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Post by ramireja on May 21, 2019 12:12:44 GMT -5
Last year's 5th round draft pick is off to a nice start in his professional career. Through 9 starts this year in Greenville he has put up a 2.50 ERA (3.25 FIP) to go along with a 28.2% K-rate, 8.7% BB-rate, and a .203 BA against. Granted this is a college draftee succeeding in Low-A, but I'm more than happy with this start given that Ward lacks the college pedigree of a Tanner Houck or even a Mike Shawaryn. Even more encouraging is that this is a guy who made only 7 career starts among his 61 appearances at Central Florida. He's really taken to the starting role this year and has been particularly hot in his last 3 starts (21 Ks to only 2 BBs and 11 hits in 20.1 innings). As for scouting reports, although the stuff isn't overwhelming by any means, there could be a starter package down the round. Check out the SP scouting report here and for comparison's sake, check out this scouting report from 2080 Baseball based on two looks in April.
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Post by telson13 on May 21, 2019 12:40:08 GMT -5
Last year's 5th round draft pick is off to a nice start in his professional career. Through 9 starts this year in Greenville he has put up a 2.50 ERA (3.25 FIP) to go along with a 28.2% K-rate, 8.7% BB-rate, and a .203 BA against. Granted this is a college draftee succeeding in Low-A, but I'm more than happy with this start given that Ward lacks the college pedigree of a Tanner Houck or even a Mike Shawaryn. Even more encouraging is that this is a guy who made only 7 career starts among his 61 appearances at Central Florida. He's really taken to the starting role this year and has been particularly hot in his last 3 starts (21 Ks to only 2 BBs and 11 hits in 20.1 innings). As for scouting reports, although the stuff isn't overwhelming by any means, there could be a starter package down the round. Check out the SP scouting report here and for comparison's sake, check out this scouting report from 2080 Baseball based on two looks in April. I’ve been following him since the draft; it sounded back then like he had a 4/5 starter kit with maybe a chance to add to the FB (I saw reports he was touching mid-90s but sat avg). Kind of a totally unheralded guy for a 5th-rounder, if that even makes sense (like, Shawaryn was an overshot 5th who had top50 helium after his sophomore season, if you get my drift, or Dalbec was a 4th rd pick with huge power and the 2-way CWS showing). Ward was reasonably solid at Lowell but nothing I got excited about. But I’ve been checking boxes on him all year, and from his first start, he’s been pretty good. And definitely on the past 3. Like you, I haven’t gotten *real* excited for a DI 22-y/o in Low-A, but I’d think he’d be one of the more likely “early” promotion candidates at the end of this month...guys like Duran or Mata if he’d stayed healthy, who’ve performed so well at their current level (or in Mata’s case, were conservatively repeating) that they look in need of a bigger challenge. Ward’s definitely an interesting prospect tho...one thing I’ve noticed is that he consistently goes deep in games, and he’s pretty efficient. That could be level, because I’d guess it’s easy to be efficient when your competition is overmatched, but it’s something to watch. Portends well for LT SP role.
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Post by telson13 on May 21, 2019 12:46:14 GMT -5
I didn’t realize Ward had only 37 hits allowed in 50.1 innings. He doesn’t have Shawaryn’s K rate, but their full-season debuts are pretty comparable. Shawaryn got promoted after 10 starts so here’s hoping Ward follows a similar path.
One of these days, the Sox are gonna have a guy like them: 4th-5th-6th round type, bust out and turn into Tim Hudson. I just know it. Might take 40 years tho, but my fingers are crossed.
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Post by ramireja on May 23, 2019 11:25:43 GMT -5
Good stuff Telson! Its also probably worth mentioning that according to poster 'theredseat', Ward added a cutter and is now throwing a laminar sinker instead of a running two-seamer to complement his sweeping breaking ball (I assume the slider). So that said, any improvements we're seeing between last year and this year (e.g., K% rising from 20.2% to 28.2%) might be partially explained by a change to his pitch repertoire.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 19, 2019 14:26:01 GMT -5
Pitcher | Year (A ball) | Draft Year | IP | K% | BB% | GB% | Opp OPS | WHIP | ERA | Thaddeus Ward | 2019 | 2018 | 72.1 | 29.2% | 8.4% | 47.1% | .548 | 1.05 | 1.99 | Kutter Crawford | 2018 | 2017 | 112.1 | 25.4% | 7.2% | 39.8% | .654 | 1.23 | 2.96 | Mike Shawaryn | 2017 | 2016 | 53.1 | 35.8% | 6.0% | 40.3% | .640 | 1.07 | 3.88 | Kyle Hart | 2017 | 2016 | 66.1 | 21.9% | 6.5% | 56.2% | .534 | 1.01 | 1.90 | Shaun Anderson | 2017 | 2016 | 38.2 | 23.9% | 7.1% | 51.0% | .594 | 1.06 | 2.56 | Ben Taylor | 2015 | 2015 | 45.0 | 19.3% | 7.8% | 37.2% | .653 | 1.29 | 3.40 | Jalen Beeks | 2015 | 2014 | 145.2 | 16.2% | 4.5% | 43.0% | .742 | 1.26 | 4.32 | Brian Johnson | 2013 | 2012 | 69.0 | 24.0% | 9.7% | 40.9% | .578 | 1.13 | 2.87 | Pat Light | 2013 | 2012 | 28.1 | 19.6% | 9.8% | 44.8% | .948 | 2.05 | 8.89 | Matt Barnes | 2012 | 2011 | 26.2 | 43.3% | 4.1% | 58.7% | .338 | 0.60 | 0.34 | Anthony Ranaudo | 2011 | 2010 | 46.0 | 26.6% | 8.5% | 37.5% | .631 | 1.11 | 3.33 | Brandon Workman | 2011 | 2010 | 131.0 | 21.3% | 6.1% | 40.1% | .694 | 1.23 | 3.71 |
Here's an update to a table I initially put together to highlight Mike Shawaryn's time in Low-A. Now adding Thad Ward (among others) to the table we can see how well his performance there stacks up to other college draftees pitching in Greenville in their first full-season (with the exception of Ben Taylor whose Greenville starts are from his draft year). I bolded the best three values for each column and we can see that Ward compares favorably to most, ranking in the Top 3 for K%, Opponent OPS, WHIP, and ERA (his GB% ranks 4th in this group). I was kind of surprised to see Hart compare favorably as well who seemingly had success with an ok K% but an excellent GB%. Anyways, congrats to Ward on his success in Greenville and here's to hoping for more success in Salem this year.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jun 20, 2019 12:15:52 GMT -5
FWIW can confirm Sox scout's post in yesterday's gameday thread that Ward is headed to Salem.
