Phillies Call Up Another Pitching Prospect

by Scout Hoffman

http://www.profantasybaseball.com/

The Phillies can’t escape the injury imp and are in need of another starting pitcher this week. Antonio Bastardo will have his miss his next start with some arm soreness and the Phillies be looking to their top ranked prospect to take his place.

In rankings release prior to Spring Training, Carlos Carrasco was the 28^th ranked prospect in all of baseball. The 22 year old righty does not have stats that jump off the page at you, but everyone who has seen him pitch seems to have the same reaction. He has electric stuff.

He has a fastball that is in the low 90s, but has been clocked as high as 95. His out-pitch is his changeup which has a very good sink to it. In order to be successful as a starter at the Major League level he will need to develop his curve to give him a third pitch he can throw for strikes.

Over five plus Minor League seasons, Carrasco has an uninspiring 4.06 ERA and a 43-42 record. He is 4-7 so far this year and his ERA is still above 4.00, so those numbers cannot be blamed for some early career troubles. He has been better lately, turning in five solid starts in his last seven outings.

So what makes Carrasco an attractive fantasy option? Strikeouts, and lots of them. Over the last three seasons Carrasco has had a K/9 rate of nearly 9.0, or one strikeout per inning. He has managed to keep his BBs down, which tends to be a problem with young strikeout pitchers.

Playing in the Philly bandbox will not be kind to his ERA or WHIP, but he should get run support and pile up a few victories. Strikeout numbers tend to translate well when pitchers are called up, so if you are in dire need of K’s and can take a small hit in the ration categories, Carrasco may be your guy.

Keep in mind his call up may not be permanent as he is taking Bastardo’s place this week, but if the Phillies want to stay atop the NL East, they can’t keep trotting out Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton and their 5+ ERAs.

Watch Your Mouth: Bastardo

You have to love a name that sounds like you are swearing but is perfectly legitimate to say. Bastardo. Oh yea. Besides having a great name, this young pitcher is holding his own in the majors. Scout Hoffman brought our attention to him after his first start, and Bastardo has warranted continued attention. Bastardo has had 4 starts in the majors and 3 of the 4 have been solid. He had one bad start against Boston in a strange rain effected game - outside of that, he's been strong. He had a great game against San Diego (not saying too much there), but followed that up with a good game against the Dodgers (yea, that's something you can hang your hat on). Next was the Boston start, nothing good to say about this, maybe the rain spooked him. His latest start was against Baltimore. He got the loss in this one but pitched well - 7 innings, 4 runs, 5 hits, 5 strike outs. Normally I wouldn't recommend someone like this except for deep leagues only, but you have to factor in that he is pitching for the Phillies. The Phillies are one of the best in the baseball assuring that Bastardo will at least get some wins. I believe his four starts allow him to be considered in medium depth leagues and even shallow NL only leagues. Keep in mind, Bastardo has been this effective throwing mainly fastballs. If he gets more confidence in his secondary pitches, he could be real trouble for the NL East. Lastly, don't you want a guy named Bastardo on your team? Watch your mouth. -Scout Monkey

( scout_monkey@gmx.com)

Two Solid Pitching Debuts

by Scout Hoffman (seniorbeisbol@gmail.com) http://www.profantasybaseball.com/ There were two high level pitching prospects that made their Major League debuts on Tuesday evening. Vin Mazzaro of Oakland and Antonio Bastardo of Philadelphia both got their first shot at taking the bump in the bigs, and both ended their evenings with their first Major League win. Vin Mazzaro, a 22 year old righty, was touted earlier this year as part of the new ‘Big Three’ in Oakland. Long gone are the original three, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. Mazzaro, along with Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson are being called the ‘Little Three’ by Oakland media. Mazzaro was the last to make his Major League Debut, joining his teammates Tuesday evening against the Chicago White Sox. Mazzaro did not disappoint, picking up a win in 6.1 shutout innings against the hot White Sox in the hitter friendly US Cellular Field. He struck out only one batter and did walk four, so as far as debuts go, it was far from great. Vin Mazzaro was very solid in the hitting heavy PCL league in this year. His ERA was a solid 2.40 with a K/9 rate of 7.0. Those numbers are in line with his 2008 numbers as he also had an ERA below 3.00 and a K/9 rate of 6.9. He did a good job limiting his walks in the minors and will need to continue to do so since he does not appear to be a big time strikeout pitcher. Mazzaro will certainly be handled with kid gloves during his time in the rotation this year as the A’s continue their perennial youth movement. Oakland is falling further behind in the AL West race and it would not surprise me to see them limit the innings of their youngsters towards the end of the season. Also, if Justin Duchsherer ever returns from injury one of their future stars will head back to AAA. He is someone to keep your eye on in AL-Only and deep mixed league formats, but he should be grabbed in dynasty leagues. Pitching in Oakland will keep his ratios lower than most rookies, but with a poor offense behind him, I do not expect many wins from Mazzaro. Antonio Bastardo drew the tough task of facing Jake Peavy in San Diego for his Major League debut. The Phillies got to Peavy early and he was pulled after one inning complaining of flu-like symptoms. Bastardo was staked to an early 4-0 lead and cruised through six innings allowing only one run on a homerun by Adrian Gonzalez. He struck out five batters and only allowed one walk and four hits. Bastardo was recalled this week to take the place of Brett Myers who may be lost for the season after hip surgery last week. With the Phillies top pitching prospect, Carlos Carrasco, struggling at AAA so far this year Bastardo will be given a few starts to try and earn the fifth starter spot. Between AA and AAA this season, Bastardo has posted a miniscule ERA of 1.90. He has 51 stikeouts in 47.1 innings to go along with only 10 walks. One of his major problems in 2008 was the number of free passes he issues, walking 47 in 97.1 innings. His high home run rate, allowing 15 homers in only 19 games, was also a concern. Some of that could have to do with some arm troubles he was having last year which he is no longer suffering from. So far this year he has been able to cut both of those numbers down significantly, and if he can continue to do this he could be a fantasy contributor for the rest of the year. Bastardo is another guy that I would not waste a high waiver on in a shallow league, but NL-Only leagues and deep mixed leagues should keep their eye on this kid. The Phillies score a lot of runs so he should be in line for some good win totals, but keep in mind that their home ballpark has shown to be a bit of a launching pad. If you are chasing wins (which can be very dangerous) and K’s, Bastardo could be a good option for you.