Friday, June 3, 2011

Roy Halladay SP - Tim Lincecum SP

Roy Halladay was the 17th player selected in the 1995 MLB Draft, taken by the Toronto Blue Jays. Halladay first appeared in the majors in September of 1998. In his second MLB start on September 27th versus the Detroit Tigers, Roy took a No-Hitter into the ninth inning broken up by a Bobby Higginson home run. Halladay's career was mostly down over the next few years. He sported an unwieldly 10.64 ERA in 2000 and the following year went back to Class A ball in Dunedin to try and rework his delivery. When "Doc" returned he was a new and effective pitcher. Starting in 2002 Halladay has appeared in 7 All-Star games. He has led both the A.L. and N.L. in wins and has won Cy Young Awards in both leagues. Roy has won 20 games three different years. On May 29, 2010 Halladay twirled a perfect game versus the Florida Marlins. On October 6th 2010 Roy pitched only the second no hitter in Post Season play shutting down the Cincinnati Reds.




Tim Lincecum was drafted twice but didn't sign a MLB contract opting to attend the U. of Washington. In 2006 Lincecum was chosen 10th overall in the draft by the San Francisco Giants. Tim made his MLB debut on May 6, 2007 and from that point he was up to stay. Making 24 starts in 2007 Lincecum won 7 and lost 5, averaging over a strikeout per inning. Then in 2008 Lincecum really asserted his talent. 33 starts, 18 wins with 265 K's. He was picked for the National League All-Star team and was named the 2008 N.L. Cy Young winner. He followed that up in 2009 with 15 wins, 267 K's another All-Star berth and his second Cy Young award. 2010 saw Tim win 16 games but his statistics were down slightly in other categories. He appeared to not have his good stuff on several occasions and had to pitch his way through the game rather than rely on his superior ability. This should really serve him well in future seasons.


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Matt Cain SP - Justin Verlander SP

Matt Cain was selected out of Houston H.S., Germantown Tennessee in the 1st round (25th pick) of the 2002 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants. He debuted on August 29, 2005 versus Colorado. Matt would go on to start 7 games that season allowiing just 24 hits in 46 innings. Cain began the 2006 season in the Giants starting rotation and won 13 games leading all N.L. Rookie pitchers. Of all pitchers in the Giants rotation Cain has probably had the least support, thus his career record of 57-62. Cain is consistent pitching over 200 innings for the last four seasons and averaging less than 1 hit per inning. In 2009 Matt was named to the N.L. All-Star team amassing a 14-8 record. In '10 Cain finished sixth in the N.L. in BB+H/IP. Yet he again was barely over .500 for the weak hitting San Francisco team going 13-11. Even the Post Season was no respite. Despite starting 3 games and allowing just 13 hits in 21 innings Cain's record was just 1 win and 0 losses.

Justin Verlander out of Old Dominion was the second overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft. Taken by the Detroit Tigers his first MLB start was on July 4, 2005. Justin would have only 1 other start for the Tigers that season but moved into the starting rotation permanently in 2006. During his first full season Justin won 17 games and was voted the A.L. Rookie of the Year. In 2007 Verlander made his first All-Star game and finished with 18 wins. On June 12, 2007 Justin pitched a No-Hitter versus Milwaukee fanning 12 batters. After struggling to an 11-17 record in '08 Verlander reestablished himself in 2009. That season he won 19 games for Detroit and led the A.L. in innings with 240 and K's with 269 and was named to his second All-Star team. Justin showed that '09 was no fluke by winning 18 games in 2010 and pitched 224 innings allowing less than 1 hit per inning.






