Venom Vision: Archie Bradley and other top prospects
Jul 17, 2013, 7:52 PM | Updated: 7:52 pm
I love Archie Bradley. I think he’s going to be a star in the coming years at the top end of the rotation, but not now. Not in 2013.
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ rotation is a bit of mess coming out of the All-Star break, but if Kevin Towers and Co. can’t fill a rotation need with a trade and guys like Ian Kennedy and Trevor Cahill still aren’t getting the job done down the stretch, they should look in the direction of Randall Delgado and Tyler Skaggs.
It may not be as sexy as what the Los Angeles Dodgers will throw out over the final 60-plus games, but sacrificing the confidence of a long-term gem by throwing him into the fire to try and fix a short-term problem is not a smart baseball move.
If the D-backs don’t win the division this year because they didn’t land a big fish and instead resorted to the starting pitchers they already have on their roster, I can live with that.
If it means not rushing Archie Bradley until he’s ready, well, then in the big picture that’s not much of a loss at all.
Speaking of talented farmhands, in addition to Bradley, Matt Davidson and Chris Owings made quite a name for themselves over the past few days. Owings, a shortstop for Triple-A Reno, made several nice defensive plays in Team USA’s win in Sunday’s Futures Game. In that same game, Davidson, a third baseman for the Aces, hit a go-ahead two-run home run and claimed MVP honors. A day later he also won the Minor League Home Run Derby. Not bad, not bad at all.
There’s been debate about whether Owings or Davidson will ever play in Arizona, given the logjam currently on the infield, but save that talk for another day. For now, it’s nice to know that the D-backs’ pipleline extends further than just the mound.
