Forrest Whitley interview

[Ashitaka]

This seemed important enough for it's own thread: www.astrosfuture.com/2021/11/forrest-whitley-talks-injuries-tommy-john-surgery-rehab-and-more/


"Fast forward to the Spring of 2021 and Whitley found out he was going to have Tommy John Surgery, which he stated 'I totally knew I needed'. I asked him about getting that news and he actually said he was relieved. 'I was so happy that I could finally have a healthy elbow again to pitch in games with. It had honestly been bothering me from the beginning of the 2019 season but I thought it was something that every thrower dealt with. It could have been torn for a lot longer than I realized', Whitley added."

Emphasis is mine. If you look at his numbers, 2019 is when the real problems started. Through the 2018 season he was looking good at all levels, made it to AA even. Then 2019 he just falls apart out of nowhere. It's also shocking to me to look at how many guys he was still striking out in 2019 despite being at least somewhat hurt/bothered. Kid's stuff is just excellent.

All that to say that we shouldn't count him out yet. Injuries + COVID can derail anyone. Not saying he's a sure-fire thing but his stuff is still better than almost anyone in the organization, majors or minors.

[Saint]

Someone dropped the ball with this. If this is accurate, how do you let a prized prospect go this long with an injury.

[unionstation82]

Nov 17, 2021 11:48:53 GMT -6 Saint said:

Someone dropped the ball with this. If this is accurate, how do you let a prized prospect go this long with an injury.

Seeing as how they batted Bregman 3rd while knowing he had a hurt wrist, it’s not that surprising.

[Ashitaka]

Nov 17, 2021 11:48:53 GMT -6 Saint said:

Someone dropped the ball with this. If this is accurate, how do you let a prized prospect go this long with an injury.

If a player doesn't say, usually it's impossible to know. Command problems caused by injury can be assumed to be from any number of things. If the velo was still there and he didn't say anything, or actively insisted he was fine, they wouldn't know.

[Saint]

Nov 17, 2021 13:43:11 GMT -6 Ashitaka said:

Nov 17, 2021 11:48:53 GMT -6 Saint said:

Someone dropped the ball with this. If this is accurate, how do you let a prized prospect go this long with an injury.

If a player doesn't say, usually it's impossible to know. Command problems caused by injury can be assumed to be from any number of things. If the velo was still there and he didn't say anything, or actively insisted he was fine, they wouldn't know.

But all of the money that they invest in a player's development, and nobody could pick up on it or ask him? 

[Saint]

Nov 17, 2021 12:54:57 GMT -6 unionstation82 said:

Nov 17, 2021 11:48:53 GMT -6 Saint said:

Someone dropped the ball with this. If this is accurate, how do you let a prized prospect go this long with an injury.

Seeing as how they batted Bregman 3rd while knowing he had a hurt wrist, it’s not that surprising.

I think that was more of a choice:

A. Bregman at 60%
B. Diaz

[Ashitaka]

Nov 17, 2021 15:21:19 GMT -6 Saint said:

Nov 17, 2021 13:43:11 GMT -6 Ashitaka said:

If a player doesn't say, usually it's impossible to know. Command problems caused by injury can be assumed to be from any number of things. If the velo was still there and he didn't say anything, or actively insisted he was fine, they wouldn't know.

But all of the money that they invest in a player's development, and nobody could pick up on it or ask him? 

Not really. I mean you can ask him, but he can lie. And an injury won't be visually obvious if the guy is still working out and pitching the same, and it's not forcing him to noticeably modify his mechanics. Plus they were modifying his mechanics on purpose at the time so any weirdness in that respect would have just looked like a guy struggling to find consistency with new mechanics.

[Saint]

Nov 17, 2021 15:56:39 GMT -6 Ashitaka said:

Nov 17, 2021 15:21:19 GMT -6 Saint said:

But all of the money that they invest in a player's development, and nobody could pick up on it or ask him? 

Not really. I mean you can ask him, but he can lie. And an injury won't be visually obvious if the guy is still working out and pitching the same, and it's not forcing him to noticeably modify his mechanics. Plus they were modifying his mechanics on purpose at the time so any weirdness in that respect would have just looked like a guy struggling to find consistency with new mechanics.

Eh, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Somebody should have been able to figure this out way sooner.  It's not like this was some 20th round pick.  This was a highly rated top-level pick and a top-10 prospect that, you said so yourself, went from pretty damn good to utterly derailed. 

[Ashitaka]

Nov 17, 2021 16:10:53 GMT -6 Saint said:

Nov 17, 2021 15:56:39 GMT -6 Ashitaka said:

Not really. I mean you can ask him, but he can lie. And an injury won't be visually obvious if the guy is still working out and pitching the same, and it's not forcing him to noticeably modify his mechanics. Plus they were modifying his mechanics on purpose at the time so any weirdness in that respect would have just looked like a guy struggling to find consistency with new mechanics.

Eh, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Somebody should have been able to figure this out way sooner.  It's not like this was some 20th round pick.  This was a highly rated top-level pick and a top-10 prospect that, you said so yourself, went from pretty damn good to utterly derailed. 

Honestly it happens all the time though. Prospects struggle and bust, especially pitchers, especially high school pitchers. You'd have to throw every single guy that has command struggles into an MRI machine in order to catch it if the player is trying to hide it.

[dafish]

IMO...  Time we realized we got a living breathing Nuke LaLoosh, who apparently didn't get the Crash treatment in our organization.   He'll be 25 after next season, and probably is still no where  near being MLB ready. 

I think we got to cut our losses at some point.

[thomasj13]

Nov 18, 2021 7:07:50 GMT -6 dafish said:

IMO...  Time we realized we got a living breathing Nuke LaLoosh, who apparently didn't get the Crash treatment in our organization.   He'll be 25 after next season, and probably is still no where  near being MLB ready. 

I think we got to cut our losses at some point.

Make him a closer?

[dafish]

Nov 18, 2021 7:26:56 GMT -6 thomasj13 said:

Nov 18, 2021 7:07:50 GMT -6 dafish said:

IMO...  Time we realized we got a living breathing Nuke LaLoosh, who apparently didn't get the Crash treatment in our organization.   He'll be 25 after next season, and probably is still no where  near being MLB ready. 

I think we got to cut our losses at some point.

Make him a closer?

You mean Ken Giles meets Brad Lidge?

(I know you were kidding)

[unionstation82]

The final test is seeing how he does after TJS. Then, you can cut bait if he still struggles.

[dafish]

Nov 18, 2021 8:41:25 GMT -6 unionstation82 said:

The final test is seeing how he does after TJS. Then, you can cut bait if he still struggles.

No argument there, but realize pre-injury, he really wasn't setting the world on fire, even at AA.

I'll be happy to eat crow, even ecstatic.  But if I had to bet on FW's chances to even make to MLB, I'd say they are at best 1 in 4.

[Hunter McCormick]

Nov 18, 2021 7:07:50 GMT -6 dafish said:

IMO...  Time we realized we got a living breathing Nuke LaLoosh, who apparently didn't get the Crash treatment in our organization.   He'll be 25 after next season, and probably is still no where  near being MLB ready. 

I think we got to cut our losses at some point.

I dunno about the million-dollar arm but he does seem to have a five-cent head. lol

Nov 18, 2021 8:41:25 GMT -6 unionstation82 said:

The final test is seeing how he does after TJS. Then, you can cut bait if he still struggles.

^ this ^