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Ubaldo Jimenez SP - Jeremy Hellickson SP

Ubaldo Jimenez was signed as an amateur Free Agent at the age of 17 by the Colorado Rockies in 2001. His MLB debut occurred on September 26, 2006 as a reliever. He made his first start versus the Chicago Cubs on October 1 but received no decision. In 2007 Ubaldo pitched half the season with the Rockies starting 15 games and finishing with a 4-4 record. In 2008 Jimenez was in the starting rotation the entire year managing a 12-12 record. In 2009 Jimenez began to mature as a pitcher, improving his statistics across the board. He won 15 games, pitched 218 innings and K'd 198 batters. Ubaldo really appeared to make a jump in 2010 going 19-8, finishing third in the N.L. Cy Young voting. Jimenez was chosen for the N.L. All-Star team and was the starting pitcher. His career highlight came on April 17, 2010 when he pitched the first No-Hitter in Colorado Rockie history. Pitching in Atlanta against the Braves Jimenez was able to to hit 100 on the radar gun on a couple of occasions and in a curious development ended up the last few innings pitching exclusively from the streth to aid his control!



Jeremy Hellickson hasn't done too much at the Major League level in his young career. He was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 4th round of the 2005 MLB Draft. On August 2, 2010 Hellickson made his first major league start against the Minnesota Twins. In that game Jeremy went 7 innings, allowed 3 hits and 2 walks while fanning 6 and got his first MLB win. Eight days later he was recalled to start a game against the Detroit Tigers. That night he went 7 innings, allowed 3 hits and fanned 7 while not allowing a walk to up his record to 2-0. A week later he faced the Orioles and gave up 3 hits in six innings improving to 3-0. These are the highlights to this point as Hellickson tries to become a permanent fixture in the Rays starting rotation.

Hellickson MLB link

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Carlos Zambrano SP - Joakim Soria Closer

Carlos Zambrano is a true "Wild Card" heading into the season. Signed by the Cubs as a Free Agent in 1997, Zambrano appeared in his first MLB game on August 20, 2001 at the tender age of 20. In 2002 "Z" bounced between starting games and relief. In 2003 he was a mainstay in the rotation starting 32 games winning 13. Carlos was named a N.L. All-Star in '04, '06 & '08. Known as a good hitting pitcher, Zambrano earned Silver Slugger Awards in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and has 21 career homers. On Sept. 14, 2008 "Z" threw a No-Hitter versus the Houston Astros. Uniquely the game was played at a neutral site Miller Park in Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike. 2010 was a struggle for the big RHP but he did finish the year on an 8-0 run with a 1.41 ERA over that span.




Joakim Soria is a classic "could have been a ____" At the age of 16 the Dodgers signed him as a Free Agent. Released by L.A. in 2005 he was signed by the S.D. Padres. Unprotected by the Padres the K.C. Royals nabbed him in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft. Pitching for the Royals in 2007 eventually won the job as their closer and saved 17 games. Joakim opened 2008 with 13 consecutive saves and was chosen to the A.L. All-Star team. Soria finished '08 with 42 saves. In 2009 Joakim saved 30 games in 33 opportunities. In 2010 Soria saved a career high 43 games and received his second All-Star selection. Joakim has a good mixture of pitches and despite not overpowering hitters with a fastball, he still has averaged 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings over his major league career.

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Geovany Soto C - Miguel Olivo C

To quote Casey Stengel "The catching position is very important because without it the ball just rolls to the backstop". Geovany Soto was taken in the 11th round of the 2001 MLB Amatuer Draft. 4 years later Soto made his debut for the Cubs on Sept. 23, 2005. Not really being a Blue Chip prospect for the Cubs, Soto spent another two seasons in the minors with a few late season AB's in Chicago. After lighting up the minors in 2007, Geovany was called up and just continued his torrid hitting in the bigs. Soto earned the starting catcher nod in 2008 and proceeded to make the N.L. All-Star team and win the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award. 2009 was a down year for Soto as his conditioning was brought into question. 2010 Geovany reported in great shape and went on to a fine season with a career high OPS of .890 to go along with his 17 home runs.






Miguel Olivo was originally signed as a Free Agent by the Oakland A's in 1996. In 2000 Olivo was traded to the White Sox and his first MLB appearance was on September 15, 2002. Miguel was the White Sox primary Catcher in 2003 but in 2004 he was dealt to the Seattle Mariners. In 2005 Seattle traded Olivo to San Diego. In 2006 Olivo signed as a Free Agent with the Florida Marlins and for two seasons he was their starting Catcher. K.C. signed Miguel as a Free Agent and for 2008 and 2009 Olivo platooned as a backstop for the Royals. In 2010 the Colorado Rockies signed Olivo as a Free Agent and he appeared in 112 games for the Rockies. Miguel has a strong arm and in 2010 Olivo was second in the N.L. in Caught Stealing % throwing out 42 percent of the attempted steals. Olivo also has caught 2 no-hitters, Anibal Sanchez on September 6, 2006 and Ubaldo Jimenez on April 17, 2010.


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Nelson Cruz OF - Colby Rasmus OF

Nelson Cruz was signed by the N.Y. Mets as an Amateur Free Agent in 1998. He bounced around from the Mets to Oakland to Milwaukee before making his first MLB appearance for the Brewers at the end of the 2005 season. During the 2006 season Cruz was acquired by the Texas Rangers and he ended up appearing in 41 games and hitting 6 homers. For the Rangers in '07 managed just 9 HR's in 96 games. In 2008 Cruz didn't make the team out of Spring Training and was waived. No team took a chance on him, so he signed with Oklahoma City. Cruz dominated the AAA level hitting .342 with 37 HR's and was called up to the Rangers in August of that year. In 2009 Nelson was selected to the A.L. All-Star team finishing the year with 33 HR's & 20 steals in 128 games. In 2010 Cruz again was plagued by injuries but finished with 22 HR's & 17 steals in 108 games. Nelson appeared in 16 Post-Season games and added another 6 homers and 11 RBI's.


Here's a little trivia, Colby played in the 1999 Little League World Series! More good things would follow this young left handed hitting outfielder. Rasmus was drafted by the St.Louis Cardinals with the 28th pick in the 2005 Free Agent Draft. Colby moved steadily through the Cardinals minor league system and made the major league opening day roster in 2009. Rasmus' first season was more solid than spectacular. He finished 8th in the N.L. Rookie of the Year voting. There were highlights like his 4 hit game June 19 versus K.C. and a walk-off homer on July 1 to beat the Giants 2-1. Expectations were high for 2010 and Rasmus improved in all the offensive categories. His HR's went from 16 to 23, his batting average rose from .251 to .276 and he even added 12 steals. However by September there were rumblings that Rasmus and Manager Tony LaRussa weren't on the same page. There is great ability here and hopefully Colby will continue to develop.

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Jayson Werth OF - Matt Kemp OF

Jayson Werth was a first round draft pick in th 1997 MLB Draft, taken by the Baltimore Orioles. In 2000 Werth was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2002 Jayson broke in to the majors appearing in 15 games for Toronto. In 2003, Werth managed only 51 At Bats for the Blue Jays and the next spring was dealt to the Dodgers. In '04 & '05 Werth appeared in a platoon situation and suffered a wrist injury which caused him to miss the 2006 season. In 2007 Jayson signed with the Phillies and was again a platoon outfielder in that season. Finally in 2008 he was given an opportunity for regular At-Bats and his career took off. In 2009 Werth had a career high 36 homers while stealing 20 bases. In 2010 Jayson Werth launched a career high 75 extra base hits. In the outfield Jayson is solid with a terrific arm well suited for Right Field. After the 2010 season, Jayson signed as a free agent with Washington.


Matt Kemp was drafted in the sixth round of the 2003 MLB Draft and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After progressing through the Dodger minor league system, Matt made his debut on May 28, 2006 getting 1 hit in 4 Ab's. Kemp suffered an injury in 2007 limiting him to just 292 at bats. In that limited time Matt hit .342 with 10 homers and 10 steals. Finally gaining a full time job in 2008 Kemp batted .290 with 18 homers and 35 stolen bases. In 2009 Matt batted .297, driving in 101 runs while slugging 26 homers and stealing 34 bases. In addition to his performance on offense Kemp was awarded a 2009 Gold Glove for his work in Centerfield. 2010 was an all around down year for Matt as his statistics fell in nearly every category. His home run total rose to 28 but everywhere else his statistics went down. He appeared tentative on the bases where he stole only 19 bases in 34 attempts. Also his play in the field suffered as he at times looked lethargic chasing after fly balls. Kemp is certainly talented enough and young enough to be able to right the direction of his career in 2011.



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