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Six members of the Arizona Diamondbacks front office will serve as co-hosts on FSN Arizona’s Qwest Diamondbacks Live post-game shows next week after the Pirates and Braves games during the network’s annual “Executive Week.” Fans can e-mail questions they would like asked of each individual on-air to fsnarizona@foxsports.net, and a few will be chosen for each show. Here is the appearance schedule:

Aug. 4 – Jeff Moorad, General Partner & Chief Executive Officer
Aug. 5 – Josh Byrnes, Executive Vice President & General Manager
Aug. 6 – Tom Garfinkel, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Aug. 7 – Peter Woodfork, Assistant General Manager
Aug. 8 – Derrick Hall, President
Aug. 9 – A.J. Hinch, Director, Player Development

Lock and load, folks.

No Mark Teixeira, no problem.
At least that’s what Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes seems to believe.
In an interview with Sportsline.com’s Scott Miller, Byrnes expressed that the Diamondbacks don’t really have a plan b now that Teixeira is a member of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (insert name joke here).
“We believe in […]

Physical Description and Background

Wes Roemer was born on October 7, 1986 in Glendora, CA. He’s listed at 6′0 in height, and weighing 205lb. He throws and bats right handed. He attended Cal State-Fullerton for three years before being selected by the Diamondbacks in supplemental 1st round with 50th overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Barry Enright was born March 30, 1987 in Stockton, Ca. He’s listed as 6′3, weighing 220 Lbs. He throws and bats right handed. He attended Pepperdine University for three years before being selected by the Diamondbacks in 2nd round with the 73rd overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Pitch Selection and Stuff

Roemer is a command-and-feel right-hander who fires fastballs in the 89-90 mph range, though he can reach back for 91-92 on occasion. Roemer has excellent command of his slider and can back-door it, making it an excellent out pitch for left-handed hitters. He commands his changeup well, keeping it down in the zone. Roemer is an extremely good competitor and goes right after hitters.

Enright can touch 91 mph, but sits comfortably at 88-89 mph. Enright features a slider at 79-80 mph that has late bite. It’s not a plus pitch, but it’s enough to keep hitters honest. Enright has a good feel for a changeup. Pitchability is Enright’s best tool. He locates his fastball to both sides of the plate. He pounds the zone, down in the zone when he’s on, and pitches to contact. Enright is a good competitor who’s not afraid of tough matchups and goes right after hitters.

College Statistics

Unlike my previous article, I won’t go into nearly as much detail on each individual season in college; instead I’ll look at their overall statistics.

Wes Roemer pitched very well in college, showing great control. In 389 innings pitched he struck out 344 while walking only 44 batters with a cumulative ERA of 3.40. If you look at just his overall performance, you’ll miss his outstanding 2006 season: 13-2 with 2.38 ERA with a .86 WHIP and 145 strikeouts to just seven walks in a career high 155 innings pitched. He had 3 complete games, two of which were shut outs. He had 9 complete games throughout his collegiate career. It’s worth noting his increase in strikeouts per nine innings from 7.10 to 8.42 to 9.38.

Barry Enright had 211 strike outs to 62 walks in 352.2 Inning pitched with an era of 3.44 ERA. If you look at just Enright’s overall performance in college, you’ll over look the clear improvement that he made each year in ERA, WHIP, Inning pitched, BB:K, K per 9, and BB per 9. His last year in college was outstanding: 12-5 with 1.99 ERA with 91 strike outs to 14 walks with a 1.00 WHIP.

Minor League Statistics

Roemer made his professional debut pitching for rookie ball Yakima in the Northwestern league. Although he only appeared in 8 games and pitched 12 innings, his results were kind of mixed. His strike out to walk ratio was excellent: 18 k’s to just 2 walks. He gave up 11 hits, one HR, and 6 earned runs. His ERA was 4.50 with a 1.08 WHIP.

