Elih Villanueva, SP

[mbitcronod12]

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_534631.jpg

Full Name: Elih Villanueva
Born: 07/26/1986
Birthplace: Coral Springs, FL
College: Florida State
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 235
Bats: R
Throws: R

Selected by the Florida Marlins in the 27th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida State University.

[Beef]

BeefVillanueva!

[Ralph]

7.1 ip 4h 0er 1bb 5k today.

Has a 2.69 era in AA now. I don't know what to think about him. He doesn't K too many guys but doesn't walk any either. He also doesn't get alot of groundballs. Don't know how he does it but he gets good results.

[nny]

If he got GB's I'd like him, control-gb guys are rather underrated because their upside is limited but they make good back end rotation guys.

He's a massive FB pitcher though (44.6% FB rate this year, 40.3% last year).

[Ralph]

8ip 4h 0r 2bb 2k 4:16 GB:FB ratio...

Any chance the guy can beat the odds and become a Bronson Arroyo, Jeremy Guthrie, Kevin Slowey type?

[Miamarlin21]

8ip 4h 0r 2bb 2k 4:16 GB:FB ratio...

Any chance the guy can beat the odds and become a Bronson Arroyo, Jeremy Guthrie, Kevin Slowey type?

If anyone from the Double-A starting staff makes it, it's gonna be Sanabia in my opinion (5-1, 1.73 ERA 56/13 K/BB). However, Villa has always put up good numbers. He's not eligible for the 40-man this off season,(unlike Sanabia) which is good, so maybe he can sneak into the bigs at some point next year.

[marlins_virus.exe]

I think Sanabia is ahead of Villanueva in terms of development and readiness, but I'm starting to think EV might make a fine end-of-the-rotation guy someday. The flyballs are scary though...

[nny]

I think Sanabia is ahead of Villanueva in terms of development and readiness, but I'm starting to think EV might make a fine end-of-the-rotation guy someday. The flyballs are scary though...

The flyballs are way too scary

48% fly ball rate. Nearly half the balls in play are flyballs. That's just crazy bad.

Slowey's the only one named by Ralph with a massive flyball pitcher like that, but his strike out rates in the minors were a lot more obscene (basically 1 per inning). Very doubtful Elih can put up that kind of K/BB in the majors. I really don't have any hope for him.

[lou]

Agree with NNY and 21. EV is an organizational arm that doesn't get past AAA and Sanabia is the one who makes it if any.

[Miamarlin21]

Agree with NNY and 21. EV is an organizational arm that doesn't get past AAA and Sanabia is the one who makes it if any.

I think the only way he'll make it is if he has great numbers next year, I think that's how it'll happen if it does.

[wanks1212]

Elih could make it in the same way that Graham Taylor "made it" - due to an emergency and some solid minor league numbers, he gets called up for a few starts, gets knocked around, and doesn't ever return.

[Beef]

He threw a no-hitter today. It lasted 5 innings

[nny]

Fun with Elih:

Leads all of AA with
28 starts (tied first with a lot of players)
2.26 ERA (Koehler is 4th, 2nd in SOU)
0.96 WHIP (Only Rudy Owens was also under 1)
179 IP (no other player broke 170. Koehler is 7th, and 2nd in SOU)
4 CG (Tied first with Brooks Brown, only one other player had more than 2)
3 SHO (First, only three other players had 2)
and was 2nd in Wins with 14 (Koehler first with 16)

6th in BB/9 :(

Koehler also finished 3rd in K's.

Not just Cy Young of the southern league, but all of AA baseball

[Ramp]

good stuff there

[wanks1212]

Yusmeiro Petit 2.0. Sell high, if there's value present.

[nny]

Petit at least got strike outs; Taylor at least got ground balls.

It's like if you combined the good of Petit and the good of Taylor...he's the leftover of all the bad.
--------------------
I'm curious to what he actually throws though.

All I can ever find on him is "unimpressive stuff but has pitchibility". Ok, but what IS his stuff? Normally this kind of stuff isn't that hard to find lol

[fishy]

bring them both up see what they got???
or bring them to Camp???

[wanks1212]

For sure, bring Elih and Koehler to camp. See what they got then.

[fishy]

they make a roster spot for sandy rosario
why would they not give koehler or villanueva ball last two weeks

[marlins_virus.exe]

can't possibly be easy for a pitcher in the PCL to win this...

New Orleans Zephyrs right-hander Elih Villanueva was named the Pacific Coast League's Pitcher of the Week for June 20-26, the league announced Monday.
Villanueva posted a 1.29 earned run average over his two road starts last week, allowing a combined seven hits and five walks while striking out 13 over 14 innings pitched.

After holding Oklahoma City to two runs in six innings pitched in a hard luck loss on June 20, the right-hander authored eight innings of shutout baseball against the Nashville Sounds on June 25. Villanueva struck out a season-high eight batters against the Sounds while surrendering only four hits and no walks in the no-decision. He also slugged the first home run of his professional career in the contest.

Villanueva recently made his Major League debut on June 15 when he made a spot start for the parent club, the Florida Marlins. The Florida native is in his fourth professional season since being selected by the Marlins in the 27th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. A year after being named a Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star in the Southern League, the Florida State product has fashioned a 1.67 ERA with 21 strikeouts against eight walks in four June starts for New Orleans.

The award for Villanueva is the first PCL Pitcher of the Week award for a New Orleans pitcher since Willie Collazo earned the honor for his performance during the week of July 6-12 in the 2009 season.

Reno Aces infielder Cody Ransom earned the league's Hitter of the Week honor.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110627&content_id=21074552&vkey=pr_t588&fext=.jsp&sid=t588