Felix Jorge - 2015

[ashbury]

Felix De Jesus (Estevez) Jorge

 

Born: January 2, 1994 (age 21 this season)

Birthplace: Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

Signed as an international free agent 2010, $250K

Height: 6' 2"

Weight: 170

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Bats in theory: Right

Pitching arsenal: fastball (mid-90s), curveball, change

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/2/4/89136424/cuts/jorge_pic_whtrhiaq_62yu7umy.jpg

 

There was initial confusion about this pitcher's name when bloggers began writing about him. Some had him as Felix Jorge while others had him as Jorge Felix. The major sites (b-r.com, fangraphs, milb.com) are in agreement that his first name is Felix and his last name is Jorge.

 

Felix spent his first two professional years in the relatively low-pressure environments of the Dominican Summer League and the Gulf Coast League, and he put up good numbers. In 2013 the slender righty moved up to Elizabethton in the rookie-designation Appalachian League. There he pitched 61 innings in 12 starts, impressing with 72 strikeouts, and he kept runners off the bases sufficiently to result in a 2.95 ERA for the season. His performance and potential was noticed by those who compile rankings of Twins prospects, propelling him to top-20 status heading into 2014.

 

He was duly promoted to single-A Cedar Rapids for 2014 and the season started off for him with a "bang". As in, "something went terribly wrong".

 

He pitched one hitless inning of relief, then made 8 starts, only two of which could be remotely termed "quality". He gave up the longball at an alarming rate, baserunners were plentiful, and the runners were scoring. By late May he had been relegated to the bullpen. All in all, his strikeouts were down to around 5 per inning, he allowed almost 2 hits+walks per inning, and there were 9 home runs in only 39 innings - a combination which led to an unsightly ERA of exactly 9.

 

Felix was sent back to Extended Spring Training at the beginning of June, to wait for Elizabethton's 68-game season, in effect a demotion. Something good happened during this period, because at Elizabethton he looked like a different pitcher - or maybe it was a different pitcher who had been in Iowa and now we had the real Felix Jorge back.

 

Pitching in mainly 5-inning stints, he didn't give up a single run until his fourth game, and didn't give up a home run until his 10th start. All in all, he re-established a good strikeout rate of 8.3 per 9 innings, allowed barely more than a baserunner per inning, and compiled an ERA of 2.59.

 

Felix Jorge begins 2015 at Cedar Rapids once again. Despite his putrid showing there last year, he is on my list of 30 prospects to watch this season, and I was happy to be able to "adopt" him here. Here is his page from last year, containing lots of good insights.

[ashbury]

Felix has gotten off to a fantastic start at Cedar Rapids. He started the April 13 game versus Beloit and limited them to 2 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings of shutout ball, with 10 strikeouts.

[ashbury]

Felix had another above average start, this time at Burlington on April 19. In his 5 innings he allowed a run on 5 hits and 2 walks. Nine Bees trudged back to their dugout after striking out against him. The only baserunner to attempt a steal was caught.

 

So the early season totals have him with a microscopic ERA of 0.75, a WHIP under 1, and an other-worldly SO/9 above 14. It's well to remind myself that it's only two games.

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

No matter how many games into the season it is or in what league, any time a pitcher in the Twins organization strikes out batters at the rate Jorge is big news. I am excited to follow his next few starts. Given his time in CR last year, I wondered if he continues his good showing whether he might get a midseason call up.

[ashbury]

Felix Jorge was named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week, for the week ending April 19. Congratulations to him!

 

 

http://metrosportsreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27601:kernels-jorge-named-mwl-pitcher-of-the-week&catid=234:kernels-home&Itemid=429

[ashbury]

Felix took a rather hard-luck loss tonight, 2-1, despite giving up only 4 hits and 1 walk in 6 innings, notching 5 strikeouts. He did hit one batter, and that was instrumental in the run-scoring fourth inning. The Kernels' bats just weren't going, and couldn't pick him up this time.

[ashbury]

Today Felix Jorge was the losing pitcher again, this time surrendering three earned runs in an eventual 5-2 loss to the Clinton LumberKings. In 6 IP of work he allowed 9 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5. The three runs came on a homer in the second inning by first baseman Kristian Brito who up to now had been off to a slow start. That inning could have been worse but the first batter to reach base got thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.

 

Better luck next game, Felix!

 

His early season's resume is still very good looking, with an ERA of 2.25 in 24 innings of work covering four starts, with a WHIP of only slightly above 1.0 and just the one home run, while striking out more than one batter per inning pitched. He has received Honorable Mention for TD's Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher Of The Month!