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pd
Rookie
Posts: 237
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Post by pd on Aug 13, 2019 10:33:07 GMT -5
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Post by telson13 on Oct 27, 2019 12:23:28 GMT -5
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Post by Oregon Norm on Oct 28, 2019 10:28:07 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Oct 28, 2019 12:17:04 GMT -5
Not that I didn't like the thread title Telson...just wanted to make sure this ended up with previous Thad info.
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Post by telson13 on Oct 29, 2019 11:12:09 GMT -5
Not that I didn't like the thread title Telson...just wanted to make sure this ended up with previous Thad info. No sweat, shoulda remembered you got this rolling with his hot start!
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Post by vermontsox1 on Jun 3, 2021 14:03:35 GMT -5
As I posted over in the injury thread, Ward had TJ surgery today, per Speier. Huge setback for him given how close he was to the majors...now probably won't pitch again until 2023.
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Post by chr31ter on Jun 3, 2021 14:04:33 GMT -5
Son of a...
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Post by RedSoxStats on Jun 3, 2021 14:05:55 GMT -5
When we see Ward again he is going to be 26 with 50 inning in high-A and 8 innings in Double-A
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Jun 3, 2021 14:10:14 GMT -5
It just doesn't stop. The biggest obstacle in developing pitching has become TJ surgery.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 3, 2021 14:18:23 GMT -5
That sucks. Makes me even more bummed he didn't get any development time in at the alternate site last year where I thought he belonged.
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nomar
Veteran
Posts: 10,790
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Post by nomar on Jun 3, 2021 14:44:35 GMT -5
TINSTAAPP
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Post by vermontsox1 on Jul 8, 2022 13:18:46 GMT -5
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jul 8, 2022 13:23:07 GMT -5
Definitely didn't look at the dates of most of the above posts and thought he got hurt again!
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Post by Soxfansince1971 on Jul 29, 2023 12:06:15 GMT -5
As of 7/29/2023 with the MLB Nationals…
ERA - 7.12 Innings - 30.1 BB - 24 WHIP - 1.65 Age - 26
I was ok with not adding him in Rule 5, and even IF he turns into something, he was not worth protecting in November 2022…. Another correct Bloom move.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jul 29, 2023 19:24:05 GMT -5
As of 7/29/2023 with the MLB Nationals… ERA - 7.12 Innings - 30.1 BB - 24 WHIP - 1.65 Age - 26 I was ok with not adding him in Rule 5, and even IF he turns into something, he was not worth protecting in November 2022…. Another correct Bloom move. I'm not sure I'd use his numbers in MLB when he clearly wasn't ready as an indication of whether he should have been protected.
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Post by wOBA Fett on Jul 30, 2023 11:14:17 GMT -5
As of 7/29/2023 with the MLB Nationals… ERA - 7.12 Innings - 30.1 BB - 24 WHIP - 1.65 Age - 26 I was ok with not adding him in Rule 5, and even IF he turns into something, he was not worth protecting in November 2022…. Another correct Bloom move. They need to rename WAR to WARD (Wins above Repayment- Thad Ward).
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Post by Soxfansince1971 on Aug 12, 2023 9:48:40 GMT -5
As of 7/29/2023 with the MLB Nationals… ERA - 7.12 Innings - 30.1 BB - 24 WHIP - 1.65 Age - 26 I was ok with not adding him in Rule 5, and even IF he turns into something, he was not worth protecting in November 2022…. Another correct Bloom move. They need to rename WAR to WARD (Wins above Repayment- Thad Ward). ….you could also say that a year in the MLB at $720,000 is a re-Ward….
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Post by waiverClaim on Aug 12, 2023 12:57:03 GMT -5
I surmise that Ward will be on waivers in the next 24 months. So, Sox can get him back if they really want him.
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Post by nonothing on Aug 14, 2023 16:22:06 GMT -5
He wasn't ready. Those stats are not relevant. I don't expect him to come off injured list all year. They got him 90 days it appears, so if he is "injured" the rest of the way, he is theirs I believe. Mods can confirm. But I expect him to starr in AAA for them next year.
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