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So on Wednesday, Erasmo goes out and detonates a Ranger lineup that:
Erasmo pitched 5, walked 0, fanned 6, and gave up 3 hits. Furbush allowed the 1 run to score.
Erasmo leads the ballclub in innings pitched, with 23.2, and he has --- > 20 strikeouts against 2 walks. No homers. I'm not much for sabermetrics, but a 20/2/0 Three True Outcomes looks okay to me.
Particularly from your 5 starter.
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Stylistically, Erasmo is effective when he (1) Deploys his fastball as 3 pitches: Jam, Ladder, Knees/Black -- and then (2) comes back with the fancy changeup and occasional slider. Exactly the Doug Fister attack.
The major difference between Ramirez and Fister: Ramirez cannot miss out-and-over, much. His fastball is deceptively short and he has to be careful.
On the other hand, Ramirez throws quite a bit harder than Doogie. But in both cases you are talking about 7K, 2BB pitchers who are cut out of the same template.
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Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster says "2013 injury derailed possible breakout season ... he still owns those 2011-12 skills (a sky-high 102 Base Performance Value, comparable to that of Shields, Iwakuma, and Fister). UP: 3.50 ERA"
GameDay shows the first hitter today, Shin Soo-Choo, facing a baffling array of weapons through the course of 8 pitches. Finally on pitch 7, Erasmo set him up with a changeup juussst off the plate, and then on pitch 8, used a take-him-up-the-ladder fastball that blew him down.
Erasmo is obviously as sharp as a tack right now. Would his 20/2/0 spring mean anything to a rotisserie geek living in New Jersey? Sure it would. Ron Shandler his ownself, if he's playing this year, will be looking to grab Ramirez with both hands. At a discount, of course.
Meanwhile, the rotations of the Rangers and A's may get off to a slow start. Maybe in the first few weeks the M's will come out of the gate with a bang?
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Erasmo pitched 72.1 innings last year and gave up 79 hits. But in his 1st 3 and last 3 games he pitched 27.2 innings and gave up 38 hits. In the 8 appearances (7 starts) in between he gave up 41 hits in 44.2 innings. He was broke early and broke late........but not bad in between.
Good points Jeff. I saw some of the game on the web but nothing live. I never saw much by Erasmo over 90mph. Maybe there was much more than I thought but was impressed at obvious deception getting some swing and misses. Location with movement can trump pure velocity. From a distance, Ramirez seems like a battler.
Each time I have seen Furbush, he has been tagged pretty hard. Your bullpen? Again, youth looks solid.
Do I remember correctly that he hurt himself last year lifting weights?
If so, that would seem to reduce the 'injury prone' concerns, no?