Prospect Watch: Rick VandenHurk

Last night Rick VandenHurk, 24 year old, 6'5" righty for the Marlins, struck out 9 in 6 innings. Umm, who? Rick VandenHurk. He is a rookie pitcher that was called up in mid-July and has pitched very well in his 3 starts. In those starts, he is 1-0, 17 innings pitched, 2.65 ERA, 16 Ks, and 6 walks. Impressive. The Marlins are a solid, if not good, team. They haven't scored much for VandenHurk which accounts for him having only 1 win despite his low ERA. One would have to assume that he will get the run support he needs to pick up a few more wins (Hanley Ramirez alone should be enough!). A young pitcher on a solid team - worth a flyer if you are able to gamble a little. Shallow leagues should just watch him - maybe he will turn out to be an 'out of nowhere' kind a guy (no one truly knows who will be the next big thing). Deeper leagues have to pay attention to him as 3 good starts can't just be chalked up to a fluke (neither can 9 strikeouts in 6 innings). He is owned in less then 1% of leagues. -Scout Monkey

( scout_monkey@gmx.com)