Aaron Slegers - 2018

[ashbury]

Aaron Allan Slegers (pronounced SLAY-gers)

 

Born: September 4, 1992 (age 25 this season)

Birthplace: Scottsdale, AZ

Signed via the amateur draft in 2013, fifth round (140th overall)

Height: 6' 10"

Weight: 245

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Bats: Right

Pitching arsenal: fastball, slider, circle change

Stats at baseball-reference.com

 

Aaron has been adopted for a second season by yours truly. The lazy approach is being taken at the outset, by a bit of cut-and-paste from last year's post.

 

The Twins signed him in 2013 after a three-year career at Indiana University, where he won Big Ten Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year honors in 2013, putting him in good company with Tyler Jay (UI 2015), Alex Wimmers (OSU 2009-10), and Glen Perkins (UM 2004).

 

After an initial season in Elizabethton he has moved up in the organization with pretty good speed, seeing time in both Cedar Rapids (A) and Ft Myers (A+) in 2014, Ft Myers and Chattanooga in 2015, and then Chattanooga again in 2016. 2017 was a solid year in Rochester, earning a mid-August callup to the majors for a spot start and then was added again in September. You can look up his numbers at the above link better than I can repeat them. He has done well at every stop - never consistently dominant, but always a workhorse getting the job done. Once in a while he has shut-down stuff, as witnessed by a short-game no-hitter in his first start last April. Aside from his get-the-feet-wet time in Rookie ball, he has always been used strictly as a starting pitcher.

 

He has a good fastball - I saw 94 on the radar gun during the one Spring game of his I watched, or 91 at times (maybe a sinker?). Off-speed at 86 but I don't know if he has anything really slow in his arsenal. He got a very nice "failed checked swing" for a strike 3 on one batter, and in the next inning I saw another called 3rd strike for a 3rd out. I have no idea if those were changeups or sliders. But those batters at least were not able to get a good read on his delivery - if it were the changeup it would be sweet - good two-strike changeups are always sweet, at least except if the batter is sitting on it.

 

I don't personally believe too much in slotting starting pitching prospects' ceilings as #5, #4, or whatever, but in those terms I do see Aaron as having a ceiling more like a #3 workhorse, and it's not impossible that in a few years he'd fill a #2 role in some rotation, maybe even ours. But right now he is fighting simply for a 25-man roster spot and would slot in as a #5-type if he is so fortunate, and he surely has a lot more work to do to learn the final tricks of the trade that let a pitcher succeed at the highest level.

 

Here is Seth Stohs's most recent TD article about Slegers, which contains lots of good tidbits that I didn't (directly [ ] ) plagiarize.

 

Here are his previous Twins Daily Adopt-A-Prospect pages:

Aaron Slegers Adopt-A-Prospect 2014

Aaron Slegers Adopt-A-Prospect 2017

[goulik]

Nice write up and links. Seths article was especially interesting. I must have missed it when he put it out. ( or forgot it... I'm getting older. This is a possibility too)

[ashbury]

Aaron Slegers got off to an effective beginning to 2018, holding Syracuse to 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk plus a HBP, in 6 innings of work. He needed only 66 pitches to do the job, 49 of them strikes. The only real blemish on the afternoon's work, from a scouting perspective, is a solitary strikeout against Chiefs batters. (I hope USAFChief wasn't a factor in this.) The other unfortunate feature of the game, which was outside of his influence, is that the Red Wings' bats were quiet too, and a ninth-inning run against Tyler Duffey wound up deciding the game 2-1.

[ashbury]

Another good outing for Aaron, who pitched 6 innings of shutout ball against the Gwinnett Stripers on Saturday. Five strikeouts go to his credit, with three hits and no walks on the debit side. One of the baserunners, Ronald Acuna, was erased when he was caught stealing, and another, Dustin Peterson, disappeared via a double play. So by my count there was only 1 LOB, Sean Kazmar Jr, who was stranded after a one-out double in the fifth. A pretty low-drama game for my guy. Adalberto Mejia came in to start the seventh and gave up a couple of runs (one unearned) in the ninth, with Matt McGill coming in to finish out the Red Wings' 4-2 Red Win over the Stripers.

 

In other news, a striper is apparently a striped bass, in plentitude in the local lakes there in Gwinnettvilleland. From the local, well, fishwrap: "The name is a variation of Gwinnett Big Mouths, one of the name-the-team finalists. Team officials liked Big Mouths, but didn’t like the way it sounded. From those discussions, Stripers rose above other finalists such as Buttons, Gobblers, Hush Puppies, Lambchops and Sweet Teas."

 

Apparently we have finally reached the point that all the good names are officially already taken.

[goulik]

 

In other news, a striper is apparently a striped bass, in plentitude in the local lakes there in Gwinnettvilleland....

 

Apparently we have finally reached the point that all the good names are officially already taken.

And this also leads to Strippers as a potential typo/autocorrect...

