Kuzul

Roy Halladay is known as perhaps the greatest pitcher to ever pull on a Blue Jays uniform; some would say that it is without a doubt that he is.

That could be quite intimidating for a young pitcher in the rotation with him.

Last year when Halladay was still with the Blue Jays, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil came up to pitch with the team for the first time.  Halladay was the undisputed leader among the pitching staff at this time due to his experience and almost legendary status.

Having a pitcher on the team who can lead by example the way Halladay did cannot be underestimated. Simply watching Halladay practice and pitch could be a giant learning experience for pitchers just coming up to the Major Leagues.

But as ball clubs change and develop, different leaders are appropriate for the different times.  When Halladay was traded in the winter, Shaun Marcum became the veteran leader on the Blue Jays staff despite losing last season to injury.

The 2010 season has seen Marcum recover with surprising success, putting up a 3.63 ERA, a 13-8 record with 161 strikeouts and just 43 walks.  His control and consistency, as well as his experience, has made him the pitcher that the other staff looks to for leadership.  But it is his easygoing and fun approach to the games that has helped to make this a very different pitching staff.

With Marcum being the oldest starter at 28 years old, this is a very young pitching rotation with many of the starts coming from pitchers from the minors such as Kyle Drabek.

There are also new additions such as Brandon Morrow, who came over in a trade from the Seattle Mariners.

With this combination of youth and new pitchers, it is important to have someone who can bring the picthing staff together.  Marcum has become that pitcher, and because of that, the Blue Jays have a very noticeable bond and camaraderie.

This companionship has created a sense of friendly competition and pushed the starters to a surprising and rather impressive year.  Romero established himself as a future ace with his play this year, and broke the 200 innings milestone for the first time.  Morrow led the league in strikeouts per nine innings this year and learned to control his powerful arm.  Cecil greatly improved on last year with his all-around numbers and led the team in wins.

Halladay personified greatness in a Blue Jays uniform, but in the end, perhaps it was the right time for him to move on.  He gets a chance to compete in the postseason this year as he justly deserves, and the Blue Jays have the opportunity to evolve into a different team, one that once again has a chance to make it to the playoffs.  

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It has been a year of excitement and disappointment for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The fans witnessed history at the Rogers Centre when Jose Bautista became the 26th player in Major League history to hit 50 home runs in a season.  Bautista‘s incredible, feel good story has been one of the highlights of the Blue Jays this year, as well as the emergence of Brandon Morrow and the other young starters on the squad. 

It has been disappointing to once again fall to fourth in the American League East, and staying far out of reach of the playoffs.  But even that wasn’t unexpected, in fact the Jays performed much better than expected this year, especially with their surprising capacity for hitting home runs.

Now that the season is tailing down, thoughts towards the future come to the forefront.

Will the pitchers build upon their breakout year to become one of the best rotations in the American League?

Which of the free agents will leave and what kind of draft picks will the Jays receive because of it?

Will the team figure out other ways to score if they can’t repeat their success with the long ball?

First things first, there are certain players who are the core of this team and are therefore signed long term.  Their chances of being traded in the offseason are slim to none.  Players such as Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, Aaron Hill, and Ricky Romero are all signed long term, and form the core which this team is built around.

A good portion of the starting rotation is likely to be back. Shaun Marcum has excelled this year coming off an injury and the trade for Brandon Morrow looked better and better throughout the year.  Those two, along with Brett Cecil, who also had a breakout year, will likely be signed to new contracts if they can continue to progress.  Those three with Romero will form most of the Blue Jays rotation barring injury or a deep regression in form.

The question of the fifth starter is completely open on the other hand.  Various pitchers can fill that slot, but it is tough to say who will be the best fit.  Jesse Litsch is hampered by injury once again, but has the most experience of the candidates.  Marc Rzepczynski has had experience as well but has struggled at the Major League level.

The X-factor in the rotation is Kyle Drabek, who has had two starts so far with the Jays this year, and showed some good control and focus.  He was the Easter League pitcher of the year in Double-A and many have pronounced him ready for joining the Jays.

Jose Bautista will go through arbitration this summer and will stay under Jays control, so the GM Alex Anthopoulos will likely wait to see how he performs next year before deciding whether to offer him a big contract.  He will likely continue to play both right field and third unless a more permanent player can be filled in either slot. 

It is unlikely that the Jays will settle on having Edwin Encarnacion as their regular third baseman, so some infield moves could be a possibility.  There has been some talk about moving Hill to third on the chance that Adeiny Hechavarria is ready next year, in which case either him or Yunel Escobar would play second.

The other infield spot up in the air is first base, with Lyle Overbay becoming a free agent.  Adam Lind has played a few games at first, and catching prospect J.P Arencibia has the potential to play some games both behind the plate and on first.

