The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Seems like a good time for an update:

Andrew Chafin - Has been back to previous form where he is great in the first half of the year. At this point, Chafin has pitched in 23 games with 22 IPs and his opponents have only batted 154 against him with a slash line of 154/258/244. Chafin has 11 holds (2nd in the NL) with just one blown save and one loss. Hopefully, he can put together an entire year of this.

Travis Shaw - Shaw has been the Brewer's starting 3rd baseman, but is not hitting well (203/296/372). Now, this doesn't really stick out on the Brewers because their offense sucks, but I think we are close to having enough evidence that the great offensive skills he showed in 2017-18 are gone and he is a replacement level player. That is to say, a plan B. But, as I said, the Brewer's offense sucks, so there isn't anyone better to replace Shaw and he likely will get a large chunk of this season to get his bat right again.

Eric Lauer - So, Lauer started the season at AAA, but didn't play before he got called up, had a great first start and then got hit like crazy in the next start and a couple of relief appearances and then sent to AAA where he had a great start and returned to the Brewers where he had a great start and also hit a homerun. I'd be tired and it's still May. Big Picture: he has pitched 22 IPs with just 3 BBs and 22 SOs, which is great, except he has also given up 5 homeruns, which is bad. Personally, I think he is a near average major league starting pitcher and should have a role where he just pitches every 5th day somewhere, but the Brewers have a good rotation but questionable bullpen, so I expect Lauer will spend the year as bouncing between different roles and hopefully he'll handle it well.

Taylor Williams - Has been on the IL since mid-April with a knee inflammation. I thought it was just a roster ploy to avoid putting Williams on waivers, but I guess it is real and there is no time frame for him coming back. Shame because he was off to a good start and he really needs a solid major league season to show that he is a legit major league reliever.

Some bad news as Travis Shaw dislocated his shoulder diving for a ball at third base. He’s already on the DL and will likely miss significant time though there doesn’t seem to be a clear diagnosis on the extent of the injury or time table for return.

Shaw will try to avoid surgery by rehabbing first, but it looks like he’ll be out until at least mid/late August and I actually think it’s unlikely he’ll return this year.

Two other Kent players are active in the Atlantic League; both playing for High Point. Brian Clark returns to the club. He played for High Point in 19, was supposed to play for them in 20 but the season was cancelled and is back in ‘21. Also, John Fasola has landed in High Point as well. Fasola had some good seasons in the Texas organization, but injuries got him and he ended up pitching poorly in ‘19. The Atlantic League is where older players with AA/AAA/near major league talent show their ability hoping to get a good paying job somewhere (whether it be being resigned into the American minor league system or being signed to play in Taiwan, Japan or Korea), so that’s obviously what both Clark and Fasola are trying to do. I don’t know if either has ‘major league’ talent, but it’s not out of the question that they could make some decent coin playing abroad.

Andrew Chafin was part of a Cubs no-hitter yesterday. (pitched 8th inning)

And we’ve hit mid-season, so might as well have a mid-season update.

In the bigs, Andrew Chafin is probably having the best first half of his career, with an ERA of just 1.57 and 20 straight shutout innings. Of course, Chafin has been known to drop off in the 2nd half, so hopefully he breaks the cycle this year.

Eric Lauer has moved up to 5th starter (with the Brewers trying a weird sort of 6-man rotation). He’ll get starts more regularly now. He pitched well today, improving his record to 3-3 with an ERA of 4.11 in 50.1 innings pitched. The big problem this year has been the homeruns (giving up 10), but he has only given up 2 in his last 26 innings, which bodes well for a solid year.

Travis Shaw is beginning to work out in the field and hopes to start swinging the bat next week with a target of returning in mid-August from his separated shoulder. I’ve only heard that he is progressing faster than expected.

And, finally, Taylor Williams is still on the DL (now 60-day) with a leg injury and shows no signs of being able to return soon. As a back-of-the bullpen type, there isn’t much in the way of news on him though.

Chafin got hit today, giving up 3 runs and taking the loss. What is significant is that it breaks a streak of 26 straight appearances where Chafin had not given up a run. Dating back to May 8th, Chafin had pitched 24 1/3 innings giving up no runs, just 9 hits, 5 walks and 20 strikeouts. The record for most appearances in a row without giving up a run is 42, so it was starting to get interesting.

Looks like Chafin is off the A's from the Cubs

Travis Shaw is on a rehab assignment at the Brewer’s AAA team and is 3 for 13 in five games. He hopes to return in mid-August, which actually might be realistic (though I was sure his year was done when I saw the injury).

