Remember when Yordano Ventura was one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball? In 2013, he was a consensus top 100 prospect. In 2014, he was a top 30 or so prospect, ranking as high as #12 on Baseball Prospectus’s annual list. The 25-year old’s performance in the majors has been spotty – he has a 3.87 ERA in 427 2/3 innings over 74 appearances (73 starts), striking out 370 and walking 168.
One other thing that is becoming an issue with Ventura, aside from his middling performance, is his tendency to throw at players. His latest victim was Manny Machado in Baltimore on Tuesday night.
It’s not as if Machado dominated Ventura on Tuesday night – he went 1/2 with an RBI double prior to the beaning. Ventura, on the other hand, put together a disastrous start, allowing six runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. His ERA for the season has now ballooned to 5.32 to go along with a 44:35 strikeout to walk ratio in 66 innings.
On the season, Ventura’s ERA ranks 95th of 106 qualified starters in MLB. His strikeout to walk ratio ranks 105th of 106, ahead of just Tom Koehler of the Marlins. Quite simply, he hasn’t been good this year, let alone great for a Royals team that’s really needed him to help strengthen their rotation.
And really, that’s where the main issue with Ventura lies. His beanball shenanigans aren’t a good look whether or not he’s pitching well. But if he’s pitching well, he’s at least giving the Royals something positive. When he’s pitching poorly and getting himself into incidents like the one with Machado on Tuesday evening, he’s not just hurting his own reputation – he’s hurting the team.
For instance, Ventura was ejected from the game in Baltimore after throwing just 4 1/3 innings and 59 pitches. Even though he had allowed five runs up until that point (with the sixth coming when Paul Janish, the pinch runner for Machado, scored on a Mark Trumbo dinger), he could have given the Royals six or seven innings and lessened the pressure on the bullpen. Instead, Chien-Ming Wang and Peter Moylan had to throw 3 2/3 innings in relief of him, stretching their arms out a little more and possibly rendering them unavailable for Wednesday’s game.
The reigning World Champions are in trouble, whether or not you believe Ventura is in the right or wrong for throwing at Machado. In addition to him being a drain on their rotation, Chris Young has been a disaster in eight starts and two relief appearances (6.37 ERA), and Kris Medlen was a trainwreck in six starts of his own (7.77 ERA) before being placed on the DL. Both Ian Kennedy and Edinson Volquez have been serviceable this year (3.44 and 4.03 ERA, respectively), but they can’t be expected to carry the rotation all year.
Then throw in the injuries and ineffectiveness on the offensive side of the ball, and things begin to look more bleak. Mike Moustakas is out for the year with a torn ACL. Alex Gordon is on the DL with a broken wrist, and the date of his return is still a question. The offense of Kendrys Morales has taken a step back this season, and Alcides Escobar still can’t hit.
The MO for the Royals has been similar for the last three seasons – great bullpen, great defense, adequate rotation, average offense. The rotation has fallen off from “adequate” to “bad”, and while the bullpen is still great, the offense has also gone from “average” to “below average” and the defense has gone from “great” to merely “good”.
And really, that’s the biggest issue I have with Ventura’s actions on Tuesday night – the team can’t afford to lose him for an extended period of time. He’ll probably be replaced in the rotation by Dillon Gee, and while Gee has been fine in four starts and seven relief appearances in the majors this year, he’s a 30-year old with no real history of success. Ventura needs to pitch better and keep himself on the mound for the Royals, because their two-time pennant winning ship is starting to take on too much water with him struggling.
