The Durham Bulls in 2014 — The Pitchers — Part 1

Twenty-six different players pitched for the Bulls this year, but when it comes to looking back I left off four of them: Erik Bedard pitched in just one game; Mayo Acosta, a catcher, pitched in 2 lost causes; infielder Robby Price in one lost cause; and reliever Bryce Stowell came up from Montgomery for two innings in the last game of the season.

This table is sorted by innings pitched, and that’s the sequence in which we’ll discuss this year’s pitchers. However, in Part 2 we’ll have tables sorted by ERA and WHIP. Players on the Rays 40-man roster are marked with an asterisk (*). Data are from BaseballReference.com, FanGraphs, and WDBB spreadsheets.

Durham Bulls Pitchers in 2014 Sorted by Innings Pitched

Name	Age	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	WHIP
Matt Andriese	24	11	8	3.77	28	25	0	162.1	1.24
Nathan Karns*	26	9	9	5.08	27	27	0	145.1	1.40
Mike Montgomery*	24	10	5	4.29	25	25	0	126.0	1.31
Enny Romero*	23	5	11	4.50	25	25	0	126.0	1.43
Merrill Kelly	25	9	4	2.76	28	15	0	114.0	1.26
Alex Colome*	25	7	6	3.77	15	15	0	86.0	1.33
Doug Mathis	31	2	3	3.63	26	3	0	67.0	1.64
Adam Liberatore	27	6	1	1.66	54	0	4	65.0	0.89
C.J. Riefenhauser*	24	3	3	1.40	39	0	1	57.2	1.14
Steve Geltz*	26	3	3	2.38	29	0	1	41.2	1.06
Josh Lueke	29	0	1	3.38	32	0	12	37.1	1.10
Brandon Gomes*	29	0	2	3.62	27	0	0	37.1	1.29
Jeff Beliveau*	27	0	0	1.50	30	0	11	36.0	0.92
Jake Thompson	24	4	1	3.15	24	1	0	34.1	1.54
Juan Sandoval	33	0	1	3.12	14	1	1	26.0	1.35
Kirby Yates*	27	1	0	0.36	21	0	16	25.0	0.76
Jeremy Hellickson*	27	1	4	7.23	5	5	0	18.2	2.30
Cory Burns*	26	2	2	2.77	7	0	1	13.0	1.54
Braulio Lara	25	0	3	9.00	9	0	0	11.0	1.73
Jimmy Patterson	25	1	1	2.70	5	1	0	10.0	1.30
Brad Boxberger*	26	1	0	1.93	6	0	2	9.1	0.86
Juan Carlos Oviedo*	32	0	0	3.86	7	0	0	7.0	0.86

Matt Adriese (Right Handed Starting Pitcher) (162.1 innings, 28 games) was the best of a not particularly distinguished starting crew this year. Before the season started I was tipped that he might be the best arm of the bunch, and that’s the way it turned out for 2014. He had the most wins and the best ERA of the regular starters of 3.77; however, that ERA ranked 15th among all the pitchers. His WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched) of 1.24 was a respectable 9th. He also led the team in home runs (18) and hit batsmen (8). The only regular starter not on the Rays 40-man, there’s a good chance he’ll be back. He induces a lot of ground balls which makes his games fun to watch. He also got two of the four postseason wins. Stats.

Nathan Karns* (RHSP)(145.1 innings, 27 games) did not have a good year as a Bull. He was one of those players for whom what the fans see is not what the big club sees. We fans saw an awful ERA of 5.08, a WHIP of 1.40, and a string of losses at the end of the season. But we have to note that he had 153 Ks, an amazing number, and he tied for the most Ks in the entire International League. (I have to point out that he also led team in walks at 62.) The Rays called him up in September where he got two starts, one very good and one not-so-good. Likely to be back next year for more development. Stats.

Mike Montgomery* (LHSP) (126 innings, 25 games) was to be this year's ace and he came out of the gate with 8 wins and no losses in his first 15 games, including 8.1 no-hit innings on 26 April. But there was a long stretch between his 8th win on 25 May and his 9th win on 10 July and his next 7 starts were either losses or no-decisions. He did finish out on an up note with an end-of-season win on 28 August, but he was the back of the rotation for the post-season, getting in 6 pretty good innings in the 4th game, 13 inning loss. If it can be figured out what happened to him in the second half of the season then maybe next year will be his breakout. Stats.

Enny Romero* (RHSP) (126 innings, 25 games) is another statistical mess that leaves you puzzled, but for him there’s an answer — not an answer that Bulls fans would appreciate, but an answer nevertheless. He’s a left-handed reliever in training. The 23 year-old only managed 5 wins in 25 starts, carried a poor ERA and a WHIP of 1.43. So why is he around? Because he routinely hits 95+ with his fastball and he’s left-handed. My guess is that the Rays will keep on stretching him out until they think he’s ready to come up as a reliever. And we have to admit that he’s fun to watch. Sure would not want to be his catcher, though. Stats.

Merrill Kelly (RHSP/RP) (114 innings, 28 appearances) was Charlie Montoyo’s go-to guy for long relief and a starter when needed. He had 15 starts, 13 relief appearances, and uncounted calls to warm up. He has the only decent ERA among the starting crew of 2.76, has a good WHIP of 1.26, and is an all-around solid performer. No reason for him not to be back next year and keeping on working towards his shot at the majors. Stats.

Alex Colome* (RHSP) (86 innings, 15 games) joined after the beginning of the season because of a 50-game drug suspension. He won three out of his first four games before putting himself into a statistical hole he had trouble getting out of before the end of the season. That was from a game in late June where he gave up 9 runs before getting the first 4 outs. Here’s the real oddity: after that game he got called up for a spot appearance with the Rays (5.2 innings and he got the win). He was erratic throughout the rest of the season, which leads us to think that he was being coached to work on specific aspects of his game. Decent overall numbers. September call-up. Stats.

Doug Mathis (RHRP) (67 innings, 26 appearances) arrived in mid-April and ended up being one of the players who got shuffled on and off the roster all year, much like Robby Price and Mayo Acosta among the position players. I count ten separate transactions, so about 5 times back and forth. One of those pairs was to/from the disabled list, but that’s hard to judge the veracity of that move. I was surprised to see how many innings he put in. He was needed for those 26 appearances. Yes, he had a poor WHIP of 1.64, but an OK ERA of 3.63. He was called on for three spot starts. He was the kind of guy that the Bulls have to have to survive the season, but I’m guessing he won’t be back. Stats.

Adam Liberatore (LHRP) (65 innings, 54 appearances) had a brilliant season. Unquestionably the star of the relief crew as he picked up 6 wins in relief, had a stunning ERA of 1.66, a vanishingly small WHIP of 0.89, and earned a bunch of kudos at the end of the season. He’s never had a shot at the majors and at 27 he’s running out of time. But he’s also banging on the door. Stats.