Category: Rookie Watch

Taylor Buchholz doesn’t possess overpowering stuff, but just goes out there and gets the job done. The 24 year old righthander who came to the Houston Astros as part of the Billy Wagner deal with the Phillies. Also coming over to the Stros in that trade were Brandon Duckworth & Ezequiel Astacio. Houston was trying to save some money by moving Octavio Dotel into the closer’s role, while stockpiling some starting pitchers. Buchhholz’ signature pitch is a knee buckling curveball that someday may be the best in the bigs. His fastball reaches the mid 90s and he has a change. Ironically Houston wanted top Phillie pitching prospects Cole Hamel & Gavin Floyd, but settled for Buchholz & Astacio. It looks like Taylor Buchholz has emerged into a solid #3 starter in the Astros starting rotation, while neither Hamel nor Floyd has enjoyed much MLB success thus far for the Phillies. The 6’4″ 220 pounder was born in Springfield, PA just a stone’s throw away from Philadelphia. He has two wins in three starts so far this season. His start before his last was a masterpiece against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 22nd. Buchholz went 8 2/3 innings allowing just two hits, while walking one, to go along with five strikeouts in his 3-0 win over the Buccos. He made it two wins in a row on April 30th with a 3-2 win over the Division rival Reds in Cincinnati. This kid is one to watch.

The 6’2″ 200 pound right hander out of Scottsdale, AZ is emerging as the ace of the NY Mets pitching staff. Brian is the son of former big league pitcher Floyd Bannister. The youngster, who pitched at USC, shutdown the Washington Nationals, scattering three hits over seven innings of work, walking none, and allowing only one run on an Alfonso Soriano 7th inning homer. Bannister relies on his cutter and is not overpowering as illustrated by his one strikeout. Even CBS Sports online is saying he’s a strong Rookie of the Year candidate and a must have in Fantasy Baseball leagues. Click here to read more about Brian Bannister.

4/8/06 I TIVO’d the Tigers Saturday night game and watched an amazing performance Sunday morning. The 2nd pick in the 2004 draft put on quite a show, totally dominating the Texas Rangers 7-0, striking out seven, allowing two bloop singles, walking two, and hitting a batter through seven innings of work. Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the kid even took the mound enroute to their fifth straight win to open the 2006 campaign. This 6’5″ 200 pound right hander out of Old Dominion made the Ranger hitters look sick, varying speeds from 78, topping out at 100 MPH, spotting fastballs, change up, & curves with pinpoint control & amazing poise. With little effort Verlander was hitting 98 MPH in the 1st inning and getting it up there at 96 MPH in the 7th, he threw just 89 pitches. Justin doesn’t waste any time as the game was over in 2:11, but truth be told it was over when Verlander took the mound.

Lefty Sean Marshall is making the leap from Double A West Tennessee where he had a 2.52 ERA, 24 K’s, & five walks in 25 innings of work over four starts for the Diamond Jaxx. Sean spent the lion’s share of last season pitching in Class A for the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League. There Marshall was a solid performer putting up a 4-4 mark, over 12 starts, striking out 61 & walking 26 batters, with a 2.74 ERA, working 69 innings there. The 6-6 lefty out of Virginia Commonwealth has allowed no runs on three hits over 10 1/3 innings this spring earning him the number four spot in the Cubs rotation. The door was left open for Marshall when both Kerry Wood & Mark Prior ended up on the DL to start the season, no real surprise there, but it was a surprise this portsider was ready to seize this opportunity. Sean has a twin brother Brian who is in the Boston Red Sox organization, you can checkout their website.

To everybody’s surprise rookie lefthander Boone Logan is about to make the World Champion Chicago White Sox opening day roster. The 21 year old pitched last year in rookie ball for Great Falls where he was 1-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 35 1/3 innings of work he allowed 34 hits, but his control was the amazing thing as he walked four batters while striking out 29. Logan also had a cup of coffee in high Class A with the Winston-Salem Warthogs where he had a 5.06 ERA in 5 1/3 innings. Hawk & DJ keep talking about this 6-5 southpaw saying they’ve never seen anything like it where a minor leaguer gets invited to the major league camp halfway through spring trianing and makes the team. Am I the only one who is a little bit worried about the White Sox bullpen? The Emperor is wearing no clothes and it’s not a pretty sight. Maybe picture, big, out of shape, closer Bobby Jenks, au naturale and you get the full monty. Last year Shingo Takatsu started out as the closer, was replaced by Dustin Hermanson, and finally Bobby Jenks stepped in. Jenks’ fastball is only getting to the mid 90s, Shingo is long gone, and Hermie may never pitch again due to a bad back. Also gone from last year’s pen are Luis Vizcaino & Damaso Marte, taking their places in the bullpen will be Brandon McCarthy (who’s shown this spring he’s not really a reliever) and this untested rooke Boone Logan. It ought to be interesting, don’t turn off the White Sox telecasts this year till the fat lady is singing. GO SOX GO!!!

With the score tied, bases loaded, nobody out, in the top of the 9th rookie Ryan Howard stepped to the plate for the Philadelphia Phillies against Los Angeles reliever Yhency Brazoban. A moment later the Phillies were up by four as the big rookie creamed a homer deep over the right centerfield fence. Final score Phillies 9 Dodgers 5. It was Howard’s 8th home run since being called up July 1st to fill in for Jim Thome.