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The new began #developing in the wee hours of this Monday, April 29, 2012. The St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Strauss tweeted, would make a change to the big-league bullpen before tonight's game. Blood was in the water and fans began wishcasting as to which of their favorite bullpenning whipping boys would be thrown to the sharks. Finally, MLB.com report Jenifer Langosch broke the news: Seth Maness would be promoted to the 25-man roster and Marc Rzepczynski would be sent to Triple-A Memphis.
In the days of Classic Future Redbirds, Jeff interviewed Maness and the righty described his repertoire as follows:
I throw a sinker, slider, curve, and change. Not many four-seam fastballs, just stick with the sinker in and out. I would probably say my fastball command would be my best pitch. Trying to move it in and out and force weak contact.
Maness has made his way to Triple-A because of one skill and one skill only: throwing strikes. Maness does not post impressive or even good strikeout rates. Instead, he pounds the zone over and over and over again. Maness hardly ever issues a free pass. The following chart shows Maness's stats as he has climbed the Cardinals' organizational ladder.
SETH MANESS CAREER MINOR LEAGUE STATS (2011-13)
|
Year |
Level |
G |
GS |
IP |
K% |
BB% |
K/9 |
BB/9 |
HR/9 |
ERA |
FIP |
|
‘11 |
A- |
10 |
7 |
39.2 |
20.5% |
2.0% |
7.03 |
0.68 |
0.00 |
1.13 |
1.94 |
|
‘11 |
A |
2 |
0 |
5.0 |
16.7% |
0.0% |
5.40 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
1.80 |
2.00 |
|
‘11 |
A+ |
3 |
0 |
8.1 |
22.9% |
5.7% |
8.64 |
2.16 |
0.00 |
4.32 |
2.36 |
|
‘12 |
A+ |
7 |
7 |
46.0 |
16.4% |
0.6% |
5.67 |
0.20 |
0.98 |
2.15 |
3.42 |
|
‘12 |
AA |
20 |
20 |
123.2 |
16.5% |
1.8% |
6.04 |
0.65 |
0.95 |
3.27 |
3.59 |
|
‘13 |
AAA |
4 |
4 |
25.0 |
16.5% |
2.8% |
6.48 |
1.08 |
0.72 |
4.32 |
3.28 |
Maness will not overwhelm you with his stuff. He doesn't have a blazing fastball or a split-change with "Nintendo" movement. Essentially, Maness manager Mike Matheny a right arm in the bullpen that isn't attached to the body of Mitchell Boggs, Joe Kelly, or Fernando Salas. It will be interesting to see if his strike-throwing style translates to MLB success.