Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley provided us with a breakdown of what to expect from Shane Greene.
Trades are always fun, but particularly when they involve lesser known players. Most fans knew what the Tigers were getting when they picked up Ian Kinsler in 2013, or David Price earlier this year. But when they traded Devon Travis for Anthony Gose, not many people knew what to expect. Luckily, the folks at Bluebird Banter were able to help us out.
This time, Pinstripe Alley is the one doing the legwork. I asked editor Andrew Mearns if he had anything to say about Greene. Like the awesome people he and the rest of the Pinstripe Alley staff are, he responded within minutes. You can follow Andrew on Twitter for more Yankees news and analysis.
First, he directed me to their prospect profile of Greene, written prior to the 2014 season:
"Greene's four-seam fastball that sits mostly between 92-94 mph, but he can get it up to as high as 97 mph. He also possesses a two-seam fastball, which helped him record a 47% ground-ball rate last year, that sits more in the low-90's. As for breaking and off-speed stuff, Greene uses a slider as his main out-pitch and also has a change up that is improving."
Then, they reviewed Greene's 2014 performance, awarding him a 'B' grade for the season.
"Making a total of 14 starts, he struck out an impressive 81 batters in 78.2 innings pitched while playing well against tough competition, especially in his best start of the season: eight innings of shutout ball against the always-dangerous Tigers. The fact that his home park was Yankee Stadium made it important for him to keep the ball on the ground, which he did at a 50.2% rate. He was also able to induce an above-average swinging strike rate of 9.9%, strikeout percentage of 23.5%, and an average walk percentage of 8.4%."
Brandon McCarthy -- who is not actually a staff writer at Pinstripe Alley -- had a couple of nice things to say as well.
It's a close race this week for @sagreeney between scoreless innings and words said.
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) August 7, 2014Hey Tigers fans @sagreeney has stupid electric stuff and you should feel lucky to get to watch him now. Terrible at fantasy football though.
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) December 5, 2014Andrew summed up his thoughts in the best way possible; acknowledging that the Yankees gave up something of value, and hinting at the potential that the team may regret this trade down the road.
I really liked him, and even though his MLB success was small sample size and seemed to go in the face of lesser minor league numbers, I could totally see him lasting in the majors for some time as a back-end rotation starter despite being a late bloomer. I'm fine with giving him up for Gregorius since the Yankees badly need a shortstop and Didi has potential, but the fact that many Yankees fans are reluctant to see him go should tell you something about how much of an impression he made in just about half a season.
Sounds like a pretty solid return for the Tigers.