Enright made his professional debut with Yakima, pitched eight innings, was promoted to South Bend where he pitched for two innings, and was then promoted again to Visalia where he pitched for 5 innings. Overall he pitched 15 innings, giving up 8 hits, an unearned run, struck out 17 batters while walking 5. His ERA was 0.00, with a .87 WHIP. 

This year both players have been assigned to Hi-A Visalia in the California League.

In 121.2 innings pitched, Roemer has a 4.51 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, and has stuck out 87, while walking 28. He’s given up 147 hits, 18 HRS, and 64 earned runs. He’s also hit 9 batters and  uncorked 3 wild pitches.

In 121.1 innings pitched, Enright has a 4.75 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, and has struck out 103 batters while walking 29. He’s given up 146 hits, 11 HRS, and 64 earned runs. He’s hit 2 batters and uncorked 6 wild pitches.

The two players aren’t that far from each other in innings pitched, ERA, BBs, Hits, and earned runs. However, Roemer has a better ERA, but Enright has more strike outs, a better K:BB ratio, and has given up fewer home runs.

Once you look at Batting Average On Ball In Play (BABIP) and Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), you get the whole picture. Enright has a FIP of 3.38 and a .364 BABIP which indicates that his ERA has largely been the result of bad luck and poor defense. Roemer’s 4.68 FIP and .289 BABIP suggest that he’s actually pitched worse than his ERA would suggest, and that he’s been a bit lucky.

Wrap Up

Obviously the results aren’t as exciting as the team’s front office would have hoped, but you do have to take in account that the California League is a hitter’s league with some of the most hitter friendly parks in all of baseball. Neither player has logged a lot of time in the minors yet, nor has either pitched at the higher levels.  It’ll be interesting to see how they do in the much more pitching friendly environment of AA Mobile in the Southern league.

If I had to pick which pitcher I think is more likely to succeed, it’d be a rather tough call. If we were to judge the two players based on their performance in college, Wes Roemer would be the obvious choice. He struck nearly twice as many batters as Enright did in college. Outside of Enright’s fabulous 2007 year in college, Wes Roemer out pitched Enright by every statistical measure.

Once you look at actual minor league performance, Enright is clearly the winner. This year he has a lower walk rate, higher strike out rate, better K:BB ratio, and has given up home runs at a lower rate. In addition, he throws harder and has a bigger frame. With Roemer’s success in college, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns things around. But as of now, Enright is the better pitcher.

Not much to add here, but I would like to thank Emily once again for proof reading. I’d also just like to thank you for reading. I’ll be back again on Wednesdays and Saturdays with my scouting reports on the players in the Arizona Farm System.

-Wesley “Zephon” Baier

Sources: (all links open in new window)

Wes Roemer @ BB-REF

Barry Enright @ BB-REF

Wes Roemer @ Thebaseballcube

Barry Enright @ Thebaseballcube

Wes Roemer @ Fangraphs

Barry Enright @ Fangraphs

I’ll admit, after a long day yesterday and the poor showing by the Diamondbacks the night before, I didn’t have much of a desire to tune into the Padres D-Backs game last night. I figure I’d miss another lack luster performance by the snakes offense and not have to suffer through watching the Padres be…well […]

I’ll have a more in-depth piece later on this week on this topic…I don’t have the time to do it now. I’m up in Flagstaff all week covering that other big time football team that plays in the Valley of the Sun, severely taking my time away from coveri…

A day after former ASU tight end Brent Miller inked a free-agent deal with the Cardinals, another former Devil is on an NFL rosters. Rudy Burgess, who was a jack-of-all-trades during his Sun Devil career, signed a deal with the New York Jets. In true Burgess fashion, the transaction wire lists him as […]

Record: 54-52. Pace: 83-79. Change on last season: -4.