[ashbury]

Today's game at Beloit was much better for Felix Jorge. In 6 innings he allowed just one run on 3 hits (and not walks), striking out five Snappers in the process. He did not get credit for the 3-2 win, as the bullpen allowed a tying run before the game winner was plated in the top of the ninth.

[ashbury]

Another pretty good game for Felix. Only one of the three runs was earned, although the unearned ones came via his own fault (didn't cover first properly).

 

I'm not a big fan of counting unearned runs when it's the pitcher's own mistake - I do have some slight sympathy with wanting to separate a pitcher's ability at throwing the ball from absolutely everything else - but if you are evaluating a pitcher then you get the complete package. Sez I.

 

Anyway, five hits and one walk, three strikeouts, 6.1 innings. Not his best work, but he kept them in the game, which eventually was won in 13 innings. His season numbers remain very good, with an ERA just a touch under 2, and just a touch more than a strikeout per inning.

[ashbury]

Six innings tonight versus Peoria. Three hits, two walks. A solo home run accounted for one of the two runs scored against. Only two strikeouts were notched. He left with a 3-2 lead, and that's how the game ended, leaving him with a 2-2 season W/L record. All in all, just another day at the office for Felix Jorge. This was his seventh start of the season. I wonder if this steady string of excellence means a mid-season call-up to Ft Myers is coming?

[ashbury]

I've been remiss. Since last report, Felix Jorge has continued to pitch well. Four more starts, at least 6 innings in each, aggregate ERA of 2.93. Opposing batters are hitting only .186 off of him in this span, and only a .580 OPS. However those numbers mask 5 home runs, accounting for a lot of the 10 total runs (1 unearned) scored against him.

 

All in all, his seasonal ERA stands at 2.44. His strikeout rate remains a bit lower than might have been hoped, only 7.3 per 9 innings. But it's shaping up as a very good year.

[ashbury]

Two more good starts since the last report. Six innings each, one earned run (and an unearned one) and none, six baserunners and five, five strikeouts and three, respectively. And no more home runs. Season ERA down to 2.20. Hip hip Jorge!

[ashbury]

I can't do better than simply quote Jeremy's minor league report:

 

Felix Jorge was the man on Wednesday. He pitched eight innings of six-hit, one-walk, shutout baseball, striking out seven. He picked up his fourth win and his ERA dropped to 2.00.

 

Felix was awarded TD Pitcher of the Day honors for Wednesday.

[ashbury]

According to Seth's minor league leader board, Felix is third among all Twins prospect starters with greater than 64 innings, with a 2.00 ERA, third in walks per nine innings at 1.8, and Number One in WHIP at 0.90.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/19126-article-twins-minor-league-leader-board-through-july-10/

[ashbury]

It was a good month of July, up until the very end. Five starts, an ERA of 2.78 and 27 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. 

 

But that masks a very rough 6-1 loss to the Clinton LumberKings on the 29th.

 

Let's just give him a mulligan on that one, shall we? For the season his ERA stands at 2.49 and he's striking out 7.4 per nine.

[ashbury]

Felix's August was poor by his standards. He had an occasional good game, but in too many others gave up runs at a mere-mortal rate. Including a short relief stint on Sept 3, his final six regular season games totaled up to a 3.74 ERA, and he struck out "only" 25 in 33.2 innings. I don't believe a slightly high BABIP of .324 explains enough of this away.

 

However... come playoff time, the man stood up in a big way. He shouldered 7.1 innings and held potent Quad Cities to two runs in a 5-2 win for Cedar Rapids.

 

Season totals, then, were a highly acceptable 2.79 ERA in 142 innings (22 starts), striking out 7.2 per 9 innings while walking only 2.0. It may be that he wore down physically as the season passed the halfway point - he remains listed at only 170 pounds on a 6'2" frame. Until he fills out a bit, it may be best to keep the innings load down a bit so that he can develop without dealing at the same time with too much fatigue. But it seems clear to me that he has earned a promotion to Ft Myers for 2016, as well as putting the nightmare of Cedar Rapids in 2014 behind him for good.

[ashbury]

To quote Yogi Berra: it ain't over.

 

Last night Felix Jorge pitched the Kernels to a playoff win over West Michigan. Yes, the team scored 5 runs behind him, but a solitary tally would have sufficed. And yes the bullpen (Bard and LeBlanc) contributed significantly. But... six innings of shutout ball - four hits, four strikeouts, two walks - in the pressure of the playoffs, WOW!

[jimbo92107]

Six-two, 170lbs. I'd love to see this kid pack on about twenty pounds of muscle in his thighs, calves and upper body. At 190lbs, Felix Jorge could dominate.