Real emotional blast

Photo credit - James Lamb

Orange County, CA – It’s been quite some time since sharing any ideas or experiences around professional baseball. No excuse is probably good enough, so no reason will be offered. All emotions attached to the full season minor league games within the Kansas City Royals farm system stay relatively calm until every fifth or sixth day. Sure we pay attention to every game for the team John Lamb (2-2, 3.32) plays with but the real emotional blast only surfaces whenever he “toes the slab.” Fortunately, he continues to serve his fellow Wilmington Blue Rocks, Advanced Class A affiliate of the Royals, as a starting pitcher which gives his friends and family time to recuperate along with his arm between appearances.

Anyone that enjoys the game appreciates the wide spectrum of emotions during the slow tendencies involved with play. An eager anticipation is experienced by coaches, players and fans alike. The variety of blood pressure levels attached to every pitch, ball in play, catch or throw is uniformly shared throughout all whom love the game. A pitcher trying to throw a quality pitch with a batter in the box clearly begins the entire emotional process. This simple example of anxiety, one pitch at a time, can be magnified to unbelievable levels when your son pitches.

Photo credit - Brad Glazier

John has had four starts in the Carolina League this year. He missed an appearance due to the club directing him to skip a start for additional arm rest. This is his first full season effort since undergoing elbow surgery in June 2011 when he was playing for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Double A affiliate in the Texas League. Any major mid-season injury can make an athlete feel like time stands still during the process of recovery. Watching one season end and another begin without participating can be a challenge on any player. The positive note during this past off-season was that the Kansas City Royals management placed John on the 40 man roster. Lefty sounded to be a little closer to expectations this past Tuesday night in Wilmington, DE as he helped with the fantastic team effort of ending a seven game slide.

The kid is set to hold ball again this Saturday in Lynchburg, VA against the Hillcats, Atlanta Braves affiliate, based on the team’s current forecast of starting rotations. Listen in on the game’s broadcast for free at BlueRocks website and get a little taste of professional minor league baseball. The Lamb’s will positively be connected for another real emotional blast of adrenaline. 

Lamb matches his shortest Carolina League start

Wilmington, DE - John Lamb might not have been at his best tonight, or missed many bats, during the opening game of the important series with the Potomac Nationals, but he managed to survive the abuse without much damage to his combined Minor League Baseball leading ERA. Lamb reached his pitch totals earlier than most of his previous starts and was removed from the game following the fourth inning of work.

Photo credit - Keith Lovett

The Wilmington Blue Rocks hitters were baffled throughout the game by a fantastic pitching performance from the Nationals starter, Daniel Rosenbaum, who spread out 5 hits over eight shut-out innings.



The Blue Rocks bull-pen was called to maintain the 2-0 deficit in the fifth, but failed to keep the game close by allowing another eight runs to cross before the nightmare was over.



Lamb finished the night with 70 pitches, 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 5 strike-outs, and 0 walks. John also had a throwing error in the 1st inning on an attempted pick-off play at first-base. My conversation with John after the game confirmed his bad decision to even attempt the pick-off during that time of day at Frawley Stadium, due to the effects of the setting sun.



Professional baseball is a series of constant adjustments during a player’s career and development. John Lamb has plenty of adjustments ahead through this journey to his third team of the season. Three different hats this season has him grinning from ear to ear, tonight.



Sincere thanks to the entire Kansas City Royals organization for the continued challenges and opportunity they have provided my son with his recent promotion to Class AA level in the Texas League with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. The official announcement will more than likely be public before tomorrow night's game for game two against the Potomac Nationals.

John Lamb pitching in last 2010 Spring training game

A little look at the past for John Lamb before he shipped off to Burlington, IA to join the Bees of the Midwest League in the Class A level of professional baseball for the Kansas City Royals organization.As many of you know, John is currently playing for the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the Carolina League at the Advanced Class A level. Next start is set for Monday when the Blue Rocks return home in Wilmington, DE.

Wife finds a nice article about John Lamb

My wife Colleen, found a nice short list for pitchers during the 2010 season that was written by a well respected Major League Baseball employee, Jonathan Mayo. I only have one thing to say about the following article…wow!

Article was posted July 22, 2010 by Jonathan Mayo on his B:3 Big, Bald and Beautiful MLBlogs site.

We're on a roll here now and I wanted to keep the momentum going. Over the last two days, I provided 10 potential candidates for Player of the Year in the Minor Leagues. Now it's time to move on to pitchers.

Once again, here's the disclaimer: Pitcher of the Year does not necessarily mean prospect of the year. I'm looking at performance, not status. With that in mind, here are three nominees for your consideration. As always, please interact and give suggestions in comments.

Joe Gardner, RHP, Indians: Not a bad first season for the 2009 third-round selection. The right-hander has held hitters at two levels to a .188 BAA, fourth lowest in MiLB. At the same time, he's been a ground ball machine, topping MiLB with a 3.50 GO/AO ratio. He's struck out 113 in 104 innings and has a 1.07 WHIP to go along with a 2.77 ERA.

John Lamb, LHP, Royals: Other arms in this system may get the attention (Crow, Montgomery), but that should change now. The 2008 fifth-round pick just turned 20 this month and has already jumped a level, from Class A to Class A Advanced ball. And he's pitched better up a level. Overall, he leads Minor League Baseball with a 1.38 ERA and hitters have hit just .197 against him (good for seventh lowest in MiLB). His 0.98 WHIP is eighth lowest. He's seventh overall with 128 K's, doing that while walking just 32 in 110 2/3 IP.

Michael Pineda, RHP, Mariners: Just 21 years old, he's already in Triple-A. Combined, he's gone 11-1 with a 2.72 ERA in 18 starts. Over 106 IP, he's struck out 109 while walking just 26. The right-hander has held opposing hitters to a .219 batting average against (just .196 in his five Triple-A starts thus far).

Photo credit - Keith Lovett

 

With yesterday’s Wilmington Blue Rocks game being postponed due to heavy rains the Blue Rocks will try to play a double-header today in Kinston versus the Indians, Advanced Class A team on the Cleveland Indians.



Next start for John Lamb is set for Monday when the Blue Rocks return home to Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, DE.