Well, that was certainly an exciting game. It marked the return of Evil Chris Young after surviving that hellacious line drive from Albert Pujols. Doug Davis, a survivor of his own right, was his counterpart on the bump. And the two of them ended up putting up quite a show. One was seven outs away from a show for the ages. In the end, though, one outfield play may have taken top billing from everything else.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This started with what seemed like little optimism, as ECY struck out the side in both the first two innings, interrupted only by an Orlando Hudson single in the first. Granted, this team is extremely strikeout-prone, but it still seemed like a trip in the wrong direction. Young ultimately struck out seven the first time through the order, and the offense limped into the fifth with just two hits.

That was still two more hits than the Padres had to that point, however, because Doug Davis was pitching the game of his life. Working his changeup in peculiar spots in the count and keeping batters guessing by using his curve only occasionally, Davis squeaked through those five innings with no hits or walks allowed, and five strikeouts. His pitch count was manageable, and more importantly, the San Diego hitters showed no signs of being able to figure out the crafty left-hander.

ECY was chased after those five innings after hitting his 90-pitch limit on his first start back, and the Diamondbacks capitalized on his absence immediately. With one out, CoJack and Tony Clark both singled, putting runners on the corners. Reynolds reached on an error to score Jackson, Snyder walked to load ‘em up, and Alex Romero tossed in two more runs with a base hit to center. Before another out was recorded and Hensley was finally pulled, all three of their runs had come around to score.

Bolstered by his strange, unfamiliar run support (although it would be silly to get too excited over another three-run “outburst”), Davis went back to work and set down the Padres in order in the sixth. Unfortunately, with two down in the seventh on his 93rd pitch, Davis left a 2-2 changeup that was supposed to be low and away over the plate, and Brian Giles smacked it to center for a base hit, ruining the unlikely perfect game and no-hitter in one fell swoop.

So all in all, it had been easy. Davis was spectacular, the offense just mediocre enough, and going into the Padre half of the eighth it was still a 3-0 game. That’s when the heart attack part of the game started. Did Davis get a nice seat on the bench after his fabulous start? Nope, Melvin sent him back out to start the inning, despite being at 100 pitches, in line for the win and without any shot at immortality. Instead, he was left to fend off the wolves. He retired Kouzmanoff on a grounder, but then the wheels fell off as Davis completely hit the wall. He threw 19 more pitches to the next four hitters, but only six for strikes, as the bases were loaded on an infield hit and two walks. Only then did Melvin finally remove his starter, who still could not lose the game, but was in line to be stuck with a no decision. More importantly, the go-ahead run was at the plate in Jody Gerut, a situation that most certainly should not have occured.

Anyway, the situation was quickly dealt with, as Gameday accurately reveals:

-J Gerut flied out to right

And that was that. Okay, so it was more than a routine flyout. Gerut crushed a pitch into right-center, but only Petco and a fantastic basket catch about a foot short of the wall by Romero saved at least a bases-clearing double (and likely a grand slam in a number of parks) from completely changing the complexion of the game. Daron Sutton spent most of the top of the ninth in a quiet stupor, still in disbelief about the play. (Some would argue that it was an improvement, but there’s already a thread devoted to that). Still, it was an exciting play and a fitting call, one that echoed the exuberant posts in the Gameday thread.

There was still another inning to be played, but it was largely inconsequential — Grace accurately pointed out that the game had really been decided on Romero’s play, and the rest was somewhat anticlimatic. The Diamondbacks loaded the bases in the top of the ninth with one out, but couldn’t add any insurance runs, as Drew was out by a perfect throw at home trying to score on a wild pitch, and Tony Clark flailed wildly at the other three pitches to end the inning. Lyon came in and quietly (and blessedly for many people’s heart rates) retired the side in the ninth with two strikeouts, and the series was leveled at one game apiece.

 
Master of his Domain: Doug Davis, +35.3%
God-Emperor of Suck: Chris Young, -4.6%

All starts sans Chris Young had a base hit — Hudson had a trifecta of his own — which explains why Good CY happened to get tagged with the dreaded GES. Not surprisingly, it was Davis’ effort that predominately affected the win. None of the hitters were more than 10 percent.

