Gorzelanny, Pena & Buck
Looking at three breakout players having all-star caliber years in 2007
Tom Gorzelanny
Gorz was a weird one this off-season. Some absolutely loved his chances at a good season, but most completely ignored him. I don’t think the strikeouts are as high as many had hoped, but you can’t argue with 6 wins in 11 starts, a 2.39 ERA and a 1.256 WHIP.
One stat that jumps out is his HR against, only 3 in 71.2 IP. That’s a spectacular rate. One cause for concern is his BB rate, which is about 3 per 9 IP. If he can cut this down (even slightly) he should be able to work his way deeper into games.
With the strength of the Pirates bullpen (which has blown only 1 lead), Gorzelanny has a legitimate shot at winning 18 to 20 games this season.
Carlos Pena
When I was in Tampa at the beginning of the season, I kept thinking to myself “The Rays have a nice team but you have to have something better than Pena at first.
Looks like I was wrong on that one. A top-notch prospect early in his career, beginning as the 10th overall pick by the Rangers in 1998. A couple of high profile trades later, Pena landed in Detroit. Pena never really caught on, even after two straight .800 OPS season, and a very good 2004 (89 runs scored, 27 HR, 82 RBI in 142 games). After that, he was released twice, once by Detroit and once by the Yankees.
Early this season, Pena has 10 HR, 28 RBI & 22 Runs in only 132 plate appearances, for a .592 slugging percentage and a .957 OPS. One has to figure that Pena will get the rest of the season to prove his worth, and he may have finally found a home.
Travis Buck
With all of the hype surrounding AL Rookies Delmon Young, Alex Gordon and Dice-K, Buck slipped under the radar. Taken 36th overall in 2005, Buck has had a quick assention to the majors after hitting a combined .328 in two minor league seasons. A typical money ball player, Travis slugs (mostly with LD doubles) and knows how to take a walk. A .919 OPS makes Buck the best rookie in the AL so far this season. Now whether this will be enough to overcome Dice-K mania remains to be seen.
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Gorzelanny, Pena & Buck
Gorzelanny, Pena & Buck
Looking at three breakout players having all-star caliber years in 2007
Tom Gorzelanny
Gorz was a weird one this off-season. Some absolutely loved his chances at a good season, but most completely ignored him. I don’t think the strikeouts are as high as many had hoped, but you can’t argue with 6 wins in 11 starts, a 2.39 ERA and a 1.256 WHIP.
One stat that jumps out is his HR against, only 3 in 71.2 IP. That’s a spectacular rate. One cause for concern is his BB rate, which is about 3 per 9 IP. If he can cut this down (even slightly) he should be able to work his way deeper into games.
With the strength of the Pirates bullpen (which has blown only 1 lead), Gorzelanny has a legitimate shot at winning 18 to 20 games this season.
Carlos Pena
When I was in Tampa at the beginning of the season, I kept thinking to myself “The Rays have a nice team but you have to have something better than Pena at first.
Looks like I was wrong on that one. A top-notch prospect early in his career, beginning as the 10th overall pick by the Rangers in 1998. A couple of high profile trades later, Pena landed in Detroit. Pena never really caught on, even after two straight .800 OPS season, and a very good 2004 (89 runs scored, 27 HR, 82 RBI in 142 games). After that, he was released twice, once by Detroit and once by the Yankees.
Early this season, Pena has 10 HR, 28 RBI & 22 Runs in only 132 plate appearances, for a .592 slugging percentage and a .957 OPS. One has to figure that Pena will get the rest of the season to prove his worth, and he may have finally found a home.
Travis Buck
With all of the hype surrounding AL Rookies Delmon Young, Alex Gordon and Dice-K, Buck slipped under the radar. Taken 36th overall in 2005, Buck has had a quick assention to the majors after hitting a combined .328 in two minor league seasons. A typical money ball player, Travis slugs (mostly with LD doubles) and knows how to take a walk. A .919 OPS makes Buck the best rookie in the AL so far this season. Now whether this will be enough to overcome Dice-K mania remains to be seen.
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