Ryan Wagner

by JD Arney on Dec 29, 2005 3:15 AM EST in News

A new experimental feature today: "Is There Any Hope For?"
Today's victim: Ryan Wagner of the Cincinnati Reds. Is there any hope for him?
I thought he'd be racking up 30-save seasons by now, but command problems and injuries have held him back. I'd like to think he will overcome these issues and turn into the dominant closer that I expected. But he's starting to remind me more and more of Matt Anderson, another college-trained pitcher who also has awesome stuff but never found consistent command.
I'd like to solicit the opinions of Reds fans and others about Wagner. Can he recover? Please contribute in the comments.

It's an interesting question, one that I haven't given much thought to previously. It's odd how quickly Ryan Wagner fell off my personal radar screen, going from certain future closer to suspect bullpen member in less than a year. I think, like so many other Reds pitchers, Wagner's fate rests with Vern Ruhle. If he's able to do better than Don Gullett than some of these guys might have chances. If he's worse than Gullett (or roughly the same) then Wagner will probably continue to struggle, at least until he leaves for greener pastures in a few years. Wagner's slider is sick, an 80 on the scout scale, and whenever a pitcher has a great out pitch there's hope. He's still only 23 so he's got plenty of time to right the ship, and I think he will. The real question is simply whether he'll be good in Cincinnati or whether he'll have to wait to blossom somewhere else.

I also wanted to take a second to plug John's prospect book. If you're at all interested in prospects and the minor leagues then give it a look and consider buying it. There's nobody who works harder than Sickels when it comes to this stuff and his books are always worth a purchase.

I've attached the same poll that John has over at his site about Ryan Wagner; I'm interested to see what you guys think.

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Ask BA....

fielded a similar question back in August 2005, and I posted it in my diary at the time. Here's what Jim Callis said:

" I would have thought Wagner would have earned his first big league save by now, two years after he was a first-round pick out of Houston. That will have to wait for at least a little while longer, though, because he's on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.

Wagner still has the big-time slider and the plus fastball to be a closer, though pitching in the majors is about more than just pure stuff. His slider breaks so much that he struggles at times to throw it for strikes, and he needs to at least create the illusion it will be a strike to get hitters to chase it out of the zone. He pitched well for the first two months of 2005, and then he said he started to get hit hard when he fell into a predictable pitching pattern. His shoulder problems also affected his mechanics before he went on the DL.

When he was coming out of college, Wagner did create some concern among scouts with his delivery. He threw with a lot of effort and some scouts predicted his arm action would lead to an injury, while others said he was strong enough (he's 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds) to survive it. If he stays healthy and makes the necessary adjustments, he can still be a frontline closer."

by pw on Dec 29, 2005 9:51 AM EST reply actions

Lost Cause?

As long as the FO thinks that they don't need to spend top dollar on coaching staff, we'll continue to have our pitchers develop problems and not know how to fix them. There's no reason other clubs can have even marginal success with "c" rated pitchers and our top picks consistantly have command and injury issues that get worse. I think our current stable and farm system would not be as abysmal if we had a pitching coach that knew what he was doing.

"It can't end like this. Tell them I said something."-Poncho Villa

by sukr on Dec 29, 2005 2:22 PM EST reply actions

Completely unrelated

I gotta say, I really care about how the Reds do next season, but following this franchise is really getting boring. Some of the commentary here gives me some glimmer of interest, but, for the most part, following the Reds is like watching paint dry.

It just sucks, it really does. There is absolutely no excitement whatsoever attached to this franchise. That anyone goes to games is absolutely amazing to me.

by bobestes on Dec 30, 2005 1:05 PM EST reply actions

Top 5 reasons to follow the Reds

I wouldn't say that watching the Reds is like watching paint dry. Watching paint dry is seeing the Bears win 10-7, or Princeton 40-37. Watching the Reds lose 9-8 is much more exciting. Milton and co. certainly give up some taters, but we give back our share. Pena hit the two longest HRs in MLB last year. Dunn is our best slugger since Dave Parker.

I also seem to remember the Reds being at or near the top in the NL in come from behind victories. So it's only getting a lead that's a problem.

by ken on Dec 30, 2005 3:33 PM EST up reply actions