Which young starting pitcher are you most excited about?

[joepepsi]

I have a feeling we will never see Fiers pitch as well again as he did in June and July. His ERA is 6.75 in his last 8 starts. If it's a tired or dead arm, then he should be shut down, although I realize they have no one to replace him. That they keep throwing him out there tells me the organization doesn't think much of him going forward and are just hopeful he can help this year.

 

It will be fantastic if he develops into another Marcum. But right handed junk ballers seldom make long successful careers in the majors.

[gregmag]

Fiers is fatigued. I don't think he's as good as he was when he came up, because nobody is that good, and he was due for a second-time-around-the-league correction. But I believe that stretch was a truer reflection of his actual ability than this one is. Let's reserve judgment until he's in the rotation next April, rested and no longer unknown. I think he's earned the chance to show his true measure in the middle of our rotation.

 

I agree that Gallardo isn't at Sheets' level. I don't agree that you need a "true #1" to contend -- not if you have, say, three #2's and two #3's. I'd take a rotation like that over a conventional 1-5 any day of the week, and I think it's more stabilizing (hence a better bet) for a low-revenue team in particular, because if you can sustain it, you always have a couple of pitchers you can build around. Gallardo's a very good 2, Fiers I think is a 2 or 3, Estrada's a good 3. The question is what Rogers and Peralta will give us, but they're both high-upside guys who have shown good control in the majors. I'd love to have Greinke back, but realistically I think we'll be in good shape if we can sign another 2/3 guy. I don't know if Edwin Jackson would come to Milwaukee, but that was a hell of an audition last night.

[xisxisxis]

I'm always confused when people say a pitcher is fine if his arm is strong. A players legs, hips, and torso are very important parts of the pitching equation, even for a pitcher like Fiers who relies more on control. The largest muscles in your body aren't in your arm and it is quite easy for a pitcher to be fatigued enough to throw off his control without his arm being impacted at all. Even with his YTD numbers he is a decent SP. I'm most excited about him because he's performed at EVERY level, while many of the current crop of young SP may have already put up their 'career' month.

[wisniewski]

I keep flip-flopping with Fiers in terms of what I think he is going to be/what he can be. I like him quite a bit and I think he's got a great attitude and work ethic, but even when he was 'hot' I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at, if that was the real Fiers or not. (And quite honestly it's sort of how I feel about Peralta, but I do understand Peralta's upside)

 

All that said, I agree with Turborickey and Joepepsi's posts above in that I wouldn't at all be surprised if we've seen Fiers peak. His last several starts have been nothing short of awful, for various reasons. He looks tired to me, or that he's pressing too hard. His start in FLA I chalked it up to being 'home' but it didn't look unlike all of his other recent less-than-stellar outings.

 

EDIT: Gregmag mentioned Edwin Jackson in his post above...I am a huge Jackson fan. I've always considered him an underrated guy and could never figure out why he couldn't stick with any one club. I would love him in a Brew uni but with Boras as his rep I just don't see it. I guess stranger things have happened...but I would love to have him here.

[torts]

I am excited for a lot of young pitchers!

 

Peralta, Rogers, Fiers, Thornburg, Nelson, Burgos... plus the two arms we got for Grienke... this is exciting!

[TooLiveBrew]

Adam McCalvy's post-game tweet on Peralta:

 

Tight biceps for Peralta. Not considered serious, but credit Ramirez for alerting the manager to the issue and protecting the youngster.

[Ennder]

Sheets first 1428 IP were a 3.72 ERA and 115 ERA+. Gallardo's first 910 IP have been a 3.62 ERA and 113 ERA+. They have been very comparable pitchers at this point in their careers with Gallardo likely being a little bit better by experience and definitely more valuable since he is better defensively and offensively than Sheets.

[endaround]

No they have not. Gallardo had a better 1st season than Sheets. After that Sheets had been significantly better. Why not compare the same number of innings? Because then you can't include Sheet's poor 2007?

[Ennder]

No they have not. Gallardo had a better 1st season than Sheets. After that Sheets had been significantly better. Why not compare the same number of innings? Because then you can't include Sheet's poor 2007?

 

 

Sheets 2006 was about the same as the 2007. The only innings I 'cut out' were after the major injury.

 

At age 26 Gallardo has a 3.62 ERA. Through age 26 Sheets had a 3.83 which is 963 innings. Sheets was in a higher scoring environment so they again are probably pretty comparable. Sheets pitched deeper into games when healthy which definitely adds some value as well.