Another solid GDT, with more than 500 comments, about 15 or so of which were on the level of “OHHHHHHH” after the play to end the bases-loaded jam in the eighth. Present were: Muu, Azreous, Jim McLennan, mrssoco, TwinnerA, AZWILDCATS, soco, kishi, foulpole, unnamedDBacksfan, AF DBacks Fanatic, snakecharmer, luckycc, AJforAZ, Scrbl, Frank Squishy, wrigleyrocker12, LucaMaz3, emilylovesthedbacks, peeklay and dahlian. As kishi pointed out, Romero’s catch was No. 1 on SportsCenter’s top plays. Unfortunately, Doug Davis still ends up taking second billing to John Lackey, who took a no-hitter into the ninth against the Red Sox, only to lose it with one out on a base hit by Dustin Pedroia. Still, despite the theatrics at the end, it was a win, the fourth in five games. We’ll take ‘em how we can get ‘em.

When you think of pitchers likely to hurl no-hitters, I don’t think anybody would select a soft-tossing left-hander who throws in the mid-80s and has only 3 complete game shutouts and a 4.33 career ERA. But for a while on Tuesday, Doug Davis became a pitcher that over 29,000 fans at Petco Park, and […]

Doug Davis LHP, 3-5, 4.22

Chris Young RHP, 4-4, 4.50

Baseball-Reference.com preview [opens in new window]

I never thought I’d find myself saying this, but I am genuinely pleased to see the evil Chris Young on the mound. Not necessarily against us, true - but just to see him back at all, after he was hit in the face by a Pujols liner more than two months ago. That led to multiple fractures in his nasal bone, a deviated septum and a small crack in the bone of the skull: he needed surgery in order to let him breathe through his nose, and still basically can’t smell or taste anything. Hence, it’s a relief to see him apparently on the road to a full recovery. Ironic that he’ll be going up against our own survivor, in Doug Davis: maybe they can get together and compare surgical scars, like in Jaws.

That said, all sympathy will be off come first pitch, because Arizona will be keen to get back onto the winning track after last night’s disappointing performance from Owings. Davis hasn’t won in a while himself - 0-2 over his last four starts, with an ERA of 5.25 in those 24 innings. He’s generally been pitching deep enough, going 6+ in six of his last eight, but lately has been vulnerable to the long ball, with five in July, responsible for half the earned runs Davis has allowed. PetCo should help there, though it didn’t seem too much of a godsend for Owings.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Teixeira was traded to the Angels, so the possibility of him coming to Arizona has been removed by this move. And, perhaps as importantly, the odds of Jackson, Tracy, etc. leaving have been reduced. That’s a relief: Teixiera would likely have been only a minor boost to production and even taking into account the draft picks, it’s hard to see how it would have been an overall gain for the Diamondbacks, particularly short-term.

In a reverse of last night, I won’t be able to see much of the game, though I should be able to comment, as we’re at the IZW show at The Sets tonight. This might mean azreous is doing the recap - hopefully maintaining his winning streak in this area! - but I’ll await confirmation on that in the comments. As always, we’ll also be keeping an eye on the Dodgers and Rockies, to see how they are doing [and Colorado are already three up on Pittsburgh].

Jack Magruder reports so this afternoon. I imagine this doesn’t come as too much of a shock - Petit will replace him in the rotation, as of Saturday, with Jailen Peguero getting to step up from Tucson and move into the bullpen. I imagine that will likely be a short-term assignment, with Juan Cruz almost ready to come back. How long Owings stays down with the Sidewinders is harder to say. There has clearly been something very wrong with him over the last couple of months: is it mechanical or mental, and in either case, is it fixable?

I certainly hope so: it’s a shame that a season which started with such promise has now turned around so radically. However, he can take comfort from past history - Jose Valverde was similarly optioned down to Tucson after imploding during the 2006 season, and returned in full force, to lead the majors in saves for 2007. Fingers crossed Micah can be similarly “cured”, sort out his command, work on his third pitch, and return to the good form he showed for us during April.