Spec sez,
You're forgetting one [in your rookie rundown] ... Tom Wilhelmsen, take two
7 G, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 14 K
2.92 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 0.0 HR/9, 2.92 BB/9, 10.22 K/9
He didn't make the highlights, so I don't know what he looked like, but Gameday sez:
97, 95, 81, 97 (1 out)
96, 79, 96, 81 (2 outs)
97, 80, 96, 81, 98, 97, 97 (3 outs)
Ruffin and Lueke have been 93-95 while Wilhelmsen has been 95-97.
Didn't make the highlights, eh ... Dr. D and Mrs. D had the pleasure of watching Mr. Martini live with a monitor in line of sight, and GameDay did not do him justice ...
Wilhelmsen was 96-97 standin' still, and this time when he came back with the 81 hook they just watched it go by. For a few batters, he was Josh Beckett. They were utterly locked up on anything offspeed. (GameDay shows one called strike on the yakker, but there were two others that froze the batters and the ump didn't call the strikes.)
Maicer Izturis, for example, hitting LH and one of the toughest men to strike out in baseball (EYE and K considered) ... Wilhelmsen went to 1-2 and dropped the yellow hammer right down the pipe, nice and high. Izturis walked away mortified. You're supposed to throw changeups, not curves, when it's RH-on-LH. Unless you're Josh Beckett, of course.
It's odd, but Wilhelmsen is an easy 96, reach back for 98. He looks like he could fall asleep and throw 100 pitches of BP at 96 miles an hour. You're talking Michael Pineda velocity.
***
He is starting to smooth out his release point now, and when he's commanding, HE looks like a 15-game winner.
It's easy to forget how "young" Wilhelmsen is, from the standpoint of experience and pro pitches thrown. If you don't count his half-season 8 years ago (and I don't), then Jose Vicente Campos, pitching in Everett, has more pro experience than Wilhelmsen does!
No surprise that Wilhelmsen should "battle" his release point, his location, and the game of baseball. He hasn't put the 10,000 miles behind him that Jason Vargas has.
Surprise, actually, is that Wilhelmsen should flash this kind of command and control so early in his career.
***
Guarantee you that Tom Wilhelmsen is a starting pitcher. His frame, his rhythm, his mechanics, it's all starting pitcher from the word Go.
There's a scenario for his career that is completely unprecedented in MLB history. Hamilton did it from the offensive side, but don't know of any pitchers who accomplished it.
Zduriencik could be riding a surfboard that is swelling up into a Point Break New Zealand wave. Imagine if Wilhelmsen became the big-budget movie blockbuster :- ) fanning 200 men per season, pitching 5th in the M's rotation. Heh!
But Wilhelmsen does have that kind of arm. It's a Pineda arm, though it has various and sundry tragedies and sadnesses behind it.
***
If Wilhelmsen were commanding his pitches in March 2012, he would certainly be my #5 SP. He might not. When the year 2012 arrives, Wilhelmsen will be on a great timeline to tackle full-season class A ball, not the American League.
But if and when Wilhelmsen executes his pitches the way he did on Monday, he'll finish top 15 in the AL in strikeouts.
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WOULD Zduriencik give Wilhelmsen a shot at the rotation? Amazing enough that TW has a Mariners uniform now. Jack Zduriencik likes talent even more than I do.
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BABVA,
Dr D