This past off season the Indians selected Hector Ambriz in the Rule V draft. He spent most of the spring on the DL and since then has been on a rehab assignment. The Indians could've choosen to keep Ambriz in the minors until May 8th, but they chose to bring him up yesterday.
Ambriz didn't have to wait long to make his debut as he was immediately used in last night's 9-3 loss to the Twins. Ambriz got off to a rough start, allowing a screaming liner to center that Grady Sizemore made a very nice play on while crashing into the wall in dead center. But after that it was smooth sailing as he retired the next two batter without event for a perfect first inning.
Generally speaking, Rule V picks don't stick. They have to stay with the Major League club throughout the season, and obviously it's difficult to to carry any rookie for the duration of a season, much less one that wasn't good enough to warrant a 40-man spot with their previous organization.
But with the Indians bullpen in a less-than-desirable state (they rank 9th in the AL in relief ERA), and pitchers such as Rafael Perez possibly on his last legs, I think Ambriz has a legitimate shot to stick. He's average 7.9K/9 and 2.8BB/9 in the minors. He doesn't look like a star in the making, but I think he has a solid chance to be a middle innings option out of that bullpen. Who knows, with a bit of refinement, he might have a nice little career ahead of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment