NL Player Spotlight- April 13, 2007

Mark Prior

As a Cubs fan, I can't possibly explain to you what writing this blurb feels like. I'll briefly try to describe it... imagine being the fan of a team that had 3 prized pitching prospects under the age of 24 pitching your team within 5 outs of the World Series. Five outs within a potential championship that would lift the weight off of the shoulders of multiple generations of fans. Your grandfather who seemingly lived for the possibility of seeing a Cubs World Series in his lifetime looked as if the inevitable would finally come true. Seemingly everything was in place for a young nucleus to be very good for a very long time and then the pitcher whom everyone thought had perfect mechanics, began to break down. This blurb is another in the long line of mini-obituaries when it comes to describing Mark Prior's career. On Thursday Prior left an extended spring training game with discomfort in his throwing shoulder. In spring training his velocity was down and his command was shaky. His shoulder's been diagnosed as having a looseness in his joint that can't be fixed with surgery and can only be remedied with strengthening, however to this point the strengthening hasn't worked. It appears the former phenom's career has been reduced to that of scrutiny and ridicule from a fan base that expected him to become their savior and a mere comedic tragedy to those whose hearts weren't broken. Those fantasy owners that continue to hope for their late round flier on Prior to pan out should likely move on, hopefully sometime soon us Cubs fans will be able to as well.

Jason Bergmann

Bergmann deserved a better fate on Thursday night than a no-decision, but such was the case after hurling 6 innings of 1 hit ball against the Braves. He struck out 8 and walked 4 in his 6 innings of work. Bergmann has flashed some solid numbers in the minor leagues averaging over a K/inning at the AA and AAA level. However he hasn't been given extensive time at the upper levels and while there's been success at both AA and AAA, the brief experience at the upper levels has stunted his growth a bit at the major league level. Bergmann's BB rate has ballooned at the major league level as has his hit/inning total. Begmann could flash some potential down the road to be an adequate middle of the rotation starter but much of it will be determined by his ability to control the strike zone. While Bergmann doesn't offer much value this season pitching for the Nationals, he's someone to keep an eye on if his command improves.

Ryan Church

It was a ho-hum 1-4 night with a strikeout for Ryan Church, but I wanted to address his situation a little further. Church fell out of favor with former Nationals manager Frank Robinson and never got much of a chance. Undeservedly so, as Church has put together an impressive minor league track record and if given the continued opportunity in Washington should challenge for a 20-20 season and if he cuts down his K rate he could take a major leap forward, so far this season he's only struck out 6 times in his first 35 AB's as opposed to the 151 K's in 558 AB's he had last year an 11% improvement in the early going. If the improvement continues the dividends could be large.

Josh Hamilton

Hamilton's drawing a lot of attention in fantasy circles for his 2 HR's in his first 2 starts of the season. While Hamilton's talents made him one of the few "sure-fire"prospects his off the field incidents appeared to have derailed his career until this last season's rule 5 draft. In extremely deep leagues Hamilton's upside is worth a flier but to those in traditional mixed leagues there's a lot more reason to abstain from picking him up. There's no precedent for a player missing as much time from the sport as Hamilton did and there's little reason to believe he'll be able to sustain success while grabbing occasional AB's in the Reds crowded OF. While the story is nice and a breakout season would be a great feet for the young man, I'll be on the sidelines as a fantasy owner while rooting for him.

Albert Pujols

If you're concerned about Pujols' slow start to the 2007 season step back, take a deep breath, and realize it's only April 13th. Pujols is hitting a scary .176 on the season, fitting for Friday the 13th, and has only mustered 1 HR and 2 RBI's 9 games into the season. The good news for Pujols' owners is that his EYE remains strong having walked 5 times and struck out 4 so far and the K rate while high for Sir Albert is still low for most modest humans' standards. Pujols will be fine, this is just one of those examples of preaching patience.