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New Arms of the Week: May 25-31

This week six pitchers broke through to the big leagues, giving us a first look at them via PITCHf/x.  Christopher Leroux has some WBC experience, so you may have seen some of his stuff already.

  • Jason Berken  is a Green Bay, WI, native who played college ball for Clemson. Berken got the call, and two starts, for the Orioles this week.  He's a bit of a question mark so far, with 12 innings, five walks and five strike outs.  He throws hard, sitting at 92/93, and has two breaking pitches (which I have some trouble sorting out, add another question mark).
  • David Hernandez also debuted for the Orioles.  It wasn't just Matt Wieters Weekend in Baltimore, it was Rookie Week.  Hernandez is a Sacramento native who was drafted in 2005 out of Cosumnes River College. Throwing even harder than Berken, Hernandez managed to pick up a win by being effectively wild.
  • Leroux is a tall righty who got into one game for the Marlins before being sent back to Double-A.  The native of Montreal pitched for Team Canada in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, providing some filler PITCHf/x data to his two official MLB innings.  Yet another hard thrower, Leroux uses a two-seam fastball as much as his four-seamer.
  • Daniel Schlereth has been getting work out of the Diamondbacks bullpen.  The lefty was a first round pick out of Arizona, as they try and turn the Alaskan into an sand dweller.  Closing in Double-A, Schlereth will work middle relief for the Diamondbacks.  I've read a few rumblings about injury concerns, but I dunno.
  • Jason Waddell made his debut as a Cub on Sunday night.  The lefty could have success as a LOOGY, but his track record against righties, and wildness, are limiting factors for the 27-year old.  With Neal Cotts firmly in Lou Piniella's dog house, Sean Marshall is expected to move to the pen when Rich Harden is reactivated, which means Waddell is likely headed back to Iowa.  Waddell's got a pretty nifty looking breaking pitch, but his fastball is flat and mediocre.
  • Guillermo Moscoso pitched a perfect game in the Penn League in 2007, which is probably the biggest claim to fame for the Venezuelan righty.  After four seasons in the Tiger's system, Moscoso became a Ranger, and fast-tracked, in the Gerald Laird deal.  WIth decent enough velocity, Moscoso looks to have relied on his off-speed pitches in his first inning with Texas.

Pitch types are detailed after the jump

 

Pitch types: Change-up (CH), Curveball (CU), Four-seam fastball (F4), Two-seam fastball/sinker (F2), Cutter (FC), Slider (SL)

MPH=speed at 55 feet from home plate; pfx values are spin movement in inches lateral and vertical; deg and rpm represent the angle of the spin axis and the spin rate, respectively.

Pitcher Type # vs LHH vs RHH MPH PFX_X PFX_Z DEG RPM
Guillermo Moscoso F4 9 7 2 91.0 -2.9 11.7 193.6 2,475.5
Guillermo Moscoso SL 4 1 3 78.4 2.8 -0.7 76.4 551.3
Jason Waddell CU 4 2 2 74.2 -5.9 -3.4 299.7 1,142.2
Jason Waddell F4 10 5 5 88.7 2.9 8.7 161.4 1,839.0
David Hernandez CH 29 12 17 85.1 -4.0 5.2 217.3 1,277.7
David Hernandez CU 9 4 5 79.0 7.4 -2.6 69.9 1,388.3
David Hernandez F2 4 3 1 93.2 -8.0 6.9 229.3 2,213.8
David Hernandez F4 66 25 41 93.8 -4.9 9.7 206.6 2,284.4
Jason Berken CH 31 17 14 83.2 -6.5 5.2 231.0 1,588.0
Jason Berken CU 30 16 14 80.6 4.4 -3.3 54.9 1,010.5
Jason Berken F2 28 7 21 92.1 -7.2 6.1 230.3 1,935.4
Jason Berken F4 83 36 47 92.8 -4.7 8.7 208.7 2,055.7
Jason Berken SL 18 4 14 82.1 3.4 1.8 124.4 786.8
Christopher Leroux CH 5 5 0 87.2 -9.0 2.0 256.4 1,806.3
Christopher Leroux F2 20 12 8 93.5 -9.3 5.8 237.5 2,284.3
Christopher Leroux F4 15 6 9 92.9 -5.0 10.1 206.7 2,346.4
Christopher Leroux SL 17 7 10 82.7 0.9 -1.7 113.1 471.4
Daniel Schlereth CH 1 0 1 77.3 7.9 2.1 105.2 1,412.3
Daniel Schlereth CU 13 10 3 80.3 -3.3 -6.2 333.1 1,307.4
Daniel Schlereth F2 1 1 0 92.9 11.5 5.3 114.9 2,622.7
Daniel Schlereth F4 23 12 11 93.5 7.1 8.9 141.9 2,404.7