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5. Brett Cecil – Toronto Blue Jays - Age: 22
2008 minor stats: 118.2 IP, 8-5, 2.88 ERA,
1.18 WHIP, 9.8 K/9
Cecil is way under the radar at this point, not even having a player
profile on most major baseball websites unlike all the other prospects
in this article. He is another big pitcher with a stellar combination
of high strikeout rate and very high groundball rate. He was a closer
at Maryland but has been successfully converted by the Blue Jays,
mostly due to his very strong secondary pitches. He has spent most of
his spring training experience with the major league club watching Roy
Halladay and emulating him—could you ask for a better mentor?
Cecil comes with much less notoriety than the top names on this list
but his talent and maturity combined with the ugly uncertainty at the
back end of the Blue Jays rotation will almost certainly lead to a
chance to be a major league starter in 2009.
6. Brett Anderson – Oakland Athletics - Age: 21
2008 minor stats: 105.0 IP, 11-5, 3.69 ERA,
1.16 WHIP, 10.1 K/9
Anderson teams with Cahill to form the best 1-2 punch of rookie
pitchers in the majors, and like Cahill is certain to get a shot this
year, though Cahill is much more likely to be on the major league
roster at the start of the year. The word that keeps surrounding his
delivery and his maturity is “polished”—which is somewhat code for
“lacking significant upside” but still speaks of a pitcher with
fantastic command (an exceptional 1.92 BB/9 rate in his two minor
league seasons) and a great handle of how to pitch out of trouble.
Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects, probably the most definitive list
of its kind, has Anderson below only Price and Hanson among pitchers.
The way that he pitches, it’s very likely he could see a significant
decrease in major league strikeouts similar to what Kevin Slowey
experienced after his promotion, but the fastball command and control
pitching should translate very well. It’s amazing the way the Athletics
keep turning out quality starters, but the trio of Cahill, Anderson,
and Gonzales may be the best Big Three we’ve seen yet.
7. Rick Porcello – Detroit Tigers - Age: 20
2008 minor stats: 125.0 IP, 8-6, 2.66 ERA,
1.19 WHIP, 5.2 K/9
It’s unusual to put a 20-year-old pitcher with only year of minor
league experience (an entire year in Single-A at that) this high in
offseason rankings of pitchers who could make an impact this year—but
Porcello is an unusually talented pitcher. Fresh off leading the
Florida State League in ERA, he has been given a very fair chance to
crack the Tigers rotation, but needs at least a bit of time in the
higher levels of the minors. He is a similar pitcher to Cahill, and his
upside projects to the Fausto Carmona of 2007.
Jim Leyland, who has publicly said Porcello is “not far away”, will
almost certainly let Nate Robertson start the season in the fifth
starter role, but if he and Dontrelle Willis pitch as they’ve shown a
tendency to recently, Porcello is going to get the call long before the
typical September audition. That may be the best possible thing for his
career too, as he does need to learn how to put batters away a little
better. |
