New York Yankees
They may be out of it, but they do have a bunch of star young pitchers that made their debut this year.
Joba Chamberlain
He’s so good they made rules for him so as to not burn out his arm early. These rules included not being allowed to enter a game in the middle of inning; not being able to pitch on consecutive days; taking two days off if he pitched two innings; not being allowed to warm up and then sit down and then warm up again… Those rules went out the window when they got to the post season. Even though he had a small issue with a few bugs during game 2 in Cleveland, he still has shown signs he may be able to take over the closer role when Mariano Rivera is ready to go. Next year perhaps?
Phil Hughes
Hughes made Yankees lure when he had to exit a game early while throwing a no-hitter due to injury. Hughes has had injury issues that may have stunted his in game experience this year, but he seemed pretty good when he filled in for a injured Roger Clemens during game 3 of the ALDS. Hughes pitched 3+ innings without giving up a run, which was good because Clemens had already given the Indians a 4-0 lead. The Yanks went onto win the game, but not the series.
Ian Kennedy
He may be better known as the guy who had a conflict between getting married and playing in the playoffs, but that doesn’t take away from his talent. Oh, and he did get married. The proofs right here.
Colorado Rockies
Their hot streak goes right back to these young guns.
Jeff Francis
Francis has shown that he’s not frightened by a national stage after winning in both game 1 of the NLDS and game 1 of the NLCS. At just 26 years old, the kid knows how to take command of the game and in his third full season with the Rox he gathered a 17-9 record with a 4.22 ERA. But even better he struck out 165 batters in 215.1 innings and only gave up 25 homeruns in a hitters’ paradise.
Manny Corpas
Manny has emerged as a solid closer for the Rockies. With a 4-2 record and a 2.08 ERA while picking up 19 saves, he has added some consistency to the end of the game. Although, with the Rockies hitting the ball so well, he hasn’t really been able to pick up that many saves in the playoffs.
Troy Tulowitzki
Tulo caught our attention during a Braves game when he made an unbelievable unassisted triple play. But that’s just the start of it. He a massed the best fielding percentage by any rookie short stop in the NL while compiling hitting stats to the tune of a .291 average, .359 OBS while hitting 24 homeruns and driving in 99 RBIs. Maybe that’s why he’s a front runner for the NL Rookie of the Year crown.
Arizona Diamondbacks
To pick just three names was hard, after all, Eric Byrnes is their oldest everyday player at just 31 years old.
Mark Reynolds
Reynolds burst onto the scene in mid-May filling in for injured 3rd baseman Chad Tracy. He made his mark in his first game racking up hit first career hit and RBI and two nights later he hit his first career homerun. With his incredible start, he was moved up to the three hole and has stayed a constant on the hot corner. By years end, he had a .279 average with 17 homeruns and 69 RBIs.
Stephen Drew
Drew undoubtedly had a tough season. The younger brother of the Red Sox J.D. Drew was putting up numbers even his brother would be embarrassed with. But as the season progressed, Drew started to hit his stride, culminating in a break out series against the Cubs. We’re thinking there are only good things to come from Stephen.
Chris Young
As a leadoff batter, it may make you nervous that he’s batting .237 until you watched game 3 of the NLDS and saw Young take Rich Hill deep off the very first pitch. Then you may be ok with his 32 homeruns. But when you remember that he just turned 24 you realize the kid only will get better.
Cleveland Indians
This may be their first trip to the postseason since 2001 but they have been preparing while they waited for these guys to hit their stride.
Fausto Carmona
Carmona spent last year as a closer and that didn’t go so well. So the Indians decided to convert him to a starter. How did that work out? Hmm, let’s see, 19 wins and 195 strike outs works for us. And that lights out win during game 2 of the NLDS kind of proves our point!
Grady Sizemore
Grady made his presence known in 2005 when he played in 158 games. But apparently he wasn’t content playing in all but four games and has since been the Indians iron man playing in all 162 games. Sizemore may not be the upstart unknown that others are on our list, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in May, but his age, 25 and production put him here. Oh and did we mention his two all-star appearances? Well, now we just did.
Asdrubal Cabrera
He may have only played in 45 games this year but we’re going on a hunch that this kid is going to be good. In just 159 at bats, he has 22 RBIs, 30 runs and 45 hits. That’s practically Mark Teixeira numbers (55 RBIs in 53 games).
Boston Red Sox
They may be a mostly veteran team, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a couple kids.
Dustin Pedroia
Already given the Popo Award for Biggest Surprise, we’ve been hyping up Pedroia for a while. After a slow start in April, he turned up the heat in May and never looked back. In his first full season with the Sox he has earned his spot at second the hard way, by getting down and dirty and continuing his gritty style into the playoffs. We’re even thinking he may be picking up another award by the end of this season, maybe AL Rookie of the Year?
Johnathan Papelbon
Papelbon has become the lights out closer that all teams drool over. After a 2006 season, which saw him shut down early after he subluxed his shoulder (the bone of the upper arm dislodging from its socket in the shoulder), the Red Sox were looking to make him into a starter for the 2007 season. But Papelbon wouldn’t have it. He knew he thrived in the do or die closer role and boy was he right!
Jon Lester/Clay Buchholz
These two studs will be able to keep the rotation going for the Sox for years to come. Besides the fact that he fought cancer, Lester was able to win his first game back in the Majors earlier this season. And Buchholz, he only got a no-hitter in his second career start. Yeah, they’re kind of set.
It’s been fun blogging with you,
Kate
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