Yates for Redmond

So it was pretty inevitable that Yates was going to be dealt or the braves would try to sneak him through waivers right around opening day. I think even then he would have been snatched up, so I am glad the Braves got something out of him.

Now to evaluate what we got in return: Todd Redmond is a control specialist. He walks about 2 guys per 9IP. That level has been pretty constant and I think we can depend on that unless he gets shelled a few times and tries to be overly fine. Looking at his minor league numbers, he looks to project to about 6K/9IP. Which isn't bad, especially compared to his extremely low walk rate. Where he got in trouble last year was by giving up a lot more hits. However, his homerun rate didn't jump drastically, which would lead one to believe he was victimized by a lot of unlucky hits or he played in front of really bad defenses.

Pitchers rarely ever learn control, or they do a lot less than people think they can. Scouts have long held you can't teach velocity, but I think the stats show that you can't teach the kind of control that redmond has. However, since he isn't a power pitcher he is going to need to continue developing pitches in order to get guys out at the major league level. From what I hear he already has a great change. He likely needs to develop some sort of moving fast pitch (be it a hard slider or a sinker or a cutting fastball) and a curve to be a viable #4 or better ML starter. However, that is in the realm of possibility. What he can't do is continue to rely on just his change, as he will have to become over fine, which will lead to walks, which will take away the one thing he has going for him, his control. So how far away does that put him? I'd guess at least 2 years at best. Even then I'd only put his chances of ever starting a game for the Braves at 30% (not counting the Richmond Braves).

Yates of course is a better player right now than Redmond. However, as far as getting something out of Yates, I think we got more than I expected. Yates wasn't going to make the team, and if nothing else, I hope he does well with the Pirates.