TN 62.01 Could the Shredders Have a Living, Breathing, Pitcher?

[Chuck V]

For five of the last six years, the Austin Shredders have posted team ERAs above 5.00. The lone exception being 2058, back when Mus’ad Amr had talent and Glenn Hargrove was a 24-year old prospect instead of a 29-year old suspect. In the last decade the Shredders pitching has been abysmal and there is no getting around that.
The fault lies mainly in the Shredders choice of 1st round picks. For the past four seasons the Shredders have drafted corner outfielders with their 1st round pick. Takanobu 'Heartbreaker' Komatsu, Luis Rubio, Jorge Herrera and Julio Blanco. Komatsu has turned into a force at the plate, though he may be out of his depth in center field, Luis Rubio is a gold glove winner and had a solid rookie season, Jorge Herrera tore up the league this season as a rookie and Blanco looks like he will be able to contribute as soon as next year. Of course that left the pitching staff to assemble whatever they could in a league not known for being a pitchers league. Hence, the craptastic team ERAs.
This season, Shredders GM focused on arms and he may have gotten the cream of the crop. Harry “Steamboat Bransington, a 19-year old right hander out of Australia College fell to Austin at #6 and the Shredders snapped him right up. Bransington throws five quality pitches as well as a developing curve ball. His pitches have good movement and while he won’t blow it by anybody, he can still throw in the low to mid-90s and is still growing.

Bransington began the year with the Winnipeg Black Drums (AA) winning all three starts and posting a 1.96 ERA. He was then moved up to AAA and proved as equally dominant in Odessa, pitching for the Hobos. In four starts he posted a 3-1 record and a 1.84 ERA. His coaches told the player development department in their nightly calls that the kid was ready.
Austin was ready for it’s pitching savior. The news was full of stories of the Aussie and fans packed the ballpark to see Bransington’s debut. Bransington would face the Mexico City Aztecs. Everybody leaned forward to watch.

Double.
Walk.
Single.
Grand Slam Home run.
After allowing two more runs in the inning, Bransington got the final out to end the top of the first. In the top of the second it was more of the same.
Solo Homer.
Walk.

Manager David Pinto had seen enough. Walking to the mound he collected the ball from Harry, patted him on the shoulder and the Shredders 1st round pick left to a round of boos. Austin fans were left wondering. “Did we pay 4.8 million for this?"
Some pitchers would have folded right there. Some organizations would have sent him back down for more seasoning. Not the Shredders. They believed in Steamboat Bransington and besides, six runs in one plus inning was not the worst start they had seen all year. Let’s get him a second start.
Whether it was nerves or spicy barbeque or whatever, Bransington got the ball again five days later and threw 6.1 IP of one run ball. His next start was even better, coming within one out of blanking the Phoenix Talons. His next two starts were more of the same. Bransington was here and maybe Austin fans have a pitcher they can root for?
Harry “Steamboat” Bransington sits at 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA. He likely has one more start on Tuesday the 26th, the day before the season ends vs. Boise. He will need to work on some training in the offseason, developing his pitches and maybe adding some velocity are probably in the cards. But, if Bransington can continue his development and avoid the Edmonton/Austin pitching curse, the Shredders fans will know they have somebody they can count on every fifth day to give them a chance.

[RonCo]

It's a debut he'll be able to take to the speaker circuit for the rest of his life.

And, just saying, you could run these through Lane's Link Generator before posting. It's really cool and takes only about 5 seconds.

https://lanegroup.net/bba/linkgenerator/

[Trebro]

Can't believe he's up in the majors already. But I guess these draftees are just too polished for normal development curve. Really hope that's fixed because it wrecks immersion for me.

Hope he does great for you!

[RonCo]

Yeah, I hate it when the game goes all Bob Feller and Dwight Gooden and Felix Hernandez on us.

[RonCo]

As an aside, Bransington's James Ranks have gone ballistic from the start. To Alan's point, almost every start will move you up the ranks at first but he's been eating up 10-15 points a start. That's pretty good.

Month	Day	Pitcher	Team	Points
8	28	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	300
9	2	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	310.46
9	8	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	325.97
9	14	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	336.2
9	20	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	344.36
9	26	H. Bransington	Austin Shredders	355.05