Drew Storen - P Nationals

In my fantasy career, I have, more than once, cut a pitcher during his appearance but I don't know how many pitchers in major league history have been promoted to the majors during a relief appearance. Drew got two outs on 4 pitches in the 5th inning at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket last Sunday and when he got to the dugout he got the good news. Drew jogged out the bullpen, shook hands with his bullpen colleagues and headed for the airport.

The 10th overall pick in last year's draft out of Stanford, the right-hander rifled through three levels last year. This year he lasted just 9.1 IP in his second tour of AA before being bumped up to AAA Syracuse where well, he needed to make a couple adjustments. Opponents hit .259 off of him in a scant 7.7 IP and he posted walk and K rates of 2.3/9 and 4.70/9. Overall at AA and AAA this year opponents have hit just .201 off of him and his walk and K rates have been more impressive at 1.5 and 7.9.

Storen has the late-reliever package from his bulldog, aggressive mentality to his mid-to-high 90s fast ball. He throws a good slider and decent curve. Both bore in on you hard and fast. He started working with a change in the AFL but it's not a major club in his bag right now. He has to work on being quicker to the plate with base runners on, without leaving the ball up, which is an unfortunately tendency of his overall.

He'll figure that stuff out. The plan for Storen is for him to be closing games for the Nats, and if he can assume the position before this year's trading deadline Washington may be able to draw a prospect or two for Matt Capps.

Even in this day and age you don't see many prospects groomed to specifically to close but that seems to be what is happing here with Storen. You are going to have to wait a little bit for the saves however.

Long-Term Fantasy Grade - B

Seas Lvl  W  L   ERA    IP  K/9 BB/9 HR/9  AVG  WHIP 
2009 A    0  1  3.68  14.2 15.9  0.0  1.2 .210  0.75 
2009 A+   1  0  1.80  10.0  9.9  1.8  0.0 .199  0.90
2009 AA   1  0  4.38  12.1  8.7  4.3  0.0 .079  0.73 
2010 AA   0  0  0.96   9.1 10.6  0.9  1.0 .161  0.67
2010 AAA  0  0  1.23   7.1  5.1  2.4  0.0 .259  1.23
2010 MLB  1  0  3.86   2.1  7.7  3.8  0.0 .132  0.86

Kyle Gibson - P Twins

Admittedly is was a gamble but one that paid off for the pitching-savvy Twins. Kyle Gibson was a bit of a health risk at draft time last year suffering a stress fracture in his right forearm which forced him to miss his first opportunity at the pros last year. The Twins took him 22nd overall as a result and the results from there have been all good.

The Mizzou right-hander was a nicely solid starter on draft day. His best pitch is a hard slider that is an out pitch. His fastball is challenging at 90-94 but his two-seam dives for the dirt which has helped him a accumulate a downright nasty 63.9% GB% this year between Fort Myers and New Britain. His command and his ability to work both sides of the plate makes all of his skills play up. Kyle's change is advanced and deceptive.

What makes Gibson additionally intriguing is his 6-6 frame. He's listed at 208 pounds right now and one has to wonder what 10-15 extra well-placed pounds will do for his velocity. Kyle's secondary stuff is so good that the Twins feel that he needs to learn to lead with his fastball a bit more and that's job 1 for him in the minors in this, his first pro season.

The Twins will pay attention to his health but don't feel it is a factor in his development at this point. If all goes well this year, Kyle will have a competitive shot at the Twins' rotation next spring although more realistically he'll probably spend some of next summer as the first call up.

We've got a tall, stud of a pitcher here with velocity, 3+ MLB ready pitches, who both throws ground balls and misses bats. He's got even more ceiling, and he's developing in the capable hands of the Twins organization. I like the odds here. Kyle has #1 starter potential.

Long-Term Fantasy Grade - A

Seas Lvl  W  L   ERA    IP  K/9 BB/9 HR/9  AVG  WHIP 
2009 A+   4  1  1.87  43.1  8.3  2.4  0.4 .213  1.03
2010 AA   2  0  1.26  14.1 10.0  1.2  1.2 .157  0.69