Jun 17th, 2009
Omogrosso Promoted to AAA
By Dan Santaromita
RHP Brian Omogrosso was told by his coaches this morning that he had been promoted to AAA.
The 25-year-old was 7-2 with a 4.19 in his second season with the Barons. The Birmingham News reported that he would start in the Knights’ bullpen.
Omogrosso was a reliever at Indiana State when the Sox drafted him in the 6th round in 2006. He went straight to the Kannapolis bullpen and pitched well enough to start 2007 with the Warthogs in high A. There, the 6′4″ 230 pounder made 26 relief appearances and 14 starts. Last year Brian split time between starting and relief with the Barons, but only pitched 39 innings due to multiple injuries. He had a 3.69 ERA with an awful strikeout to walk ratio (26 to 25).
This season Omogrosso got off to a hot start, but has struggled lately. After his 7th start of the season on May 13, Omogrosso had a 1.98 ERA in 41 innings. Since then he has a 7.03 ERA in 32 innings over his last 6 starts. He has given up 5 or more runs in four of those starts, though he did not allow an earned run in the other two starts during that span. Brian was still striking out batters during his recent slump (27 in those 32 innings), but walked 24. This is a contrast after walking just 16 in his first 41 innings.
It is possible the Sox think Omogrosso’s arm is fatiguing considering his history with injuries (including a Tommy John Surgery in 2004 after his sophomore season at Indiana State). He was never a starter for the Sycamores and the Sox had never made him a full time starter until the start of this season. It has always been believed that his future would be in the bullpen because he possesses a plus fastball that sits in the mid 90s and his secondary stuff is not as sharp.
Omogrosso is the third player promoted from the Barons’ squad that has dominated the Southern League so far. Gordon Beckham and Aaron Poreda have joined the big league club. All three have been major contributors to why the Barons are 44-20 and have already clinched the first half division title.
Fantastic article Dan. Omogrosso is a guy who should fit in really nice in the White Sox pen. He has a very good fastball and good enough secondary stuff to get by. His command issues are definately concerning but I expect him to be one of the first guys promoted to Chicago as soon as the Sox fall out of contention. Him and Link are the two minor leaguers most ready to make an impact in the White Sox bullpen.
I hope Omogrosso does well. I don’t understand what the Sox are thinking with Harrell. Its seems to me that he is doing plenty good enough to get some attention. First AA pitcher to get 8 wins and should have gotten a win last night if he had decent defense behind him. His ERA and WHIP are better than some that have been promoted. Why don’t the Sox just trade him if they aren’t going to do anything with him?
I would have thought they were trying to maintain that core at Birmingham. But, it seems they’re promoting guys lately, so who knows?
Will win #9 tonight for Harrell mean anything to the Sox? Trade him if you don’t like him. #87 on the list of prospects in the organization? Come on.
Bart, you say the Sox don’t like Harrell but they used up a 40-man roster spot on him to protected him from the Rule 5 draft recently, if they really didn’t like him they would have left him unprotected. Also lets not forget that Harrell has had some serious injuries the last couple of years so I think they’re just bringing him along slowly.
I hope you are right Seven. I did see that he was promoted to AAA Wednesday.