Each Friday for the rest of Spring Training Project Prospect will be taking notes on how the best young arms are faring in their Spring Training appearances.
Tuesday
Strong
performances all-around with the exception of a young Texas Ranger—the
top-two prospects in the majors both pitched well.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP, BOS – Dice-K continued his strong beginning to the spring by coasting through three innings against the Marlins Tuesday, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out three.
Phil Hughes, RHP, NYY – After a difficult debut last week, the Yankees stud right-hander looked much better Tuesday, striking out in two shutout innings. Hughes allowed one hit and a walk – also picked a man off first.
Jason Hirsh, RHP, COL – Hirsh pitched well Tuesday, albeit against a very weak White Sox lineup. The possible steal from the Astros pitched three innings in relief and allowed just a lone hit and no runs while striking out one.
Thomas Diamond, RHP, TEX – Similar to his performance in 2006, Diamond couldn’t find the strike zone Tuesday as he walked two, allowed three hits, and gave up two runs in one inning of work.
Wednesday
Two rookies impressed in relief against weak lineups while a top prospect got rocked in his debut start.
Yovani Gallardo, RHP, MIL – Gallardo sparkled after coming on in the 5th inning to dominate a depleted Rockies lineup. He pitched three perfect innings and struck out three.
Luke Hochevar, RHP, KC – The 2006 No. l overall pick made a strong debut in relief, pitching two scoreless innings against the White Sox. Hochevar allowed one hit, walked a batter, and struck out one.
Tim Lincecum, RHP, SF – The diminutive right-hander with the funky delivery and impressive velocity got hammered in his ever first Spring Training inning. An inning-ending double play and then a perfect second inning limited the damage to three runs on four hits. Lincecum struck out two.
Thursday
In
an ironic twist, two giants with strong fastballs each failed to
strikeout a batter in their combined five innings, while a
soft-throwing control specialist punched out three.
Mike Pelfrey, RHP, NYM
– The 6-foot-7 right-hander followed up a strong debut with three more
solid innings, this time in relief. Pelfrey allowed two unearned runs
on three hits in two innings of work, walking none. Pelfrey’s power
sinker got eight of nine outs via ground balls, three ground balls
resulted in hits, and one ground ball resulted in an error. That’s 13
batters, 12 groundballs.
Jeff Niemann, RHP, TB – Niemann looked unimpressive in his two innings of late-inning relief against the Pirates, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk.
Kevin Slowey, RHP, MIN – The Minnesota control artist pitched soundly in relief against a St. Louis lineup with Pujols, Rolen, and not much else. Slowey logged two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out three.
Nick Christie can be reached at nickchristie@gmail.com.