Thing about Humber is he lost his velocity when he had Tommy John Surgery.
If anything, his story was more a referendum on drafting an abused college pitcher.
BK
Phillip Hughes has not become one of the best pitchers in teh league. He is having a good season. Lets wait it out.
jwredsox
Well his xFIP is 3.70 which is good. Coming from a Red Sox fan I think he will be a very good pitcher in his career. Not a best in the league guy but he will be a guy who is always on the cusp. Plus his peripherals look good. Normal K rate for him, normal BABIP. Only thing that is somewhat low is HR rate (not by much) and his LOB% a bit. I think he is a consistent 3.50 ERA guy that occasionally gets good years that are in the lower 3.00s so I think he can keep this up for the season.
Whole-heartily agree with you. Textbook example of a number 2 pitcher, and that’s more than enough for me.
Civilization
What I think BK was trying to point out however, is that one good season doesn’t determine how good a pitcher really is going to be. Case in point is Zack Greinke. This guy had an amazing 2009 posting 2.16/2.33/3.15 (ERA-FIP-xFIP) line. This year he’s posting a 3.94/3.87/3.94 line.
Also worth keeping in mind is Hughes has a career high of 86 innings pitched in a single season. Phil Hughes can become one of the best pitchers in the league, but he’s not there yet.
Hochevar and Gordon had the same problem, not enough time in the minors to work on their flaws. Now that Gordon’s insanely good, wait for what the Royals are (dealing DeJesus and shifting Gordon into the OF) and designate Hochevar for assignment and let him dominate the minors and fix his problems.
Rinse, repeat, profit.
jbowen24
The hard part about reading this article as a Padres fans is that they had the number one overall pick that year and went with Matt Bush. They could have had any of these guys but John Moores was so scared to draft guys that might cost a little bit of money.
Literally, that night of the draft, Matt Bush was arrested at a bar for drinking underage. It was all down hill from their.
Last I heard the Rays had converted him into a middle reliever. And just last year he was part of a professional baseball first…Tim Beckham (#1 overall 2008) and (#1 overall 2004) Matt Bush were on the same team. And for the record…both were struggling and falling way short of expectations.
It may have been a first in the MLB, but David Carr formerly of the Houston Texans, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and current San Francisco 49er. Has completed the task numerous times.
For instance, in Carolina Carr #1 overall played with former #1 overall Vinny Testaverde. Ditto in NY while backing up #1 overall Eli Manning. And then again in SF with #1 overall Alex Smith.
East Coast Bias
That post made me “aww” and “lol” at the Twins at the same time. A year the Twinkies would like to forget, I’m guessing.
Say what you will… but the Twins clean up in the draft every year. Their former GM Terry Ryan was the last old school talent evaluator. And the fruit’s of his labor have given the Twins a great farm system.
They are like the Indianapolis Colts. (Last year all 22 of the Colts starters had NEVER player for another organization.) I know the Twins sprinkle in a free agent here and there (Pavano, Hudson, etc.), but for the most part they are all home grown.
They may have missed on Glen Perkins, but just look at the rest of the organization. Mauer goes down and his rookie replacement gets 4 hits in his first start. The organization is very deep and well run.
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Michael Eskin
What’s missing from this post is the realization that EVERYBODY passed on Dustin Pedroia.
P W
phil humber…hhahahaha
adropofvenom
Thing about Humber is he lost his velocity when he had Tommy John Surgery.
If anything, his story was more a referendum on drafting an abused college pitcher.
BK
Phillip Hughes has not become one of the best pitchers in teh league. He is having a good season. Lets wait it out.
jwredsox
Well his xFIP is 3.70 which is good. Coming from a Red Sox fan I think he will be a very good pitcher in his career. Not a best in the league guy but he will be a guy who is always on the cusp. Plus his peripherals look good. Normal K rate for him, normal BABIP. Only thing that is somewhat low is HR rate (not by much) and his LOB% a bit. I think he is a consistent 3.50 ERA guy that occasionally gets good years that are in the lower 3.00s so I think he can keep this up for the season.
jon
Whole-heartily agree with you. Textbook example of a number 2 pitcher, and that’s more than enough for me.
Civilization
What I think BK was trying to point out however, is that one good season doesn’t determine how good a pitcher really is going to be. Case in point is Zack Greinke. This guy had an amazing 2009 posting 2.16/2.33/3.15 (ERA-FIP-xFIP) line. This year he’s posting a 3.94/3.87/3.94 line.
Also worth keeping in mind is Hughes has a career high of 86 innings pitched in a single season. Phil Hughes can become one of the best pitchers in the league, but he’s not there yet.
Bob
Ouch, the Alex Gordon comment stings. Well, at least the earlier discussions didn’t center on Hochevar.
Cameron Nelson
Hochevar and Gordon had the same problem, not enough time in the minors to work on their flaws. Now that Gordon’s insanely good, wait for what the Royals are (dealing DeJesus and shifting Gordon into the OF) and designate Hochevar for assignment and let him dominate the minors and fix his problems.
Rinse, repeat, profit.
jbowen24
The hard part about reading this article as a Padres fans is that they had the number one overall pick that year and went with Matt Bush. They could have had any of these guys but John Moores was so scared to draft guys that might cost a little bit of money.
Onewildman
Literally, that night of the draft, Matt Bush was arrested at a bar for drinking underage. It was all down hill from their.
Last I heard the Rays had converted him into a middle reliever. And just last year he was part of a professional baseball first…Tim Beckham (#1 overall 2008) and (#1 overall 2004) Matt Bush were on the same team. And for the record…both were struggling and falling way short of expectations.
It may have been a first in the MLB, but David Carr formerly of the Houston Texans, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and current San Francisco 49er. Has completed the task numerous times.
For instance, in Carolina Carr #1 overall played with former #1 overall Vinny Testaverde. Ditto in NY while backing up #1 overall Eli Manning. And then again in SF with #1 overall Alex Smith.
East Coast Bias
That post made me “aww” and “lol” at the Twins at the same time. A year the Twinkies would like to forget, I’m guessing.
Onewildman
Say what you will… but the Twins clean up in the draft every year. Their former GM Terry Ryan was the last old school talent evaluator. And the fruit’s of his labor have given the Twins a great farm system.
They are like the Indianapolis Colts. (Last year all 22 of the Colts starters had NEVER player for another organization.) I know the Twins sprinkle in a free agent here and there (Pavano, Hudson, etc.), but for the most part they are all home grown.
They may have missed on Glen Perkins, but just look at the rest of the organization. Mauer goes down and his rookie replacement gets 4 hits in his first start. The organization is very deep and well run.