Overall in 2012, Torres went just 3-8 with a 6.72 ERA, a 12.1 K/9, a 7.5 BB/9, and a 0.7 HR/9 in 18 starts, 12 relief appearances, and 80.1 IP, with 26 of his games coming at Triple-A Durham and the others all the way down in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. Why was down in the GCL? Not for an injury, but because he was just so out of sync. Torres’ stuff is about as good as it gets. He throws a fastball that touches that touches the mid-90′s with devastating late bite and a changeup with good arm action to go along with good sink. He has also thrown a big high-70′s curveball. Torres has always been able to generate swings and misses with all his pitches, which are even more difficult to pick up thanks to a deceptive delivery, but the problem is that he has never been able to throw his pitches for strikes. That was something I saw in person back in spring training. Here was a line I wrote there out of pure frustration watching Torres struggle to throw strikes with any consistency.

At the end of the day, I don’t think Torres even needs the deception because his pitches have such dynamic movement. If he could simply throw strikes with any consistency, he could be an excellent pitcher. But there’s a good chance it’s already too late.

In the GCL (completely unrelated to my writing, of course), Torres finally stopped worrying about deception and worked on simply repeating his delivery and throwing strikes. As Adam Sobsey wrote for Indy Week, Torres removed the head tilt in his delivery, removing deception but helping him to repeat his delivery. He also stopped throwing his curveball, which featured the great break but also a slightly different release point that threw Torres off and made it hard for Torres to throw it for a strike, in favor of a low-80′s slider with sharp downward break (a pitch I saw him throw in spring training). What did the change in Torres’ delivery and the dropping of his curveball in exchange for a slider do? Torres got just 2 starts in at Durham after returning from the GCL and in his final start of the season finally put it all together. He went 5.2 innings allowing just 3 hits, striking out 10 while walking just 1. It was his first 8-strikeout game of the season and just his second 7-strikeout game of the season after five games of 8 or more K’s and twelve games of 7 or more when he led the International League in strikeouts in  2011. It was also the first time all season that he walked only one batter while throwing 5 or more innings. It was just one start, but Torres appeared to make definite progress.

What is Alex Torres doing right now? He’s working in Port Charlotte with the pitching coordinator, Marty DeMerritt, who helped transform him. He hopes that his start to finish the season at Durham is the start of a major turnaround that ends with him being a good big league starting pitcher. There is still work that needs to be done. One start can’t be more indicative of Torres’ future performance than the rest of the 2012 season. But Torres is still very much a promising starting pitching prospect for the Rays, even as he turns 25 in December.

This September, Torres, a member of the Rays’ 40-man roster, will return to the big leagues. And especially after his turnaround, he has the ability to pitch well and make the same type of impact that he did in 2011. Torres’ September 2011 performance helped the Rays win just one extra game. But as we saw in 2011, you never know when one game will make the difference.

The Rays could not miss Brignac's defense any more than they do right now. (Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

This season, the Rays’ primary shortstops have been Elliot Johnson and Sean Rodriguez. Johnson has hit decently on the season, posting a .250/.316/.342 line, while Rodriguez has struggled but not on a Brignac-esque level, managing a .215/.278/.330 line. But the problem for the Rays all season has been shortstop defense. Johnson has been a defensive train wreck. Rodriguez has been better but still below-average. Reid Brignac was the player that the Rays knew all along was the best defender of the three. Shortstop defense has cost the Rays several games, and while Brignac certainly isn’t perfect, he would have prevented most of that. But would it all have been canceled out by Brignac’s ineptitude at the plate?

This season at Triple-A Durham, Brignac has not exactly lit up the sky, but he has not been so bad either. He has posted a .234/.325/.360 line with 13 doubles, 8 homers, 44 RBI, and 71 strikeouts versus 42 walks. Brignac is a player who has hit for some power in the past, even smacking 24 longballs back in 2006, but was has held him back is patience. Brignac’s walk rate this year is the highest of his career. And about his overall numbers, Brignac has been much better since the start of June, posting a .253/.337/.386 line. Brignac is not going to be anything special offensively. But he has the ability to be a solid offensive shortstop and even has a chance to be a tick above-average. Brignac turns 27 in January. He isn’t so young anymore. But he still has the ability to contribute to the team.

On September 1st or soon thereafter, Reid Brignac will make his long-awaited return to the big leagues. He will receive playing time for his defensive talents and will receive a chance to prove himself offensively as well. The Rays are rooting for him. They need him more than they ever could have realized. Can Brignac finally become the player the Rays always thought he could be?

In some positive news without a catch, the Rays have signed a bevy of draft picks, 10 to be exact: 5th rounder Bralin Jackson, 13th rounder Dylan Floro, 15th rounder Willie Gabay, 15th rounder Jordan Harrison, 16th rounder Tommy Coyle, 20th rounder R.J. Davis, 28th rounder Dayne Quist, 35th rounder Kris Carlson, 39th rounder Geoff Rowan, and 40th rounder Nick Sawyer. For scouting reports on every Rays draft pick, please check out our Rays 2012 Draft Profiles page here at RCG. Here’s what Baseball America’s Jim Callis had to say on Jackson.

#Rays sign 5th-rder Bralin Jackson for $325k. (pick value=$216k). Missouri HS OF has impressive bat speed & plenty of tools. #mlbdraft

— Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) June 13, 2012

And finally, the Rays came out with their official browser theme a few months ago which I talked about in a little more detail here and they’re now getting set to run a contest for fans with the browser theme. In summary, it looks cool and gives you the Rays’ top stories coming across the upper right-hand corner of your screen, ensuring that you’ll never miss the latest Rays news. The download link is here. It’s worth checking out.