Daily Notes: Zack Wheeler Debuts Today, For Your Information

June 18, 2013

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: New York NL at Atlanta, 19:10 ET
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: New York NL at Atlanta, 19:10 ET
The Purpose of This Post, Predominantly
The purpose of this post predominantly is to prolong the author’s employment with FanGraphs, Inc., by another day.

The Purpose of This Post, Less Predominantly
The purpose of this post less predominantly is to announce how largely celebrated right-handed prospect Zack Wheeler is starting this game for the Mets.

Regarding Wheeler, Very Basic Information Concerning Him
Wheeler was drafted sixth overall by the San Francisco Giants out of a Georgia high school in 2009. He was acquired by the Mets in the trade that sent Carlos Beltran to San Francisco in 2011. His stuff is considered to be rather excellent. He’s posted more strikeouts (420) than innings (391.1) as a minor leaguer.

Regarding Wheeler, More Advanced Information Concerning Him
More advanced information concerning Wheeler will appear later today, courtesy real-live prospect analyst Marc Hulet.

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Regarding Wheeler, His Place Among Different Prospect Lists
Here’s where Wheeler ranked on assorted notable prospect lists this preseason:

Baseball America: 11th.
Baseball Prospectus: 5th.
Bullpen Banter: 7th.
Marc Hulet: 9th.
Keith Law: 13th.
John Sickels: 15th.

Action Footage: Wheeler’s Curveball
Here’s footage of Wheeler’s curveball to former minor-league teammate Gary Brown from a June 1st game between Mets Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas and Giants affiliate Fresno:

Action Footage: Wheeler’s Changeup, Maybe
Here’s footage of Wheeler’s changeup, maybe — or, of a fastball with considerable run and depth — to Fresno’s Todd Linden, also from that June 1st game:

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
Chicago AL at Minnesota | 20:10 ET
Dylan Axelrod (74.0 IP, 124 xFIP-, 0.5 WAR) faces Mike Pelfrey (64.2 IP, 123 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR). Insofar as any baseball game could potentially offer Entertainment Nonpareil, so could this game between the White Sox and Twins potentially offer Entertainment Nonpareil. Insofar as the game features two below-average pitchers and two below-average offenses, however, it’s not particularly likely.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Minnesota Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 6.1.

Note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Chris Archer*	TB	6	9	5	9	0	BOS	Alfredo Aceves	13:05
Matt Harvey	NYN	10	6	9	8	8	ATL	Alex Wood*	13:10
Ervin Santana	KC	7	4	6	7	5	CLE	Ubaldo Jimenez	19:05
Hyun-Jin Ryu	LAN	7	2	5	4	5	NYA	Phil Hughes	19:05
Ross Detwiler	WAS	4	2	5	2	8	PHI	Cliff Lee	19:05
Jeff Francis	COL	6	10	6	5	4	TOR	Esmil Rogers*	19:07
Zach Britton*	BAL	4	8	7	7	9	DET	Jus. Verlander	19:08
Zack Wheeler*	NYN	14	6	9	8	4	ATL	Paul Maholm	19:10
Charlie Morton*	PIT	6	6	6	4	7	CIN	Mat Latos	19:10
Jake Odorizzi*	TB	7	9	7	9	5	BOS	Felix Doubront	19:10
Jarrod Parker	OAK	3	7	6	3	10	TEX	Yu Darvish	20:05
Dylan Axelrod	CHA	1	1	1	3	0	MIN	Mike Pelfrey	20:10
Alfredo Figaro*	MIL	8	4	6	3	6	HOU	Jordan Lyles	20:10
Jeff Samardzija	CHN	10	5	8	3	9	STL	Ad. Wainwright	20:15
Nathan Eovaldi*	MIA	6	1	5	3	7	AZ	Randall Delgado*	21:40
Jer. Bonderman*	SEA	5	4	6	6	7	LAA	Joe Blanton	22:05
Andrew Cashner	SD	6	8	6	6	5	SF	Matt Cain	22:15

To learn how Pitcher and Team NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.

18 Comments

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Steve

12 years ago

That Mets-Brave doubleheader is must-watch baseball. Unfortunately Paul Maholm brings it down a little bit, but the first game is also Harvey vs. the major league debut of Alex Wood!

Pirates Hurdles

Reply to Steve

I’m sure you mean 1st MLB start for Wood, he has 6 bullpen appearances.

Bronnt

Reply to Pirates Hurdles

It’s his debut as a starter, then.