Minority Report- Pitchers
	written by: Peter Billingsley 05/27/2008

Top Prospects

Adam Miller - SP - CLE

Miller is the Indians top prospect and should be a steady part of their rotation by 2009 at the latest. Miller works with a 93-95 MPH fastball that can touch 98 and a slider that is major league ready, right now. Miller’s change up has developed into a solid pitch, and all that stands in his way to this point is his durability. He had blister problems this spring that prevented him from really competing for the #5 starter spot. So far in 2008 with the AAA Bison's, Miller has a 1.88 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 28 innings. He is yet to allow a home run this year and lefties are hitting a mere .212 against him. His K/BB rate is under 2/1 and he needs to show some durability before he gets the call, but make no mistake when Miller arrives, he will likely be here to stay. With Carmona's recent injury he may not be far away. Bid aggressively when he gets the call.

Jeff Niemann - SP - TB

Niemann is in my personal top 10 list of starting prospects in all of baseball. He is a mountain of a man at 6'9" and 280 pounds. He throws a heavy fastball in the 92-96 MPH range with a mid-80's slider. Jeff has already been called up once this year and will likely join the Rays again at some point this season. Niemann only received two starts during his mid-April call-up, with one a solid win against Baltimore, allowing one earned run in six Innings. His second start didn't go as well against the White Sox, but inconsistency is to be expected at first. Since being sent back down, Jeff has allowed only one earned run in 15 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts against three walks. If you have a minor league roster spot in your league, Niemann is definitely worth a look.

Francisco Liriano - SP - MIN

Remember this guy? He's still making his way back, but there is progress to report. He has only walked one batter in each of his past three starts, and lasted into and past the 7th inning each time. His stamina is coming back and some confidence should follow in time. His last start was his first bad start of May with six earned runs allowed, but he only allowed eight total base runners in 6.2 innings, so there may have been a bit of bad luck there. Once Liriano cuts back on his walks, he will be in the majors pretty quickly. If he is un-owned in your league and a Minnesota starter suffers an injury, I'd definitely look to add Liriano right away, the potential is there for a #1 or #2 starter with an elite strikeout rate.

Blast from the Past

Tony Armas - SP - NYM

While he has never been greatly successful before in the Majors, Armas deserves another shot. He is having a great year in AAA for New Orleans and it's not like the Mets don't need some help! So far Armas has a 2.34 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 61 innings. Armas has a K/BB rate over 3/1 and is allowing a minuscule .206 average against. He has yet to allow more than three earned runs in any start, and the only negative I can possibly see is that he has yet to throw more than seven innings in any start. Peterson is a great pitching coach and I can see him doing great things with Armas once the Mets give him the call. Armas will get the call sometime soon and if the match-up is right I'd take the chance on him. The Mets are a good team that can score enough runs to make Armas a 10 game winner of the final four months of the season.

Morales is the Rockies top prospect, and a legitimate power lefty with #1 potential. Morales started the year in COL with the big club, but after taking a beating he was sent back down to regain his confidence in AAA. After a good fist start he has been hit hard in his past 2 starts to the tune of 15 runs in 6 innings. Wow. The good news is that Morales is only 22 years old and has plenty of time before Colorado is going to give up on him. Morales will likely not be back in the majors until September after his rough start, but keep an eye on Franklin is deep leagues.

For any questions, comments or requests send me an email at peterb@fantasyphenoms.com