Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Hochevar yesterday

Luke Hochevar did something in his start yesterday that I thought was rather encouraging, he got himself into trouble and then avoided the big inning by giving up only one run. Hochevar gave up singles to the first three batters but with a run in and two men on he buckled down and got Hawpe to hit into a double play. Hundley then grounded out to end the inning. In the second inning he gave up a one out single to Denorfia, who then stole second base, but was able to get a strikeout and another groundball to complete the inning and end his day. The big inning has long plagued Hochevar and if he can learn how to nip these in the bud before they get out of hand he will be an above average starter.

It was also encouraging to see Aaron Crow do basically the same thing in the third inning. If a pitching prospect is destined to open up the season in the bullpen I'd prefer Crow be that guy over Duffy or Teaford. He is 24 years old so it's not like KC has to tread slowly with him. None of the starters are exactly workhorses so Crow would get plenty of opportunities to stretch out his innings before joining the rotation, which would probably be in mid-May.

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