Tigers look ready to use rookie Rick Porcello now
detnews.com
Pitcher's stellar outings appear to have earned him ticket to the majors, but is team being hasty?
By Lynn Henning
The Detroit News
Friday, March 13, 2009
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Fans are nervous. Fans are excited. Rick Porcello is coming to town, as near as we can tell today, as part of Tigers manager Jim Leyland's rotation.
The cautionary crowd isn't sure it likes it. Don't the Tigers remember Jeremy Bonderman moving straight from Class A to the big leagues? Aren't the Tigers still trying to teach Bonderman a change-up that he should have learned in the minors?
And why take chances with a franchise pitcher's arm? Porcello threw a maximum of 75 pitches per game during last summer's baptism at Class A Lakeland. Why would the Tigers risk ruining his arm by making him throw 100 or more pitches a game in the big leagues?
The worrywarts are grief-stricken. They fret about destroying his confidence as Porcello runs into that inevitable bad day when he learns what big league batters do to imprecise pitches.
So, they prefer that a 20-year-old right-hander not quite two years out of high school do an internship at Double-A Erie. Then, maybe, the Tigers can give him a start or two in September and let him compete for a job next spring, when he's at least of drinking age.
They have their points, which the Tigers are considering.
But it looks as if one over-arching argument will win:
Porcello is good enough to pitch -- and win -- in the majors.
He is not David Clyde, the high-school pitcher from the early 1970s promoted prematurely by Texas Rangers owner Bob Short. And Porcello isn't Mark Fidrych, who was 21 when he stormed Detroit and the baseball world in 1976.
Porcello is not even Bonderman, who had only two trustworthy pitches when he was rushed to Detroit in 2003.
No, the differences with Porcello are many and substantive.
The Tigers understood as much 21 months ago when they drafted him and paid him more than any team had offered a high school pitcher to sign a big league deal.
They did it because Porcello was extraordinary. Nothing he has shown the Tigers in the 19 months since has shaken their belief.
He was good as a rookie
During spring training a year ago, Porcello had the best combination of pitches and command of any pitcher in camp. On pure pitching skills and repertoire, the Tigers could have made an extreme case for bringing him north even then. Instead they sent him to high Class A ball at Lakeland, which is where quality 21- and 22-year-olds often find themselves.
Porcello led the Florida State League in earned-run average.
The Tigers were not planning on Porcello going anywhere in 2009 but to Double-A camp at Erie (Pa.). Then their franchise prospect arrived at camp, throwing strikes, unleashing a brutal sinkerball, and alternating it on occasion with a big four-seam fastball, a decent curve, and a big league change-up.
Porcello has pitched brilliantly and steadily. He has shaken off bad luck and mistakes. He has thrown strikes, strikes, and more strikes. Hitters have beat his 92-mph sinker into the ground, repeatedly.
So the Tigers have all but decided to take him north. A couple of bad outings could change plans, but the ugly stuff might be at a minimum, given his skills and makeup.
The pitch-count issue is valid. But what does it matter if Porcello throws 100 pitches per game at Erie -- which was to be this year's allotment -- or with Detroit?
He has shelved his slider, which he and his coaches found erratic last summer. But how many starters have four pitches? And if you have the curveball Porcello already displays, why worry about a slider that will stress his arm more?
Kevin Goldstein, national writer on scouting and player development for Baseball Prospectus, thinks the Tigers are playing it smart.
"Absolutely, a case can be made," Goldstein said. "When a kid's ready, he's ready.
"You need two things: special talent, and Porcello is certainly that. And then you need to make sure that what's between the ears is in the right place, and that can be a bigger hurdle for some more than talent. By all accounts, they have the right thing going on there (with Porcello), as well."
Moving too fast?
That's one argument. The other is the Tigers might be hurrying things.
A scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saw Porcello pitch twice last summer at Lakeland. He is leery about any quick promotions.
"I don't know how well he's throwing this spring, as far as velocity, or location," the scout said, "but what I saw last summer was that he threw the ball knee-high and that I didn't see anything out of the ordinary other than his control.
"I didn't see anything close to the velocity that had been advertised. I didn't see a hammer curveball that I had heard about. Basically, he got players out because he threw strikes and kept the ball away from the middle of the plate. I didn't see anything in two appearances that indicated he was anything close to (Justin) Verlander or pitchers of that caliber."
The scout has another reservation, based on Porcello's age and the fact he barely averaged five innings per start last season. He believes too many innings too soon is a recipe for trouble.
The Tigers have their own reservations based on those very points. It will all be part of the discussion during the next month.
Baseball is nothing if it's not good discussion and debate. The Tigers will be involved in lots of it in coming days. A talent as rare as Porcello has already seen to that. |