[ashbury]

Aaron had only a so-so game against the Columbus Clippers on April 21. He completed a workmanlike 6 innings, facing one additional batter in the seventh, but he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits (no walks), and was on the hook for a loss until Rochester tied up the game in the 8th, on the way to an eventual 4-3 loss. He did notch 4 strikeouts. He was lifted after 85 pitches.

 

Brief ex-Twin Adam Wilk was the starter for Columbus.

 

Four of those base hits against Slegers were doubles (three by shortstop Yu Chang), and two of the doubles contributed to the scoring. Interestingly perhaps, all three tallies against him occurred with two out - the last was a sac fly, so maybe that's just semantics - and then each time, a strikeout followed to end the inning. Slightly different sequencing could have brought a different result. Luck or ability? That's baseball, you just don't know sometimes.

[ashbury]

If Aaron Slegers was bothered by the roster hijinks that saw David Hale added and removed from the Twins' 25/40-man rosters after Tyler Kinley was dropped, during which time he served as a well-paid spectator for one game at Yankee Stadium, he didn't let it show. He shut out the Syracuse Chiefs for six innings, en route to a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon.

 

Four opposing batters managed base hits, while Aaron struck out 4 and walked 2. He was aided by one baserunning miscue on a fly out that resulted in a double play. Most of the Chiefs' offense occurred with two outs already, with the only serious threat coming in the fourth inning with two baserunners and only one out. All in all it was a pretty drama-free road outing for Slegers, who was lifted after 91 pitches, his most of the season.

 

All of his four games this season have been of the Quality Start variety, and his ERA now stands at 1.50. Opponents' OPS is a paltry .538; he's actually done slightly better against lefties than against righties in the early going.

[ashbury]

Aaron took top April honors for all of the Twins' minor league system as TD's Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month.

[ashbury]

Aaron followed up his stinker on May 3 versus the Lehigh Iron Valley Pigs with a fine game at Buffalo. In his seven innings he allowed 5 baserunners (2 doubles, 2 singles, and 1 walk), striking out 5 and limiting the Bisons to a solitary tally. That run came via a leadoff double in the fourth inning followed by two groundouts, so to me it was a bit of so-so luck of sequencing more than anything. Thanks to two double-plays, he faced only 24 batters, consuming 83 pitches. I bet he could have continued, but Tyler Duffey and John Curtiss came in to finish up the 2-1 win.

 

After 6 starts in AAA, then, his season numbers show a 3-1 win-loss record and a 2.41 ERA. His WHIP is a very presentable 1.018. The only knock is the modest 5.5 strikeout rate per nine innings. Slice and dice the numbers however you like, IMO he's major-league ready and is lacking only the opportunity to see what he could put together in a big league rotation.

[ashbury]

Another good start on May 15. 3 hits and 1 walk in 6 innings amounted to 1 run (a solo HR by ex-teammate Matt Hague) in a 9-1 laugher at home against Syracuse. The only black mark was again the strikeout bugaboo - just one for him in the game.

[ashbury]

Why report on today's game against Pawtucket when I can plagiarize? "In seven shutout innings, [slegers] struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. He scattered five hits."

 

'Nuff said. Easy peasy.

[ashbury]

Another plagiarism job from me, this time cribbing Seth's minor league wrapup, but due more to a lack of desire to invest time in bad news versus Buffalo than sheer laziness:

 

"He was due for a rough one, and on Friday night, Aaron Slegers had a rough one. He came into the game with a shiny 1.97 ERA through his first eight starts. After giving up nine runs on 11 hits over just 4 2/3 innings on Friday night, his season ERA jumped to 3.27."

[ashbury]

Aaron was called up to the big club on May 30 and was put to immediate use that night when Fernando Romero failed to make it out of the second inning at Kansas City. My guy acquitted himself pretty well, carrying the load for the next 5.1 innings and limiting further damage to 2 runs during that time; he struck out 3. The offense made a partial comeback but couldn't quite pull it off, but Aaron would have gotten the win if they had.

 

He's back in Rochester now, so he can rest up while a fresh arm (Duffey's) is available in the Twin Cities.

[ashbury]

Slegers' game on June 6 against Indianoplace was so-so at best. He gutted it out into the sixth inning, getting the leadoff batter but unable to retire any of the next three guys; reliever Baxendale then allowed the inherited runner to score, bringing Slegers' earned run total to 4. All told, Aaron gave up 7 hits and 4 walks. Three of the hits were for extra bases: 2 doubles and a homer. He did achieve 4 strikeouts in the game, and pitched clean innings in both the 1st and the 4th. The7-2 loss brings his w-l record to 5-3; his season AAA ERA stands at 3.43.

[ashbury]

It was a second straight sub-par outing for Slegers on June 12 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (cmon guys, make up your minds willya? or, just admit the ballpark is actually in Moosic PA) as he took the loss in a 5-2 decision.

 

Only two of his runs were earned, but the 7 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings give an indication of trouble, and the first-inning 3-run homer, that occurred after (soon-to-be called up) infielder Taylor Motter prolonged the inning with a two-out error, wound up being all the opponents would actually need. Two more solo shots in the third and fourth accounted for the rest of the scoring damage.

