A.J. Cole Promoted To Syracuse

The Harrisburg Senators announced today that RHP A.J. Cole has been promoted to Syracuse.

Yesterday, RHP John Simms was “moved on up” from Potomac and today it was announced that he would be starting in place of Cole, who had been listed as today’s starter in Senators media notes. Tomorrow’s starter for Syracuse is officially “TBA,” but it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to suppose that the 22-y.o. Cole will be taking the hill against the Bisons tomorrow night.

Unlike many of the promotions this year, this one appears to be permanent, given Adam Kilgore’s report on Wednesday predicting this move. Cole was the only pitcher to make every start for the Senators since the season began, though he did miss one start with no official explanation.

Since that missed start in early June, Cole has gone 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA over four starts with one homer, five walks and 21 hits allowed over 21⅓ IP while striking out 22. Good, but not dominant numbers… much like his promotion last July that came two starts after getting rocked by Wilmington for seven runs on 11 hits over five innings.

The point? As much as we’d like to think that a player on a hot or cold streak is doing good or bad (*ahem*), the folks that make these decisions are looking for things that most of us are not able to see as readily.

Cole will be entering a rotation, that like much of the full-season affiliates, has been in flux with the semi-constant recalls of pitchers from upstate New York to the District, including Taylor Hill, Blake Treinen, Jordan Taylor, and of course, Xavier “Carry On” Cedeno. The Chiefs are also are in the middle of a 33-day stretch without a scheduled day off with 17 games to go, the last eight on the road.