Rick Porcello

Well the baseball talk around these parts is whether former high school phenom, Rick Porcello, who has pitched only one year at Class A in Lakeland will make the Tigers starting rotation.

Porcello has only pitched one year at Class A and his numbers there were very good though not great. He had a 2.66 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, a 2/1 K/BB ratio and 72 ks in 125 innings. Very respectable in every aspect though the low k rate is a bit troublesome as one would think a major league ready pitcher would have a higher strikeout rate at Class A. That said, by all accounts, he is a prime prospect and a key to the Tigers future.

The question is whether you put him in the rotation now and unfortunately, the Tigers may believe that they have no other choice than to call him up.

The rotation was supposed to be Verlander, Bonderman, Galarraga, Jackson and either Robertson, Miner or Willis whomever pitched the least bad of these three. Unfortunately none of the last three are pitching at anywhere close to major league level and will be lucky to even make the staff. Further, Bonderman missed most of the year last year due to injury and is again reporting pain in his arm this spring so it is not known if he can be counted on at all this year.

In a normal situation, you would not consider calling up a pitcher like Porcello who has only pitched one year and 125 innings at Class A. At a minimum, you would want him at some level of the minors throwing 150 - 175 innings to stretch his arm out and get used to pitching the 175 -200 innings that a major league pitcher is expected to throw. If you ramp up his innings too quickly, you risk an injury to this very young promising prospect.

Unfortunately, with the failure of Robertson, Miner and Willis coupled with the fact that the Tigers have an older team and the manager who was denied an extension this year and is on the last year of his contract with a "win now" mandate, it seems pretty certain that Porcello will start the season in the Tiger rotation. (As an aside, I nominate the last sentence for the sentence "run-on" hall of fame. Obviously I could break it up but it would no longer be hall of fame worthy.) For what it is worth, he has had a nice spring. The Tigers obviously are going to have to watch his innings and I believe will have to skip his turn in the rotation every now and then to keep him below 150 - 160 innings.

I guess I would do the same thing if I was in the Tigers place but would still be very disappointed in Robertson, Miner and Willis, two of which are making very nice coin and earning very little of it.

Also from a very selfish perspective, it would be nice to see him have a nice career as our family has two baseballs that he signed for me and my son at Tiger Fest last year. He is a very polite young man who seemed quite nervous but also asked me where on the ball I would like him to sign and I was happy to tell him.*

So I say "Go Rick Porcello!"

*Computer Boy and I go to Tiger Fest every year as we are building a signed baseball collection that we display in our home. As the balls are displayed, I do have a preference as to where the player signs each ball. As we approach the table with the player, I very deliberately place the ball with the area where I would like the ball to be signed right in front of the player. If it is a star player, I would like it signed on the "sweet spot" (the long area between the seams) and if it is someone other than a star, I would like it signed elsewhere. I do not really feel comfortable telling the player where to sign but I think it is usually apparent to the player where I would like it signed as I make sure to try to subtly point to the area as I place the ball in front of him and at the same time try to make eye contact, smile and say hello. The great majority of players are very polite but probably 50% of them twirl the ball around and sign it somewhere else on the ball. The other 50% sign the ball in the area of the ball that is placed in front of him. Porcello is the only player who asked where he should sign. At that time, he had been just a few months out of high school and that may have had something to do with it.