 

Actually all the game's scoring occurred on homers, as Stone Hands Motter launched one right after Wings catcher Cameron Rupp did.

[ashbury]

Aaron's game at Buffalo Sunday afternoon was a little better than his past couple of starts, but still not the signature statement he wants to make in order to get that next callup to the majors.

 

He allowed a two-out solo homer in the second inning to tie up the game, and then after a walk he should have been out of the inning via a grounder, but Taylor Featherstone at third threw the ball into right field trying for a forceout and the runner came around to score an unearned run. He pitched 3 more innings of scoreless ball, and then came out after having made 88 pitches. Seems like kind of a short start, and I haven't found any indication why his day ended when it did; he's been a workhorse starter all through the minors, and I hope this isn't the start of some kind of physical ailment that he's trying to work through.

 

So his line for the game included 4 hits and 2 walks, plus a hit batsman, and he logged 4 strikeouts. Just the one earned run lowered his season ERA to 3.28. He even took TD Minor League Pitcher of the Day honors (though perhaps somewhat by default). All well and good... but I'm uneasy. He had no one-two-three innings this game. A couple more strikeouts would have been good. This is his fifth straight outing (including the relief appearance in the majors) where he has given up a home run.

 

It's approaching a point where he needs to find one more trick of the trade, to put away batters and really assert himself. Perhaps the increase in homers indicates he's been trying something... in which case, it's apparently not working as hoped.

[ashbury]

Aaron's game last Saturday evening against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre started out well enough but ended in a 4-2 loss. He gave up 3 of those runs and thus was the pitcher of record. He walked nobody and struck out 4 in his 6 and 1/3 innings of work, but gave up 8 hits, one of which went out of the park. The home runs have been a disquieting trend since late May.

 

He retired the first 8 batters of the ballgame, and that #9 hitter was caught stealing. After that first trip through the lineup, though, the hits were plentiful, and RailRiders finally broke through with 2 runs in the sixth inning, on a Brandon Drury homer. A couple of one-out singles knocked Slegers out of the game in the seventh, and Luke Bard surrendered a sac fly for the third run. (Bard was charged with an earned run of his own in the eighth.)

[ashbury]

Lehigh Valley Iron Pig Trevor Plouffe launched a two-out homer in the third inning against Slegers on June 30, good for 3 runs, messing up what had been up to that point a strong beginning for my guy - walks in the first and third innings plus a soft come-backer that went for a hit and an error when Slegers threw the ball away. After two more strong innings, Plouffe again scored after he walked, advanced, and was driven in by a sac fly.

 

Plouffe also doubled against reliever Moya, and had a perfect 2-2 night at the plate plus two walks.

 

Slegers struck out 8 in his 6 innings, a positive development; and gave up only 4 base hits plus 3 walks. But, "another game, another HR" became the story of the night for him.

 

For the season, Aaron's ERA has inched upward to 3.55 and his record has dropped to 5-6. Indeed, since his brief appearance with the major league club, he's an unimpressive 0-4 and 4.08.

[ashbury]

See the TD article for details on Aaron Slegers's fine major-league start on July 5.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/30526-article-min-5-bal-2-slegers-cave-lift-twins-out-of-slump/

[ashbury]

And just like that, Slegers laid an egger, in his next start against KC. Didn't look like he had much on his fastball, yet he threw a lot of them. 'Nuff said.

[ashbury]

I've been remiss in noting that Aaron was placed on the DL on July 14 with shoulder inflammation. I've seen no news since then, but I guess it must be bad because he'd be eligible to be reinstated by now.

[ashbury]

Rough return to action for Aaron on August 4. At Pawtucket, he managed to record only 5 outs before being removed. The first inning was 1-2-3. He wasn't exactly aided by his shortstop in the second, with Nick Gordon committing an error, but a strike 'em out throw 'em out play instrumented by the redoubtable Willians Astudillo (behind the plate, I guess I need to specify) got him two outs with nobody on. Then things caved in. Ohlman and Miller singled, and Wren tripled to bring in two runs. That was it for Slegers.

 

Ryne Harper came on and promptly served up a homer to Witte, accounting for the third earnie against the starter.

 

I haven't found any reporting yet on this situation, but call it a hunch: Slegers still isn't right and will be back on the DL soon.

[strumdatjaguar]

And pitched for Indiana University

[ashbury]

And pitched for Indiana University

... where he won Big Ten Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year honors in 2013, putting him in good company with Tyler Jay (UI 2015), Alex Wimmers (OSU 2009-10), and Glen Perkins (UM 2004).

[ashbury]

Well, whether I guessed right or not, Aaron has indeed been shut down again, after an uncomfortable bullpen session a few days after his abbreviated start.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-slegers-pulled-off-his-rehab-assignment/c-289579486

 

Yeesh. Get well, Adopt-A-Son.

 

^{_{/ h/t to spycake}}