If he ends up having half the career Joe Nathan has had, Giants fans will consider that a success story. Most of his stats are around 'prospect average'. An 8.51 K/9 is OK, it was +9 or 10 at the lower levels and has been tamped down as he progressed, which is to be expected. Walks are an above average 2.72 BB/9 for a K/BB ratio of 3.13 career entering this season. By comparison Chris Heston was at 3.44 K/BB and he would be another who must have been considered for call-up.
Dunning may still be piecing together the whole pitching thing after the conversion from SS and the majors will be a tough place to learn on the fly. But he has had 5 seasons and 200+ inning in the minors (mostly as a reliever) so it's time to see what he can do for the big club. If he can string some middle innings together, it may be just what the starting staff needs. With the recent string of injuries and sub-par performances, one gets the feeling lately that the Giants starters are running on fumes.
Good luck to Jake!!
from McCovey Chronicles:
Jake Dunning, Hector Sanchez up; Brett Pill down; Ramon Ramirez designated for assignment - McCovey Chronicles:
Dunning was added to the 40-man roster over the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The 24-year-old was drafted as a shortstop, though the Giants probably had more of an eye on his arm the whole time. They gave him 88 at-bats in the Arizona League before sitting him down and telling him to watch The Joe Nathan Story, in which Nathan was played by Matthew Lillard for some reason.
Dunning has shown pretty good control for a converted reliever, and while he's never had gaudy strikeout numbers, I'm a sucker for the conversion stories. He's thrown just over 200 innings in the minors. Maybe in inning #218, he becomes Joe Nathan.
He's pretty much Joe Nathan, everybody.
'via Blog this'
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