Speculation has popped up the press lately that Lind and Arencibia aren’t ready yet to take over for Overbay and catcher John Buck, who is also a free agent.

It seems unlikely that they would be re-signed, since Buck has made it clear he wants to play full-time and Overbay is likely looking for a multi-year contract.  This doesn’t seem to create any progress or move the team forward, so those two leaving as free agents still seems the most likely.

Catcher Jose Molina could be kept on to mentor Arencibia on defense and game-calling and continue his work with the pitching staff.

Unless there are some big trades or free agent acquisitions, which seem unlikely, the roster could very well look like this:

Outfield:  Fred Lewis, Vernon Wells, Travis Snider.

Infield:  Jose Bautista, Yunel Escobar, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind.

Catcher: J.P. Arencibia.

On the Bench:  John McDonald, Jose Molina.

Encarnacion is too expensive to be a bench player, so he would either have to be dealt or given third base full-time.  Other bench roles could be filled by Jarret Hoffpauir, DeWayne Wise, and Mike McCoy unless someone from Triple-A or a free agent comes in.

Starting Rotation:  Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Brett Cecil, Kyle Drabek.

Kevin Gregg, Scott Downs, and Jason Frasor are all free agents this summer, but since the Jays favour veteran players in the bullpen, there is a chance that at least one of them will be retained.  Of course, the benefits of acquiring draft picks if they leave, as free agents might be too good to pass up.

Bullpen:  Kevin Gregg, Rommie Lewis, David Purcey, Brian Tallet, Jesse Carlson, Shawn Camp, Josh Roenicke.

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The Blue Jays top pitching prospect has gotten the call. Kyle Drabek will start against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

Acquired in the Roy Halladay trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, Drabek was one of three players the Blue Jays received in return.

A word of caution has to be sent out to the Blue Jays fans, though. Remember that Drabek has only pitched in Double-A and that he is still at the very young age of 22.  This will be his first opportunity pitching in the Major Leagues, so expectations should be reasonable. 

There is no doubting his talent, as he recently won the Eastern League pitcher of the year award.  Leading the New Hampshire Fisher Cats with a 14-9 record and an impressive 2.94 ERA, he became available after the team was just eliminated from the playoffs.

Since Brandon Morrow was recently put on the shelf for the year due to his innings count, the Blue Jays have been calling up various pitchers to fill in the occasional start.

Whatever the result, it will give Drabek a chance to test his stuff in the Major Leagues.  Granted it will be against the Orioles, who the Blue Jays have beat up all season, but they have been a slightly different team of late under their new manager, Buck Showalter. 

Whether this suggests to the Blue Jays brass that Drabek could be a starter with the club next year or that he will need more seasoning in the minors remains to be seen.  But one thing is for sure: It will be a bit of a reward for the fans who have followed all year to see another piece of the future in action. 

The Blue Jays are out of the playoffs again this year, but they have the promising pieces in place to make a run at it in the near future.

One of those pieces, Kyle Drabek, will show his stuff Wednesday night.

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The Toronto Blue Jays shut Brandon Morrow down after Friday’s start due to the number of innings he had thrown.  While his season didn’t end on the brightest note (3.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K), he leaves behind a stat line that shows off all the promise we’ve heard so much about:

10 Wins
146.1 Innings
4.49 ERA
1.38 WHIP
178 Strikeouts (10.95 K/9)
66 Walks (4.06 BB/9)
.348 BABIP

You can see right off the bat that his ERA and WHIP were both affected by poor luck.  The BABIP is clearly inflated, while his strand rate was also relatively unlucky at 69.0 percent.  There are fewer then 30 pitchers who qualify for the ERA title who have posted a strand rate below 70 percent at this point, so while it isn’t incredibly unlucky, he was in the minority there.

You would think that those two numbers would make me overwhelmingly favorable when it comes to Morrow moving forward, and to an extent I am.  Unfortunately, you can’t consider those two marks independent of his other numbers.

Control has always been a question, with a minor league BB/9 of 4.4.  It’s something that has to be kept in mind, because it is going to keep him from being a big contributor in the WHIP department.  It is possible that he is improving, when you couple this year’s mark to last year’s 3.8 at Triple-A. 

However, the latter was over just 55.0 innings (10 starts) as he was being stretched out to return to the rotation.  It’s hard to put much stock in it.

You also have to wonder if he will be able to post this type of huge strikeout rate.  He’s always had strikeout potential, but in the minor leagues he was at just 8.1 K/9.  Granted, he did not spend much time there (101.2 innings), and half of that was last season (6.5 K/9).

