.............

Hip-hopping from hoops, into high school hardball .... now from class A ball through three levels in one year, that is.  

You gonna spin and scratch that?  Is Taijuan's 2012 lurk worth a wall fulla SSI Doc-Gooden graffiti, or are we just sellin' out to MTV here? 

Sandy protests, sensibly,

Walker has 103.2 innings (minors experience) with 96.2 in 2011 ... at Clinton.

::wink:: You got me there.  Fact is, Taijuan Walker is (technically) a low-minors pitcher.

As was stated in our original article, the schedule for Walker is 2013.  Taijuan Walker ain't pitching for a job in March 2012, no way no how.  Walker is not to be confused with polished young spitfires Paxton and Hultzen.

.........

We threw in a bit of tongue-in-cheek about Walker forcing his way in, August-September.  He'd be older than Felix was, when Felix arrived.

Dunno if you've noticed, but the hysteria over Taijuan has reached end-of-the-world, dogs-and-cats-running-together proportions.  

... Baseball America, the extreme tools mag, put Taijuan #1 in his AA league ahead of Paxton way down at #8.  Baseball Prospectus, the extreme saber mag, calls Taijuan "absolutely everything you'd look for in a potential ace [Cy Young winner - Dr D] and "a potential monster" whose curve ball is "a monster power breaker."

So, Michael Pineda with a Tom Gordon yellow hammer?  Okay, whatever that looks like.  A promotion to a higher league than the American, I guess.  

But if that's Walker, he's liable to be the best pitcher in the M's minors within a few months, and phasing him in for 10 starts during 2012 would be simply the Felix timeline.

But yeah.  For March 2012, the question isn't Taijuan, Paxton, and Hultzen.  It's just Paxton and Hultzen.  (And in fairness, Baseball Prospectus gives Taijuan's arrival date as -- wait for it -- 2014.)

.........

If it were ME?  Taijuan would blow away AA/AAA in the first half of 2012, and then about June-July, he'd be in there.  At Safeco.

But Dr. D will cheerfully admit, that's not likely Zduriencik's plan.

..........

Dr. D has done enough heavy digging, trying to grave-rob spare parts for his Frankenstein Rotation.  

You know what would be cool?  If Matty or G-Money or somebody would roll through the almanacs to find guys like Taijuan who jumped a bunch of levels in one year.  That would be a good read.