D’backs Send Down Tyler Skaggs

The race to become the number five starter of the Arizona Diamondbacks just lost one of its candidates.  Tyler Skaggs, the #10 prospect in all of Major League Baseball according to mlb.com, was sent to Triple A Reno yesterday.  That leaves Patrick Corbin and Randall Delgado to battle it out for the final spot in the rotation as Spring Training begins to wind down for 2013.  Both Corbin and Delgado have pitched much better than Skaggs who struggled mightily at times allowing 14 hits in nine innings pitched to the tune of a 11.00 ERA in four appearances.

An 11.00 ERA in four games meant a ticket to Reno for Tyler Skaggs. Image: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Even with a solid Spring, there was no rock-solid guarantee Skaggs would make the club out of Spring Training.  After all, he won’t turn 22 until July 13th and he rocketed through the system in 2012 starting the year with Double A Mobile and ending it in the D’back dugout.  Perhaps it would benefit both team and player if the lefty was slowed down a bit and was able to fix the mechanical issues that derailed his outings.  Kirk Gibson said as much in explaining the decision and, per Steve Gilbert at mlb.com, Gibby thought that Skaggs placed a tremendous amount of pressure on himself during the competition.  

“He just wasn’t ready,” manager Kirk Gibson said. “We felt it was being counterproductive him being here. I think he was a little bit relieved, to be quite honest with you. We’ll get him back on track.”

For a team playing in a tough division that expects to win now, they could not afford a slow start out of the gate with such a young arm.  He will get his work at Reno and then probably find his way back to Phoenix later in the season.  No staff will have all five members of the rotation each make 30 starts or more.  There is no need to rush the talented Skaggs and no need to worry about him.  His ability will get him to the Majors for good in the not-too-distant future.

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