D.J. Baxendale - 2015

[formerly33]

Douglas James Baxendale, right-handed starting pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, was selected with the 310th overall pick by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas. Born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas on December 8th, 1990, the 24-year-old is currently listed as 6'2" and 190 lb. on his MILB player profile page.

 

D.J. Baxendale went to Sylvan Hills High School in Sherwood, Arkansas and committed to the University of Arkansas after graduating from high school in 2009. He started out his collegiate career from the bullpen, picking up 7 saves with an ERA of 3.58 and striking out 44 while walking just 18 in 60.1 innings as a freshman, but the following year he started 12 of 19 games and went 10-2 with an ERA of 1.58, striking out 77 and walking 21 in 85.1 innings.

 

D.J. Baxendale pitching for the Razorbacks (6/24/11) | photo by knowltont via Flickr

 

In his junior year in 2012, Baxendale was named a preseason All-American and the preseason Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year. In his final season with the Razorbacks, he went 8-5 with a 3.11 ERA and led his team in starts (20), innings pitched (107), and strikeouts (96). Leading up to the draft, he was selected as the 25th-best player in college baseball by College Baseball Daily and was ranked as the 85th-best draft prospect in 2012 by Baseball America.

 

Here is an interview with D.J. early on in the 2012 Razorbacks season.

 

Baxendale's scouting report as found on Live Draft Tracker reads:

 

"While Ryne Stanek, who missed being a Draft-eligible sophomore by a week, has been Arkansas' Friday starter this season, Baxendale has served as a perfect bookend, taking the ball on Sundays. The right-hander is more pitchability than pure stuff, with an average fastball and two average breaking balls he throws for strikes and mixes well. His fastball will top out at around 91-92 mph. When he keeps it down in the strike zone, it has pretty good sink and tail. Baxendale's slider is the better of the two secondary pitches, more of a sweeping breaking ball than one with hard bite. The curve is average and a bit slurvy, making one wonder if it might make sense for him to focus on one breaking ball in the future. He commands the ball well, moving it in and out and keeping hitters guessing. Baxendale's poise and competitiveness allow his stuff to play up, and while he certainly won't be among the first tier of college pitchers to go off the board, he's a solid advanced arm that could move quickly through a Minor League system."

 

Minor League Career

 

After being drafted by the Twins, D.J. Baxendale was sent to Elizabethton, where he dominated hitters from the bullpen, hurling just 7.2 innings in relief and striking out 16 with a 0.00 ERA before being promoted to Beloit, where he continued to pitch well, picking up 2 saves in 11 outings, striking out 15, and walking 1, with an ERA of 1.64 (0.96 on the year).

 

The following spring training he had a brilliant performance in which he struck out eight of the nine batters he faced (including #1 prospect Byron Buxton), throwing only one called ball. The Tenth Inning Stretch, a blog dedicated to covering the Twins' minor leagues, wrote of the outing, "This was one of the single most dominating pitching performances I have ever seen at any level of play. It was as if a major leaguer was pitching against Rookie league kids."

 

Baxendale started out the following year at Class A Advanced team Fort Myers Miracle, where he continued his phenomenal pitching performance, going 7-0 in 9 starts, posting a 1.10 ERA, and striking out 48 in 57.1 innings pitched.

 

Here is a video of Baxendale pitching on May 17th, 2013 vs. the Charlotte Stone Crabs. Baxendale went 7.0 innings, striking out 3 and walking 2, and the Miracle won 8-0.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r--WUxJK45I

 

Here is a link to an interview he did with the Miracle Insider Show prior to being called up to the Class AA New Britain Rock Cats on May 26th, just over a week after the outing shown in the video.

 

At AA, Baxendale's ERA skyrocketed to 5.63 (3.90 on the year) in his 16 starts at that level, and he posted a 5-7 mark, striking out 64 and walking 22. Though he did struggle a bit, he still managed to lead all the Twins' minor leaguers in wins that year.

 

D.J. Baxendale pitching in spring training (3/28/14) | photo by Bryan Green via Flickr

 

Unfortunately, however, his struggle continued the following year. He pitched for the Rookie level GCL Twins, A+ Fort Myers Miracle, and AA New Britain Rock Cats, picking up 4 wins and 7 losses and posting a 5.48 ERA with 63 strikeouts and 19 walks in 90.1 innings pitched on the year.

 

D.J. Baxendale tosses a complete game vs. the Dunedin Blue Jays - Fort Myers won 3-1 (7/13/14) | photo by Bryan Green via Flickr

 

Baxendale has shown great improvement this year on Class AA Chattanooga Lookouts; so far he has started 7 games, posting a 1.96 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 13 walks in 41.1 innings and picking up 3 wins and 0 losses.

