They’re working on converting him to a relief role. He’s been a starter in the minors, but his performance dips notably after the third inning. So they’re hoping to keep him in relief where he can throw as hard as possible without pacing himself, and also avoid later-innings control issues.
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The AA Southern League is also using the trial “enhanced grip” baseball.
Some pitchers have been having issues controlling it’s movement which may be why his walks and hit batters are so high.
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Long-term, they would still like him to be a starter. This conversion, for now, is short-term (2023) only, based on their current needs. The Spring of 2024 will be interesting.
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Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the absolute genius that is naming your team “The Trash Pandas”. I wish I came up with that. A lot of credit is given to The Savanna Bananas but Tradh Panda is in another league.
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A great team to be sponsored by Rumpke. No piling on please.
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Yes! Ps. Why has MU not contacted them for naming rights. Like if you put their name on Millett and called it “the dump” you’d never need to renovate it and we’d have money to fund the teams at a higher level. Problems solved!!!
Angels lost 6-2, but Sam went 2 innings and gave up 1 earned run in his MLB debut!
Edit: 4 strikeouts, 4 hits, and 2 walks.
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A rocky start. Too bad.
He was better than the box score. Only 1 hard hit ball on him in 2 innings. 3 of the 4 hits were bloops or bleeders.
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Second MLB appearance last night in the Angels’ loss to the White Sox. Sam pitched the bottom of the 7th. Gave up a leadoff single, then got a double play ball and a groundout to retire the side.
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Sam is settling in and doing well. Last night he got used for the first time in a high leverage situation as he was used as the 8th inning guy in a close game and pitched a scoreless inning and got his first major league hold. Sam now has 6 straight scoreless innings over his last 4 performances and the Angels are starting to trust him. Over 8 innings his ERA is 1.13. However, there is a reason to be concerned that he is not yet where he needs to be. In his 8 innings his strikeout to walk ratio is 7/7 and his WHIP is 1.50. Both of those stats say that he is a little lucky with his ERA and likely to give up a big inning soon because of all the baserunners he is putting on base.
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Last night Sam pitched the 10th and 11th innings, 2 scoreless innings which started off with a runner on second against the Rangers, one of the best offenses in baseball, and then got his first major league win when the Angels exploded for 4 runs. He now has a win and a hold in his last two outings and has given up just one run in 10 innings, an ERA of 0.90. We use holds in one of my fantasy leagues and I picked him up this morning. First Miami player I have owned since Adam Eaton.
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Sam with the 2 inning Save tonight. No baserunners and 2 K’s. 
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Noticed that since Sam gave up 2 earned runs in one inning off relief on July 3rd , he has not appeared in a game. Not sure if he’s hurt or the Angels just aren’t using him.
He’s back on the DL. Shoulder issues.
Bummer…thx for the info Eddie.
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Now on 60 day IL…out until September
Back on the 60 day IL.
Was supposed to be ready for spring training after having shoulder surgery in October and was on track as of December. In February reports had him missing a month of the season, now a minimum of two months.
Not looking good!