Still, maintaining a near 11 strikeout per nine inning pace is hard to imagine.  Since 2005 there have been only two pitchers (who qualified for the ERA title) to finish with a K/9 of 10.5 or better:

Erik Bedard had a 10.9 K/9 in 2007
Tim Lincecum had a 10.5 K/9 in 2008

That’s it.  When you look at it in that perspective, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him regress closer to 10, if not slightly below it.  He’s still likely to be among of the elite strikeout pitchers in the game, but it’s almost impossible to see him maintain this year’s mark.

A decrease in strikeouts is going to lead to a regression in WHIP, because there are going to be even more balls put into play.

The other thing to consider is the division he plays in.  Just look at how he fared against the AL East in 2009:

Baltimore Orioles – 2-0, 4.50 ERA, 19 K in 18.0 IP
Boston Red Sox – 0-1, 15.88 ERA, 8 K in 5.2 IP
New York Yankees – 1-1, 5.93 ERA, 40 K in 27.1 IP
Tampa Bay Rays – 2-1, 1.23 ERA, 26 K in 22.0 IP

Outside of Tampa Bay, there are legitimate concerns with his performances.  Obviously, they are small sample sizes, but they are worrisome nonetheless.  We all know the AL East is going to remain among the toughest divisions in the game, so seeing him struggle there will certainly reflect against his overall numbers.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at an extremely early 2011 projection for him (this will likely be amended as the offseason progresses and more things become clear):

180.0 IP, 14 W, 3.95 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 190 K (9.50 K/9), 78 BB (3.90 BB/9)

Those are certainly impressive numbers and ones that any owner should want to have.  The strikeouts alone make him extremely usable, but be cautious.  The ERA and WHIP could really go either way.  The numbers above are based on a BABIP of .310, but if he struggles there again, the numbers will inflate.

I’m also banking on another slight improvement in his control.  If he regresses there, all bets are off.

Like I’ve said, I think he certainly is keeper worthy, depending on your league rules, as he has emerged as a pitcher with tremendous potential.  If he pitched anywhere but the AL East he’d be a no-brainer, but unfortunately we can’t have everything.

Make sure to check out our extremely early 2011 rankings:

Catchers
First Basemen
Second Basemen
Third Basemen
Shortstops
Outfielders
Closers

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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There was a lot of news surrounding the Toronto Blue Jays in the final weekend of August.

They were playing the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, and despite having one of his best strikeout totals, Marc Rzepczynski struggled to keep the ball in the zone and suffered as a result.

Three of the five baserunners he walked later came in to score, a costly result when he only allowed five hits. 

Rzepczynski looked better at times than he has in his other starts with the Jays, as his breaking ball pitches were causing some wild swings by the Tigers. But his inability to hold the runners ended up costing him, and the Jays weren’t able to recover.

In the midst of the game it was announced that the team has decided to shut down Brandon Morrow for the season after his final start on Friday. He is nearing the 150 innings that they set as his max this year to prevent overworking his arm. 

Since this a large increase on the number of innings he pitched last year with the Seattle Mariners, they want to avoid the chance of an injury from arm exhaustion.  It happens a lot in the Major Leagues now where a pitcher is on a strict innings limit from year to year, as many statistics show that significant inning increases are likely to cause serious injury and thus often require surgery. 

Many of the Blue Jays’ starters are likely being watched for the number of innings they reach, as Shaun Marcum is coming off an injury and Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil have not yet accumulated a lot of experience.

Kyle Drabek was announced as the Double-A Eastern League pitcher of the year at Rogers Centre on Sunday as well and received his first standing ovation long before he has pitched a game there.

Drabek racked up some pretty impressive stats this year, going 14-9 with a 2.98 ERA heading into this past Saturday’s start. He led the league in wins and was second both in innings pitched (154) and batting average against (.216). His 123 strikeouts were good enough for third in the league before he recorded nine more in seven scoreless innings on that Saturday game.

Still only 22, there is a chance that Drabek could be called up for some spot starts in September, especially with Morrow out of the lineup. Though having spent the year in Double-A, there are some who feel that Drabek could be ready to make the jump to the Jays next year, but for now fans might be happy to see him make a spot start or two.

Finally, Jeremy Accardo spoke to a reporter in Las Vegas about being upset with his role in the organization this year. Having pitched most of the last two years with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, Accardo feels that he has been lied to by the GMs and not given a fair shake.

Having been shuttled back and forth by former Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, Accardo felt that after a talk with the new boss, Alex Anthopoulos, his role with the team would be different this year. Having saved 30 games for the Jays in 2007, Accardo likely felt that he deserved a spot in the bullpen and some more playing time.

Whether he is traded now or brought up when the rosters expand in September, there seems to be a rift that will not be easily mended.

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The Toronto Blue Jays play in the most competitive division in baseball, yet have assembled a five-man rotation, who all have potential fantasy upside. 

