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Who is Anthony Lerew?

Well, for starters, he's your Kansas City Royals starting pitcher for today against the Boston Red Sox.  Lerew is a 2001 11th rounder who was signed by J.J. Picollo while with the Atlanta Braves.  Anthony is a former Baseball America Top Prospect for the Carolina League.  In 2004 he was the #5 prospect in the Atlanta Braves pipeline.

Star-divide

In parts of 3 big league seasons, Lerew is 0-2 while pitching in 11 games.  Lerew has started 3 career games. Lerew finished the Naturals season strong including a complete game shutout in the first round of the Texas League Divisional Series. 

Lerew signed with the Royals after being released by the Braves.  Anthony had Tommy John surgery in 2007.  According to him, he throws a fast, change, and slider.

I saw him pitch one time this season at Springfield.  This is what I wrote.

Anthony Lerew started the game.  He is a very fast worker and sprints onto the field when it's his turn to go to the mound.  He throws a pitch about ever 8 to 10 seconds.  Very fast worker.  Lerew threw a 4-seam, 2-seam, change, and curve.  It's more of a slurve type pitch.  The 4 seam clocked in from 92-96 on the stadium gun.  (I asked some scouts how off the stadium gun was, and the consensus was 3 mph)  So Lerew was really 89-93 on the Stalker with the 4-seam.  His 2-seam had about 2-3 inches of armside run clocking in at 88-92 Stalker.  The change had minimal armside run and was a very good pitch for him when down.  The change clocked in at 80-82.  And the slurve was a good pitch as well.  It had good gloveside movement and made some guys chase.  The slurve went from 72-76.  Lerew's mechanics are slightly herky-jerky and he looked a little awkward at times with the offspeed stuff.  But he managed to stay in control and pull a W in 7.0 innings.  He is a contact guy posting only 2 Ks versus 1 BB.  Gave up 5 hits and 3 Runs/2 Earned.  Oh, he had 9 ground ball outs... so I think he's a GB type pitcher using that 2 seam to sink.

4 recs  |  Comment 26 comments

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Lerew vs. the Red Sox

smells like Eduardo Villacis vs. the Yankees.

Ah, the joys of September baseball!

If you look closely, it really says "CentralChamps2012."

by CentralChamps2009 on Sep 23, 2009 11:07 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Too bad Eduardo Venerealdisease

’s start was before MEMORIAL DAY!

BOOM! ROASTED!

by GoBabies!! on Sep 24, 2009 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

That's because this regime

Would never allow below league average players into games that mattered.

If you look closely, it really says "CentralChamps2012."

by CentralChamps2009 on Sep 24, 2009 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Shawn Sedlacek comes close

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Sep 24, 2009 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

he is still pretty young

looks like he has more upside than villacis ever had. well, this is his shot, should be fun to see what he can do.

-

by slayor on Sep 23, 2009 11:34 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Or, "Why is Anthony Lerew?"

I would have preferred putting the names of all Royals minor league pitchers in a hat and drawing out a name to pick the starter of this game. Come to think of it, that may be what Moore did.

The immoderate moderator

by NYRoyal on Sep 24, 2009 2:00 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

There had been rumblings last week about him starting this game

I don’t see a big problem with it Lerew starting. Sure it reaks of Villacis, but Lerew has 3 seasons of big league experience, had a very strong second half, and is only 26. I’d rather give a younger guy who has a shot one day than a Ducky who is never going to be up again. Maybe we should of called up Rowdy instead? :)

With his extreme GB tendacies, we should be okay. I hope he has a good start and this is the start of a great second half of his career. (Weird to say that, but he came up when he was only 22…)

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Sep 24, 2009 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

2 of those season have 4 games between them, the other 7

3 MLB starts.

Truth is. He is the guy because NWA finished recently. The Omaha staff have been off weeks already, so Duckworth, or Phillips wouldn’t be fit and Hughes is already here.

by kcbottom9th on Sep 24, 2009 9:05 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

very true

but coming from the NL East Machine that is the Atlanta Braves, we know he was a decent pitcher before the TJ. Being in the bigs for a cup of coffee when you’re 22, 23, and 24 isn’t what every player gets.

My point was, at least he understands the big league game more than some of the other guys.

All in all, I think this is a pitcher who has a chance and is being rewarded for a very good season/second half by the guy that signed him, JJ.

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Sep 24, 2009 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

He works at Mr. Cacciatore’s down on Sullivan Street.

by 2X2L on Sep 24, 2009 9:46 AM EDT reply actions   1 recs

Here is his cube.

From what I see he has never actually looked good over the high-A level. He’s been fine at times in AA and AAA. It looks like his last really good season was in 2005.

Giving him a start is kinda an odd choice. I guess Dayton Moore didn’t want to mess with guys he thought of as more legitimate prospects and giving Lerew a start seemed harmless enough. Plus Lerew used to be a Brave, and Dayton can’t say no to former Braves.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Sep 24, 2009 10:15 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

He was a pretty hot prospect at one point

I think that was a really long time ago, but he was on my radar screen way back when. Certainly not a terrible reclamation project. The fact he is getting a start though, speaks volumes about our depth in the upper minors.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Sep 24, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Or about how many injuries we have

Meche, Bannister, Davies…that’s a lot for one rotation to swallow.

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Sep 24, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Or both. I think it's more productive than a "pen" start though.

Maybe today was the day we should have given Soria the start……………………..

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Sep 24, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

"his last really good season was in 2005."

Funny how that year keeps popping up

Unless I'm wrong...
My Twitter feed

by Top Ramen on Sep 24, 2009 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

FWIW, he's out of options

So look for him to be on our 2010 opening day roster, because Dayton can’t bear the thought of trying to slip anyone through waivers.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Sep 24, 2009 1:07 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

He's not Jamie Wright, John Bale or Roman Colon

so that might be an improvement.

If you look closely, it really says "CentralChamps2012."

by CentralChamps2009 on Sep 24, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Very true

If we don’t have him on the 40, does he go in the Rule-5? Or is he even eligible? I don’t remember the rules on this…..

I didn’t realize his option status. I wonder if GMDM did?

Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.

by 306008 on Sep 24, 2009 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

He'll have to go through waivers

To get off the roster. And if he does, he will be a minor league FA anyway I believe.

by kcbottom9th on Sep 24, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

He'd probably be a better bullpen guy than some of what we have.

He certainly couldn’t be worse could he, Buddy Bell?

BB: It could always get worse.

by AxDxMx on Sep 24, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Oakland A's Fan

In town to ask my gf’s dad for his blessing! As i am marrying a KC girl the Royals are my #2 team. Some friends are taking me to the game tonight and I am stoked to see this remodeled jewel of a ballpark- GO ROYALS (when not playing the A’s)!

by incarnate on Sep 24, 2009 3:28 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Read My Sig

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Sep 27, 2009 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

so many jokes... head exploding

Dayton must be trying to make up for the horrible season by just giving us material at this point.

I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.

Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.

by devil_fingers on Sep 24, 2009 6:46 PM EDT via mobile reply actions   0 recs

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