Saturday, September 18, 2010

GCL Astros: Dieudone Paul

Dieudone Paul
How did he get here?: Signed prior to 2009 season
Stats: 6'2", 187 lbs, Throws: Left
Age as of April 1, 2011: 23

2010 Overview




IPERA/WHIPK:BBBAAK/9BB/9
33.21.60/1.3139:15.22110.44.0


Career (2007-09)






YearIPERA/WHIPK:BBHR/9K/9BB/9
2007225.73/2.0024:211.29.88.6
200839.24.54/1.4948:260.010.95.9
200954.21.65/1.1266:240.010.94.0


What happened?

The Astros are Paul's third team in four seasons, having come to the Astros' DSL team from the Yankees in 2007 and the Blue Jays in 2008. You can see that his 2010 was exceptional, as his two seasons with Houston have been much better than his years in the DSL.

In 2010, Paul appeared strictly as a reliever, throwing the fewest number of innings since his rookie year in 2007. His WHIP increased from 1.12 in 2009 to 1.31 in 2010, but we can cut him some slack seeing as how this is his first season in a domestic league.

He appeared in some extra-long relief throughout 2010. Seven of his last ten appearances were 6+ out appearances, and three of his last five were of 4IP or more.

Paul is the lone Haitian-born prospect in the Astros organization and, thankfully, both Paul and his family were unharmed in January's massive earthquake.

What went right?

Innings. Paul was an innings-eater, one out behind Matison Smith for the most innings pitched by a (primary) reliever, and the most innings of any pitcher who didn't start a game, despite only throwing in 13 games.

Strikeouts. Paul was one of two pitchers who threw 20+ innings with more strikeouts than IP. He has been a 10+K/9 pitcher for most of his career - or at least close to it - and he struck out 34 righties (in 31IP) and five lefties (in 2.2IP).

August. In four August games (13IP), Paul allowed 8H/2ER, with 18K:1BB.

What went wrong?

Not a whole lot. If we're picking anything, it'll be that eight of his 15 walks on the season came with runners in scoring position.

July. In seven July appearances, Paul allowed 15H/4ER, with 12K:11BB, but had a GB/FB ratio under 1.00 for the only month of the season (0.56).

Paul is fairly old for the team - a year and a half older than the league average for pitchers, two and a half years older than the GCL Astros' average. I would like to see him head to Lexington, seeing as how he's spent three years in pro ball, and would be a little more age-appropriate.