Halo Hangout » Nick Maronde

Prospects Who Could Help The Los Angeles Angels in 2013

Jason Evans — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:34:21 +0000

A couple of days ago, I talked about Angel prospects who could be used as trade bait for 2013 if the Angels need to fortify a spot or two. Now I’m going to go in the opposite direction. I’m going to talk about a couple of prospects who may find themselves in the big leagues and contributing at some point during the season.

Link Hangout – Minor League Heavy Edition

Michael Hllywa — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:06:51 +0000

Nick Maronde and Kaleb Cowart made top pitching and hitting prospect lists, Who were the top Minor League performers and, Mike Trout plus WAR equals Justin Bieber? Minor League players are the top currency in baseball, Kaleb isn’t going anywhere, hopefully Maronde is staying put too.

Don’t look so mad Trout, it’s just the Bieb’s

Preliminary Top 50 Pitching Prospects List for 2013

Nick Maronde cracking the top 50 is a pretty cool deal considering how thin our system is these days. Of course, Tyler Skaggs coming in ninth makes you wonder where he would slot in next year, assuming he is ready by then for a full time slot in the Diamondbacks rotation. I’m going to cut myself off here because if I don’t, I’ll go on for hours about how awesome Nick Maronde is.

Preliminary Top 50 Hitting Prospects for 2013

Kaleb Cowart comes in at 31 on this list which is great for him and his fans. What is surprising is that, with the year that C.J. Cron had, I expected him to hit this list too. Apparently, Minor League ball hates his OBP too. Cowart is the future at third base for the Halos (So please stop asking for Chase Headley). He’s also my Nick Maronde of hitters, so I’m going to stop now before I write a novel.

Los Angeles Angels Top Minor League Performances

Look who that is up top, oh, it’s Nick Maronde. I have a problem, and I’ve accepted that. Scott Stedman over at AngelsWin.com knows his minor leaguers. If you need your minor league fix on a regular basis like I do, follow him on twitter at @Scott34NA. The big surprise on this list for me is Randal Grichuk. I haven’t necessarily lost faith in him, I just see a Brandon Wood type when he gets to the big leagues.

Angels in the Arizona Fall League

A lot of kids and then….Bobby Cassevah? Bobby is taking Maronde’s place on the Scorpions roster. The exciting part about the AFL this year will be to see what Cowart and Grichuk can do going up against some of the best prospects in all of the Minor Leagues. Fingers are crossed that they don’t keel over like Mike Trout did last year in the Fall League.

LET’S TALK ABOUT WAR, BABY

Tired of trying to convince people that sabermetrics are not the devil? Need a new and inventive way to make WAR more fun? You’re welcome.

Memorize this swing, because in 2014, you’re going to be seeing it, a lot.

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Nick Maronde and Man Crush’s

Michael Hllywa — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:15:31 +0000

You know what was missing from the Angels bullpen this year (besides, you know, the ability to get hitters out consistently)? More lefties.

September 13, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles starting pitcher Nick Maronde (63) pitches in the ninth inning Angels against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Scott Downs pitched another solid season as the lone lefty in an incredibly unbalanced bullpen, but he can’t pitch every day. And since I never ever advocate adding relief pitching via the free agent market, I’m gonna drool over what Nick Maronde can bring to the table if he is left in the bullpen full time.

First, the video:

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That punch out fastball is what we like to refer to as “paint,” and it is 100% sexy. What that video doesn’t show, is his wipe out slider. Luckily we have this one here:

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That pitch to Seth Smith was beautiful.

Moving along, Maronde has proven in the minors that he has the ability to be, at best, a mid rotation starter. Not bad. The problem is, he only has two pitches that he can go to on a regular basis with his fastball and slider (Not everyone can be Ervin Santana, especially with that chinstrap beard of his). Keep him in the bullpen, and his ability to touch 94 with an excellent slide piece, and those pitches immediately play way above what they should.

Minor League Stats

Year	Tm	Lg	Lev	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	BB	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2011	Orem	PION	Rk	5	0	2.14	11	11	46.1	36	12	15	50	1.101	7.0	1.0	2.9	9.7	3.33
2012	3 Teams	3 Lgs	A+-AA-Rk	6	4	2.26	20	18	99.2	82	30	19	90	1.013	7.4	0.5	1.7	8.1	4.74
2012	Angels	ARIZ	Rk	0	1	1.12	3	3	8.0	3	4	2	9	0.625	3.4	0.0	2.2	10.1	4.50
2012	Inland Empire	CALL	A+	3	1	1.82	10	10	59.1	40	13	14	60	0.910	6.1	0.6	2.1	9.1	4.29
2012	Arkansas	TL	AA	3	2	3.34	7	5	32.1	39	13	3	21	1.299	10.9	0.3	0.8	5.8	7.00

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/8/2012.


I would use his Major League stat line, but since he only pitched six innings in 2012 (And I'm scared of the SSS Gang), I'm using his Minor League line. 
Some people want to see high strikeout rates from relievers, some want to see 97 plus MPH fastballs. What do I want to see? I want to see a pitcher who keeps men off base. Maronde finished this season with a WHIP (Walks Plus Hits per Inning Pitched) of 1.013 over 99.2 innings across three levels. If you add in the six innings thrown in September, that number is 1.046. Having a high strikeout rate helps, but Scott  Downs has made a career out of being a reliever with a career 6.9 K/9. 
Why am I so high on Nick? Because at every single level he has been dominant (Including the homer happy Cal League). And not in the Joe  Saunders "He just wins" kind of dominant. He's been dominant in a Dan  Haren kind of way. Using control to compile a  good but not great strikeout rate and basement level walk rate. Hitters know that Maronde is going to throw strikes and that forces them to swing, even at pitches at of the zone, giving him the advantage before the hitter even steps into the box. 
Jason wrote here yesterday that Garrett  Richards is a key for the Angels in 2013, whether it be as a starter, reliever or trade bait. But, I'd argue that Nick  Maronde is more important than Richards for the Angels, they just need to leave him in the bullpen.