OT: Tigers Call up Weinhardt from AAA

Submitted by formerlyanonymous on

Normally Tigers information isn't very important to me. I grew up in a southern suburb of Houston before interleague. The Tigers were just some far away team for me. Today, one of the other kids I played with all the way from peewee leagues at the local Dad's Club is now a Tiger, so I feel like I'm a fan of the Tigers.

Robbie Weinhardt was called up in place of Galarraga today. The guy was always the top guy growing up, destroying my teams year after year. I remember when I was 8, and we were in 8 & 9 year olds. The kid not only threw a no hitter against us, but he also had the only two hits of the game, both solo home runs.

Even in high school, he was a great kid. I was his bullpen catcher by that time, and he was all business all the time when it was his night to pitch. When it wasn't, he was the guy in the club house we all rallied around.

After a stint with Hill College, he transfered to Oklahoma State where and was moved permanently to the bull pen. He was drafted as a junior by his hometown Astros in the 38th round, but instead, passed on that tremendous opportunity to complete his degree. Robbie graduated and was drafted in the 10th round of 2008 by the Tigers.

Obviously he has moved up pretty quickly. After just 2 seasons in the minors, he's finally made it to the big show.

/cool-story-bro

BoiseBlue

July 7th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^

we'll see if he can stay up for a while, although Galarraga being sent down was planned as his start falls during the all-star break. Best of luck to Weinhardt and it's always good to see more guys from the farm system making the bigs. 

spam and beans

July 7th, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^

the OP is right.  It sure is fun to see the kids you competed with/against make it to the big leagues.  I played football with a couple of guys who made it big.  It was always fun to watch them play.

jonny_GoBlue

July 7th, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^

I'm glad to discover upon opening this thread that Weinhardt is not an auto insurance agent...

So what pitches are in his repertoire?  Is he considered a fireballer?

ikestoys

July 7th, 2010 at 6:25 PM ^

Fangraphs.com scouting report says 89-94 mph fastball and a curveball. He's posted great K rates in A and AA last year, but that has fallen off some in AAA this year (His BB rate has improved though). Sample size is pretty small though in AAA.

He's one of the Tigers' top ten prospects, hopefully he does well and someone else gets optioned back down when Galaragga comes back.

Mitch Cumstein

July 7th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^

Is so, who do you think would be sent down for good (or for the forseeable future)?  Obviously Galarraga will be back up for his next start after the break. 

MichFan1997

July 7th, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^

each year it seems that i come up with some random draft pick that i get very excited about (outside of the top picks). this is one of those guys. i've followed him from the beginning of his pro career. can't wait to see how he does.

Magnus

July 10th, 2010 at 6:48 AM ^

I went to see the Tigers game last night.  Weinhardt did pretty well.  I was impressed, because I hadn't heard of him until I was looking at the roster before the game.  The radar gun hit 93-94 on a couple of his fastballs.