Casey Kotchman hitting third?

Shannon Drayer writes that the coaching staff is thinking about hitting Kotchman third.

Casey Kotchman hitting third is something we could see a lot of. The coaches have been working with Kotchman on adjustments to free up his swing and while Wak is not asking for more power from him he is optimistic that he will be able to handle hitting third.

“With Ichiro and Figgy at the top of the line up getting on, Kotchman can move those guys even more. This gives you the affordability to push Milton back to the four hole and still get production out of the three. He gives you quality at bats and with that you can stack them four deep at least with guys you feel are going to give you real good at bats.”

While I don’t necessarily oppose the idea of Bradley getting bumped back a spot (though I’m more than fine with him at #3), Kotchman is not the type of guy I want hitting at the top of the lineup.  Good not great OBP, not much power, and as a slow groundball hitter, he hits into a lot of double plays.

The staff is trying to reverse his groundball trend, but I’d still feel more comfortable with him towards the end of the lineup where he is less likely to snuff a rally.

That said, the lineup is pretty weak against right handed pitching, so filling the middle of the order is easier said than done.

Shawn Kelley stretching out

In the above linked post, Drayer also mentions that the Mariners are working on stretching Shawn Kelley out. The implication from the blog post is that it’s just a move to give the bullpen more flexibility.  This would seem like a clear hint that the team is planning on going with an 11 man bullpen as expected.  That’s good to hear.

But Kelley was talking about being a starting pitcher, and he may have dropped some hints on radio (I didn’t hear it myself) that he wants to start in the big leagues.

I wouldn’t count on it, but it is interesting.  Kelley has good command, good fastball velocity, a good slider, and he throws a changeup, though we don’t know how good it is because he’s needed to use it so sparingly as a reliever.

I think that Kelley could have a shot at being a solid starter, which makes this intriguing given that Jason Vargas is the favorite to win the fifth spot in the rotation.

There are two things I’ll look at with Kelley the starter.  One, the changeup is key.  He only threw 11 of them last season, so the data doesn’t offer up very much.  It has to be a decent pitch for him to get the same lefties out multiple times per game.  Two, health.  Kelley had Tommy John surgery in college, and hit the DL in 2007 with an elbow strain after pitching about 140 innings between college and pro ball.  He’s been a reliever ever since that year and has avoided trouble, but I worry about how he would respond to pitching big innings again.  I don’t like his motion for starting.

But the chances of us seeing Kelley as a starter right now seem slim.  I like the idea of Kelley being able to pitch 2-3 innings in any given game, though.

Ian Snell is lovin’ it

Drayer writes in another post that Snell is feeling good.

Ian Snell made a second strong start going three innings, allowing one hit, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts. The performance left him giddy. Hey, I am just quoting him.

“I get giddy now, wanting to be out there.” Giddy, really? “Yeah, happy. Ready to go.”

Considering how unhappy he was about his time in Pittsburgh, this is good to hear.  This doesn’t necessarily mean anything as far as his performance goes, but it could.  If he’s happy and comfortable, he could be more receptive to tips from pitching coach Rick Adair, for example.  Just a thought…