Minas Morgul welcomes latest franchise player

via Slayer Press Release
MINAS MORGUL - After saying goodbye to Ishanna Seladriel as she enters life outside of baseball, the team brings in a fiesty little dryad named Amaris Moonblossom, 15 years old. Amaris is noticably different than the team's prior two franchise players in just about every way possible.

The only similiarity two the others is that she is a lot like how Seladriel started out, high on strikeouts and late movement on her pitches. After that, however, the similiarities end.

Maeglin Elensar and Ishanna Seladriel were finesse pitching knuckleballers, while Amaris throws two hard pitches, a Fastball and a nasty slider, both in the high range of velocity. The fastball has been clocked at over 100 MPH while the slider checks in with speeds of around 90-92 MPH. At 3'7", 40 pounds, her slender frame looks frail, but she packs power behind her pitches due to her very elaborate and self-taught windup.

Amaris is also said to be quite sadistic, having spent a LOT of time at BranMorda's sadism seminars during her rookie orientation. While not confirmed, some scouts say she is, or will be, notorious for hitting batters thanks to the 'training' she received. She is also said to have a sharp tongue and won't hold back anything on her mind - another stark difference from the prior two pitchers.

On the field, she most resembles Deneadur in ability at the present time (8-1, 2.17 ERA for Minas Morgul last season) although her endurance will need a lot of work if she's to be reliable as a starting pitcher. As a reliever, she compares well with Nilcarion (5-0, 3 saves, 3.11 ERA). She does not care at all about runners on the bases, utilizing her long windup that allows her to get the velocity and movement on her pitches.

Her unusual and lengthy mechanics are prone to control problems at this stage in her career although scouts think she may make some improvement. Her windup also leaves her with awful position after her follow through, but she does react well (i.e. charges at) the ball when it's hit near her. However, that causes her to have terrible footwork and leads to fielding and throwing errors. Her infield arm is the calibur of a shortstop's and will be able to make the throw from anywhere on the infield - assuming it's actually on target.

As expected, some of her weaknesses are showing up in spring action. She's 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA. She's struck out 8 in 8 innings of work, walking 4, and allowing 9 hits.

Posted at February 20, 2007 01:56 AM | more from Minas Morgul