Taylor Williams, who has been on the DL since April, is also set for a rehab assignment.

Luke Albright signed with the Dbacks for the slot bonus (just over $300K).

Also, Eric Lauer was placed on the COVID IL today because he tested positive for COVID. At this point, he is not showing symptoms, so hopefully, he’ll be back soon. He has pitched very well of late, with a 3-1 record in his last 31.1 innings and a 1.44 ERA, giving up just 1 HR.

Looks like Travis Shaw is heading back to Boston. He has been on a rehab assignment with the Brewers' AAA team and that time has run out. The Brewers, which had mostly solved their 3rd base problem by shifting Urias to third and trading for Willy Adames to play short, didn't really have a spot for Shaw anymore and tried to outright him to AAA. The BoSox then claimed him off of waivers.

Shaw may fit in well for Boston as they have 1st base issues. They have Bobby Dalbec, who is okay, but has a massive platoon split and hasn't been good against righties this year. A quick check at some of his minor league stats and that seems to be the case throughout his career. Shaw is a leftie, but doesn't really have huge platoon shifts, but could be an improvement over Dalbac against righties, especially when you factor in that Dalbac seems to be a bit of a defensive trainwreck at first. We'll see how things work out as Shaw needs to show he is a quality major leaguer.

In other news, Eric Lauer came off of the COVID DL and picked 4 innings today for the Brewers, giving up 3 hits and 1 run. He was pulled early, so he didn't get the win. Probably has to do with the prolonged time between starts and coming off of the illness. He said that his case was mild, except he can taste or smell anything yet.

And Andrew Chafin got the win for Oakland yesterday in his eighth appearance with the club. He hasn't given up a run yet since joining the A's.

Finally, Taylor Williams is still on his rehab assignment with the El Paso Chihuahuas. No, that's their name. I feel a little better about Guardians.

Shaw with the walk off grand slam today for the Redsox. That’s locking your roster spot down.

(08-23-2021 05:29 PM)axeme Wrote:  Shaw with the walk off grand slam today for the Redsox. That’s locking your roster spot down.

Here’s a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvg-AA2KM5U

Good to see Shaw crush one.

Saw a tweet about Jake Latz getting a start for Texas tonight and didn’t even realize he was a Flash.

He transferred from LSU and then got hurt. Once he was healthy, he was drafted by the Texas Rangers.

(08-15-2021 09:48 PM)bopol Wrote:  Finally, Taylor Williams is still on his rehab assignment with the El Paso Chihuahuas. No, that's their name. I feel a little better about Guardians.

DFA’d by the Padres. He pitched well in SD at the beginning of the season, interesting to see where he ends up.

(09-04-2021 08:36 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(08-15-2021 09:48 PM)bopol Wrote:  Finally, Taylor Williams is still on his rehab assignment with the El Paso Chihuahuas. No, that's their name. I feel a little better about Guardians.

DFA’d by the Padres. He pitched well in SD at the beginning of the season, interesting to see where he ends up.

He pitched at El Paso for a month on a rehab assignment and did not pitch well (6.75 ERA in 13 1/3 IP). My guess is that he isn’t really ready and SD is pushing for the playoffs and need a strong pitcher. They limited the roster additions on Sept 1st this year, so you can’t have 15 extra players doing nothing on the bench.

Williams has now wondering between AAA and the bigs for the last 4 years. I think he’ll stay there for the next few years or end up with a role in Korea or Japan.

And the Marlins pick up Williams. Yes, the Marlins suck, but they really don’t have a bad pitching staff and Williams needs innings to prove himself as a big leaguer.

(09-06-2021 04:47 PM)bopol Wrote:  And the Marlins pick up Williams. Yes, the Marlins suck, but they really don’t have a bad pitching staff and Williams needs innings to prove himself as a big leaguer.

Appropriate place for a guy looking like a AAAA player at the moment.

(09-06-2021 04:47 PM)bopol Wrote:  And the Marlins pick up Williams. Yes, the Marlins suck, but they really don’t have a bad pitching staff and Williams needs innings to prove himself as a big leaguer.

Well, that didn’t last long…

MLB trade rumors Wrote:The Marlins have designated right-hander Taylor Williams for assignment and selected the contract of fellow righty Luis Madero from Triple-A Jacksonville, tweets Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald.

Williams, 30, was a waiver claim out of the Padres organization earlier this month. He appeared in six games with the Fish, yielding a total of six runs (five earned) on nine hits and five walks with three strikeouts through 3 1/3 innings. That rough showing bumped his season ERA to 4.63, albeit in a tiny sample of 11 2/3 frames overall.

This cracked me up.