Joba Chamberlain (SP – Yankees)
Joba was extremely wild on Friday night by needing to throw 100 pitches to make it through just 4 innings. He walked 5 batters on the night, but managed to limit the damage to just 2 ER by allowing just 1 hit. This is the type of game that you need to be able to deal with if you are a Joba owner. He can look unhittable on some nights, while on some others he can hardly throw a strike. Joba has a dramatically different approach when starting versus when pitching out of the pen. As a reliever, his fastball averaged 97 MPH, while as a starter he is all the way down to 92.4 MPH. The result of this decline in velocity is that he induces far fewer swings on pitches outside of the strike zone (35.1% O-Swing in ’07 vs. 23.1% O-Swing in ’09). Additionally, it is much easier for hitters to make contact on Joba’s pitches (64.2% contact rate in ’07 vs. 80.4% contact rate in ’09). These indicators are definitely concerning, but Joba was an insanely effective starter in his one season in the minors (13.8 K/9; 2.8 BB/9), so I still have faith that he will figure it out this season.
Luke Hochevar (SP – Royals)
Luke Hochevar needed just 80 pitches on his way to a complete game on Friday night. He allowed 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 hits, and struck out 3. A start with this type of efficiency is a rare and impressive feat indeed. The former number 1 overall pick was showing this non-dominant but effective pitching style at Triple-A this year as well (1.50 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 6.8 K/9, 2.2 BB/9). The driving force behind Hochevar’s success last night and his success in the minors this year has been his ability to produce ground balls. Last night, he recorded 15 GB outs, and thus far in the majors this year his GB rate is a tremendous 57.6%. If Luke can limit the free passes and keep rolling the ball on the ground, I can see him emerging into a Rick Porcello-type of producer this season.
Brett Cecil (SP – Blue Jays)
Roy Halladay was forced to leave last night’s start after just three innings due to a groin injury. All you can do right now as an owner is hope for the best and pick up Brett Cecil in the meantime. Cecil is the obvious choice to replace Halladay if he misses any time, and as you might already know, I am very high on this kid. He has looked very much improved in his 4 starts since returning to the minors (3.75 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 6.00 K/9, 3.75 BB/9). Obviously, these are not exceptional numbers, but he possesses the skills to be effective immediately.
Brandon Morrow (SP – Mariners)
Erik Bedard has been scratched from his start on Saturday and will be replaced by Brandon Morrow. It appears as though the Mariners were not completely honest when citing Morrow’s diabetes as the principle cause for moving him to the bullpen. If the move was truly driven by his condition, they would not be so quick to reverse track. But I digress. Bedard is only slated to miss one start, so Morrow’s time in the rotation could be brief. However, if he can impress in his 60 pitches on Saturday, the Mariners would very happily re-jigger their rotation to accommodate Morrow. The former number 5 overall pick has been very hard to hit during his major league career (9.90 K/9), but his control problems have held him back (6.03 BB/9). Morrow has only thrown 46 innings in his minor league career, which makes it difficult to assess his performance; however, it is worth noting that control issues plagued him during these extremely brief stints in the minors (5.0 BB/9). Morrow is likely to struggle at first, but his immense potential makes him worthy of a pick-up in all leagues.
Johnny Damon (OF – Yankees)
Johnny Damon was out of the lineup on Friday night. Damon is being examined for eye fluttering. His concern is that it may be related to a concussion that he sustained three years ago. It doesn’t sound very problematic, but more information should be known shortly. Damon has shown a surge in power this season with a 12.8 extra base hit rate and 13 HR. While the new Yankee stadium has surely helped (9 of 13 HR have come at home), don’t go attributing all his power this year to field effects. Damon currently is elevating the ball at a career high rate (46.3% FB rate), which is a full 12% higher than his career average. The intersection of the new stadium and a high FB rate should result in a career high in homers for the 35 year old Damon. Kudos if you saw this one coming – you were surely the only one in the world.
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