I’m a huge Rafael Soriano fan. In fact, I’ve been so impressed with him that I’ve given him my full endorsement. Soriano came up last year, pitched in the rotation for a stretch, but didn’t do particularly well. After being sent down to the minors, he honed his slider and change and this year he returned as a reliever. Since then he’s been outstanding. Despite only throwing 40 innings, he’s on BP’s Top 30 Relievers list. Soriano deals. He has his off days, but not many this year, and I’ve been to games where I had to pick my jaw up off the sticky Safeco concrete, his stuff looked so good. You’ll hear reports that he’s got dominant closer stuff, but Soriano was a starter in the minors and he’ll be back in the rotation sooner or later. Think Johan Santana. So here are the guys pitching relief now who could be starting and health willing, winning if given the opportunity.
Today, if a short UTK isn’t enough for you, I would like to point you to the interview that Nate Silver and I did with Rickey Henderson last week. I only wish that I had my radio gear with me for that one, but I’ll be sure to target Rickey for BPR soon. He was insightful, intelligent, open, polite (once leaving us to say something to a couple teammates, but stating loud enough for us to hear that “I have to finish this interview; I’ll be back”), and he never once referred to himself in the third person. This summer, I spoke to Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson–two of the best players I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing play. I’m grateful and humbled by the experience and opportunity.
And if that’s not enough, there’s a new edition of Baseball Prospectus Radio up. The lead guests are myself and Derek Zumsteg, getting grilled by Scott McCauley on what our weeks were like in the wake of the Pete Rose revelations. If you’re not sick of hearing about it–as Jayson Stark calls it, “The story that never ends”–then it’s a pretty good show and the first I ever recorded with no coffee in me.
A couple of weeks ago, I spelled out the argument that there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect. Just as a follow-up, I want to point out something Rangers’ Director of Player Development Grady Fuson said in an interview with Jamey Newberg:
“And most of these kids that we’re signing out of high school or junior college or college, for the first three or four years of their careers they are still growing. They are still adding muscle mass and growth, and at least my perception of developing pitchers is most don’t come into their prime until at least their mid-20s. And I think that all has to do with body growth and body mass and finding that one delivery that helps repeat. And I think that all takes two or three years to build into your system.”
Fuson makes the point that is central to TNSTAAPP: Most pitchers in the minor leagues are still developing physically, which is what makes them such risks. Pitching professionally is hard enough on the arms of grown men; it’s moreso on ones not fully mature.
The Red Sox don’t strand that many runners, given how many they get on base. The Reds continue to dismantle a snake-bitten team. The Padres appear close to acquiring Brian Giles. These and other news and notes out of Boston, Cincinnati, and San Diego in today’s Prospectus Triple Play.