Top 5 Surprise Starting Pitchers of 2010
Posted by homerunheyer on June 2nd, 2010
There have been many surprisingly good starts by pitchers in 2010 that haven’t had good seasons the past few years. Is it a fluke, or are these pitchers for real this season?
5. Clay Bucholz: Bucholz has always been known as an excellent pitcher, but he could never catch a break in the Red Sox rotation. This season Bucholz is 7-3 with a 2.73 ERA. He has already matched his season high in wins with four months still left in the season. It’s not really a surprise that he is pitching well, but it is a suprise that he is leading his team in wins, ERA, which is better than John Lackey, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester. The Red Sox need Bucholz to remain dominant if they want to make the postseason.
4. Phil Hughes: Everyone expected Hughes to be a very good pitcher, but after struggling the last two seasons with injuries and not performing well as a starter people were starting to think they were wrong about Hughes. Last season Hughes was converted to set-up man for Mariano Rivera and he was excellent. Without Hughes performing the way he did last year the Yankees may have not won the World Series. Hughes went back to the starting rotation this season and brought his relief pitching success with him. Hughes has arguably been the best pitcher on the Yankees this year posting a 6-1 record and a 2.70 ERA.
3. Mike Pelfrey: Pelfrey is going nuts this season! Move over Johan Santana, Pelfrey is the new ace of the Mets this season. Pelfrey is 8-1 with a 2.39 ERA. Over the last two years Pelfrey has been known as an alright pitcher hovering around the .500 mark with wins and losses. This season has been a totally different story, no one expected Pelfrey to emerge as the teams ace. If it wasn’t for Pelfrey pitching the way he is the Mets would be way out of the division race.
2. Livan Hernandez: Hernandez has found his younger self this season with the Washiongton Nationals. Hernandez hasn’t started off this well since 2004 when he pitched for the Montreal Expos. I do not see Hernandez pitching the way he has so far all season long. Hernandez has a career ERA of 4.39 and he hasn’t had an ERA under four for a seaon since 2006. The Nationals are currently in last place, but they still only remain 4.5 games out of first place. Once Hernandez comes back down to earth so will the Nationals, don’t expect Hernandez to all of a sudden pitch well this late in his career.
1. Ubaldo Jiminez: Jiminez has been by far the biggest suprise starting pitcher of 2010. With a record of 10-1 and a 0.78 ERA Jiminez has been the best pitcher in all of baseball so far this season. I think this guy is for real, he has always had a ton of strikeouts and a career ERA of 3.39. Jiminez’s win percentage has remained around .500 mostly because his team did not score a lot of runs for him in the past. I know it’s early in the season but if Jiminez doesn’t win the Cy Young Award it would be shocking. If the Rockies trade for another strong starter to help Jiminez out their team can be dangerous. The Rockies should build around Jiminez, if they don’t he may want out after the season is over. (mlb.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