 

D.J. Baxendale pitching for Chattanooga (4/24/15) | photo by Go BrAAves via Flickr

 

Looking to the Future

 

Baxendale has four pitches: a low 90's fastball with good sink and movement, an above average curveball, a slider, and a plus changeup. The most positive thing about it all is that he possesses the ability to throw any of these pitches in any given count for a strike. It is true that he has struggled in the past, but I think that he has a bright future for the Twins. Though he will most likely not be an ace, he has solid stuff, and it's going to be fun to watch him as he continues his journey through the minors.

 

Twitter: @Dbax24

[goulik]

If I remember right, 2013 was a lost year for him with injury and rehab and thus the poor numbers his first "full" year in AA...

[formerly33]

D.J. Baxendale started the game on Wednesday versus the Montgomery Biscuits, Tampa Bay's Class A affiliate.

 

Baxendale froze Joey Rickard to lead off the game but gave up 2 runs before finally getting out of the jam, picking up his 2nd strikeout of the game and stranding a runner at 2nd base. To go on record, in the bottom half of that inning, Byron Buxton hit his 1st of 2 triples on the game and then proceeded to score on an error by Montgomery's 2nd baseman Leonardo Reginatto.

 

Over 6 innings pitched, Baxendale faced 26 batters and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits (1 of which was a 2-out solo shot by Biscuits' right fielder Johnny Field in the 3rd), walked 2, and struck out 4 on 93 pitches, 60 of which were strikes.

 

Baxendale was replaced in the 7th by Jake Reed, who picked up the win after Chattanooga came back and scored 8 runs over the next 2 innings, beating Montgomery 11-5.

 

D.J. Baxendale now has 47.1 innings on the year, and his ERA currently stands at 2.47.

[formerly33]

D.J. Baxendale started the game on Saturday, May 30, against the Biloxi Shuckers. It was a blowout game right from the start, as Baxendale allowed 3 runs in the 1st inning, giving up a leadoff single and 2 doubles before finally getting out of it by striking out his 2nd batter of the game to end the inning. Coming back out for the 2nd, Baxendale allowed a leadoff double but was then able to get off without a problem, sending the next 3 batters down in order. However, when the 3rd rolled around, our Oswaldo Arcia's little brother Orlando led off the inning with a leadoff double. I'm telling you, that kid is hot. Then Baxendale proceeded to walk the next batter, which of course is no fun, but to top it off he gave up a 3-run home run to Shuckers' Michael Reed to make it a 7-0 game. Doug Mientkiewicz had had enough by that time, and he pulled D.J. from the game before he had recorded an out in the 3rd inning, replacing him with Madison Boer.

 

Biloxi won 11-8.

 

Baxendale's ERA is now up to 3.47. I seem to have adopted him at a most inopportune moment in his career. However, as a baseball fan, all I can do is keep hoping...and updating.

[ericchri]

"Miss, we have a Mr. Baxendale on line 1.  He sounds angry..."

[formerly33]

D.J. Baxendale pitched 2 innings in relief today for Chattanooga, replacing J.O. Berrios in the 4th and allowing 1 run on 1 hit while walking 2 and striking out 5. He struck out the side in the 5th, but 1 runner did reach on a throwing error by Miguel Sano. He was replaced in the 6th by Madison Boer, who went on to get the win as the Lookouts topped the Birmingham Barons 4-3.

 

I had been wondering why D.J. hadn't been pitching lately, but today I saw in J.O. Berrios's AAP page that he had been shelved with an arm injury. I don't know exactly what was going on and I can't find anything else besides that, but I'm just glad to see him back.

[formerly33]

I have not lived up to my own standards of posting for each and every pitching performance lately. DJ Baxendale has made at least one start since I last updated in which he didn't go very deep. I'm sure they'll work him in slowly.

 

His stats for the year are as follows:

 

W: 3

L: 1

ERA: 3.31

G: 11

GS: 10

IP: 54.1

H: 55

R: 20

ER: 20

HR: 3

HB: 0

BB: 20

IBB: 0

SO: 50

AVG: .261

WHIP: 1.38

GO/AO: 1:20

 

You know, there are pros to skipping out on my duties. I'd been so busy updating game by game that I'd overlooked the big picture, but I'm glad that I was forced to take the time to step back and check out his MiLB page since it reminded me of what a good season he's having. I am very pleased with his control thus far.

[Shane Wahl]

2015 AA statistics:

90.1 IP, 3.99 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 (76/30), 1.362 WHIP

 

The walks are up this year, but everything else went in the right direction this year. He is someone who should stick around in 2016 at AAA.

[formerly33]

D.J. Baxendale started this afternoon's game versus the Mobile BayBears and went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, walking 1, and striking out 3. He picked up his 5th win of the season as Chattanooga clobbered the BayBears 14-2.

[formerly33]

D.J. Baxendale has started 4 games since my last update, pitching 22 innings and allowing 8 runs on 26 hits while striking out 13 and walking 9.

[formerly33]

Baxendale's season stats:

 

W: 7

L: 5

ERA: 3.80

IP: 118.1

H: 126

ER: 50

BB: 40

SO: 92

AVG: .273

WHIP: 1.40