder, the most sure way is to be a dominate college starter.

The workload of a college starter is more similar to what an MLB starter will be doing. College closers are called on maybe twice a week. There were times where Sims only pitched once a weekend. Pitching 1 - 4 innings each week doesn't give MLB teams much to look over. Sure, he can come in and dominate college hitters for 1 or 2 innings on 5-6 days of rest. Doesn't mean he can do that on 3 times a week in the MLB, with a couple of back to back nights. He never pitched two days in a row this year. MLB closers do that regularly. Sims mindset all year was to be ready for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. An MLB closer has to be ready almost every single day.

If you draft him in the first round to close and he can't consistently do it on the MLB level, then what? Try to make him a starter when he hasn't started since high school? Good luck with that.

So basically - if you're going to invest a high draft pick and spend that much money on a guy, you want him to be capable of starting. Then you move to plan B / C if he can't do that. Mariano Rivera was a starter through the minors and when he first came up in the majors. Best closer of all time was a starting pitcher first and it didn't work out.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

MLB teams draft early round guys to be starters. If it doesn't work out, they get moved to something else. But teams rarely draft college closers to be an MLB closer, at least not with a high pick. If Sims wants to be a first rounder, the most sure way is to be a dominate college starter.

The workload of a college starter is more similar to what an MLB starter will be doing. College closers are called on maybe twice a week. There were times where Sims only pitched once a weekend. Pitching 1 - 4 innings each week doesn't give MLB teams much to look over. Sure, he can come in and dominate college hitters for 1 or 2 innings on 5-6 days of rest. Doesn't mean he can do that on 3 times a week in the MLB, with a couple of back to back nights. He never pitched two days in a row this year. MLB closers do that regularly. Sims mindset all year was to be ready for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. An MLB closer has to be ready almost every single day.

If you draft him in the first round to close and he can't consistently do it on the MLB level, then what? Try to make him a starter when he hasn't started since high school? Good luck with that.

So basically - if you're going to invest a high draft pick and spend that much money on a guy, you want him to be capable of starting. Then you move to plan B / C if he can't do that. Mariano Rivera was a starter through the minors and when he first came up in the majors. Best closer of all time was a starting pitcher first and it didn't work out.

Makes sense. Durable guys with stuff/speed should be the most valuable.