Phillies Call Up Another Pitching Prospect
The Phillies can’t escape the injury imp and are in need of another starting pitcher this week. Antonio Bastardo will have his miss his next start with some arm soreness and the Phillies be looking to their top ranked prospect to take his place.
In rankings release prior to Spring Training, Carlos Carrasco was the 28th ranked prospect in all of baseball. The 22 year old righty does not have stats that jump off the page at you, but everyone who has seen him pitch seems to have the same reaction. He has electric stuff.
He has a fastball that is in the low 90s, but has been clocked as high as 95. His out-pitch is his changeup which has a very good sink to it. In order to be successful as a starter at the Major League level he will need to develop his curve to give him a third pitch he can throw for strikes.
Over five plus Minor League seasons, Carrasco has an uninspiring 4.06 ERA and a 43-42 record. He is 4-7 so far this year and his ERA is still above 4.00, so those numbers cannot be blamed for some early career troubles. He has been better lately, turning in five solid starts in his last seven outings.
So what makes Carrasco an attractive fantasy option? Strikeouts, and lots of them. Over the last three seasons Carrasco has had a K/9 rate of nearly 9.0, or one strikeout per inning. He has managed to keep his BBs down, which tends to be a problem with young strikeout pitchers.
Playing in the Philly bandbox will not be kind to his ERA or WHIP, but he should get run support and pile up a few victories. Strikeout numbers tend to translate well when pitchers are called up, so if you are in dire need of K’s and can take a small hit in the ration categories, Carrasco may be your guy.
Keep in mind his call up may not be permanent as he is taking Bastardo’s place this week, but if the Phillies want to stay atop the NL East, they can’t keep trotting out Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton and their 5+ ERAs.
Labels: Antonio Bastardo, Carlos Carrasco, Scout Hoffman