More Aumont

by ~ March 7th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Apparently I missed the USA/Canada game.  Oops.

Hopefully it will re-air somewhere, but Phillippe Aumont is drawing a lot of praise.  Here’s what Baseball America wrote:

Righthander Philippe Aumont, just turned 20, who was taken by the Seattle Mariners with the 11th pick overall in 2007, made a big imprecision as he pitched out of a bases loaded jam with none out in the seventh to keep Canada within two runs.

After Aumont loaded the bases on two hits and walk, he retired David Wright on a bloop to short stop and struck out Youkilis and Curtis Granderson.

Aumont’s first professional season was with Class-A Wisconsin last year when he was 4-4, 2.75, in 15 starts games, eight of them starts. He was hampered somewhat in the season with an elbow problem that he believes was tendinitis.

“Here is a (20)-year-old kid going out there in front of 40,000 people, probably the biggest crowd he’s ever faced and his composure is great,” Whitt said, “He got himself into a situation that you know we were touch and go on because we were told that he was no supposed to throw more than 25 pitches. And it was like that 25th pitch he struck the guy out.

“I’m going, ‘what do I do?’ I mean, what if he fouls that pitch off, do I take the guy out or what? I was in deep discussion with (bench coach) Greg Hamilton and he said ‘you know you’re going to have to wear this with Seattle if he has to throw an extra pitch.

“But this is a great character builder for him, I think. I shows that he can play on this stage.”

“Today I proved I can do something special,” Aumont said. “I play against A-ball guys and I’m facing Chipper Jones, David Wright, all these all-stars.”

While we’re talking about Aumont, Seattle Sports Insider and Mariners Minors both make solid points about his locked front leg.  It is typically viewed as a problem that needs to be fixed, but if it’s not hindering his ability or threatening his health, why not just leave it?  It doesn’t always look pretty, but if he’s getting the job done shouldn’t he just be left alone?  I would think that we should have a pretty good idea of how Seattle views this after the 2009 season.

Bonus Awesomeness: Beyond the Boxscore has pitch/fx data for Aumont.  Sweet!

«
»

  • Slurve

    There will be a re-run at 10 PM today.

  • SABR Matt

    wow…Youkilis is a tough K too…that’s the kind of outing that I can get excited about. :D

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    It doesn’t always look pretty, but if he’s getting the job done shouldn’t he just be left alone? I would think that we should have a pretty good idea of how Seattle views this after the 2009 season.

    Can’t the same thing be said about Strasburg? You devoted an entire post about being him being a huge question mark, but if what he’s doing is flat out dominating, why bother even bring it up?

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    Can’t the same thing be said about Strasburg? You devoted an entire post about being him being a huge question mark, but if what he’s doing is flat out dominating, why bother even bring it up?

    That’s completely different. The locked front leg for Aumont is something that would normally be seen as causing control problems. If his control is fine despite it, then perhaps it can be left alone. The mechanical references to Strasburg are about him being an injury risk, and have nothing to do with performance.

  • http://www.section331.com section331

    SABRMatt – it was fun to watch Youk strike out, too. Aumont’s stuff is wicked sweet, and to finally get to see it was pretty cool (I never have).

    Jon – is there any sort of photo resource for the ‘inverted W’, and the players that are guilty of it? Or was that one put together specifically for Strasburg by someone else? Is that issue something that is generally fixed by the time they hit the majors?

  • Slurve

    I’m mad I stayed up to try and see the game re-air and they skip the bottom of the 7th when Aumont pitches…

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    Section331 – I don’t quite understand your question. Could be reading it wrong, I dunno. Shoot me an email.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I’m mad I stayed up to try and see the game re-air and they skip the bottom of the 7th when Aumont pitches…

    I feel ya. I fired up the DVR this morning and was so happy to see that they went from the top of the 7th to the top of the 8th. At least they showed the highlights later on ESPN, which equated to three pitches, but it’s better than nothing.

  • http://www.section331.com section331

    Jon – will do, thanks. I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’m probably not communicating effectively. :/

  • http://1995mariners.com hatomama

    Just to interject here that the New York Times did a profile and write-up of Aumont’s showing, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/sports/baseball/10toronto.html?ref=sports

    It’s basically more praise for what he did, and talking how he speaks French. It’s also a sign that more and more people will be keeping track of Aumont this year. But Canada’s pitching coach, Denis Boucher, throws in a Big Unit comparison too: “If you look at him and you look at his arm angle — low three-quarters — you would think about Randy Johnson from the right side.”

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    ^A lot of good quotes in there. Nice find.