Let’s take a look at the candidates in order to determine the potential long-term success:

Brandon Morrow

The 17-strikeout game aside, Morrow has a ton of potential and might just now be scraping the surface of his ability. 

Maybe the Mariners continuous shifting of him between the bullpen and rotation stunted his development, but now as a full-time starting pitcher in Toronto, he’s excelling.

Overall this season he’s posted a 4.45 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, but he has struggled with some sub par luck (.341 BABIP, 69.1% strand rate). 

Those two numbers show great promise for improvement, especially with his humongous strikeout rate of 10.8 (165 Ks in 137.1 innings). 

He isn’t just a one-game phenomenon, but has been compiling Ks all year long.

Obviously, that number could fall some, especially when you consider that his minor league career mark was 8.1 over 101.2 innings (though, that includes just a 6.5 mark at Triple-A in 2009 when he was demoted to transition back to the rotation). 

The bottom line is that, at 26 years old, the numbers appear lined up to have great success. 

With his strikeout ability, all he needs is improved luck and he could post a huge year in 2011.

He’s a risk, but the reward is tremendous. He’s definitely worth keeping depending on your league rules.

Brett Cecil

There is upside in Cecil, who already has posted a 3.90 ERA and 1.24 WHIP this season.  He posted a minor-league walk rate of 2.9, matching what he has done through 131.2 innings in 2010.

In the Majors he hasn’t posted big strikeout numbers, with a K/9 of 6.5. In the minor leagues he had a 9.0 mark, however, so there certainly is big-time potential for him to improve there.

He also has the potential to significantly improve on his ground-ball rate, which currently stands at 44.1 percent. Over his minor-league career, he had a 59.7 percent mark.

I will certainly spend more time on him in the offseason, but Cecil has pitched well with realistic metrics (.281 BABIP, 71.8 percent strand rate) and has the potential to pair solid control with improved strikeouts and ground balls. 

Sounds like a pitcher who could really develop into a must own fantasy option, doesn’t it?

I wouldn’t call him a must keep, because it certainly depends on your format, but he’s certainly a pitcher to be on all fantasy radars.

Ricky Romero

I’ve had my doubts about Romero dating back to 2009, but he continues to get the job done. This season he’s improved his strikeout rate (7.8 K/9) and control (3.2 BB/9), while posting believable luck metrics (.304 BABIP and 72.2 percent strand rate).

There truly is nothing not to like in those numbers, but can we actually expect him to improve on the 3.50 ERA and 1.28 WHIP? 

He has maintained his ground-ball rate from last season (54.0 percent), but where is the upside potential? 

Even in the minor leagues, he was not a big strikeout artist (7.0 K/9 over 430 innings).  In fact, he posted a minor league ERA of 4.40 and struggled with his control (3.8 BB/9).

The numbers look nice, but this is probably the best we can expect from Romero.

He’s a solid pitcher, but is more likely to post an ERA in the 4.00 range without huge strikeouts numbers then he is to post a 3.25 ERA. 

He’s a nice player, but not one that I’d be looking to keep, especially playing in the AL East. There is nothing to “love” about him.

Marc Rzepczynski

He is someone that I was high on prior to the season, but injuries have severely limited his production. 

He’s appeared in just seven games (five starts), posting a 6.31 ERA and 1.64 WHIP.  While his rehab was in the Pacific Coast League, you also can’t be happy seeing his 6.04 ERA there.

The lefty has shown some strikeout ability in the minor leagues, including 60 Ks in his final 60.2 innings before being recalled. 

Couple that potential with some ground ball upside (53.2 percent this year at Triple-A, 50.6 percent in the Majors) and decent control, and you see he has some potential.

He is more likely to be a flier in the deepest of formats, or waiver wire fodder in 2011, but certainly not a keeper.

Shaun Marcum

There were legitimate concerns heading into 2010, considering he missed all of 2009.  Yet, he has returned to form immediately, with impeccable control (2.0 BB/9).

He is what he is right now, however, so there is no real upside. 

That means he’s going to be a good source of WHIP (1.13 this season and 1.24 for his career) and a good, but not great strikeout artist (7.5 K/9 and 7.2 for his career). 

He’s not among the elite, but depending on your keeper format he certainly is worth keeping.

What are your thoughts on the Blue Jays rotation?  Who would you target to keep?  Who would you keep your distance from?

Make sure to check out our extremely early 2011 rankings:

• Catchers
• First Basemen
• Second Basemen
• Third Basemen
• Shortstops
• Outfielders
• Closers

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM.

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What a rare opportunity for rookie pitcher Ivan Nova to make his mark in New York Yankees pinstripes, by making his Major League debut tonight vs. the heavy-hitting Toronto Blue Jays.

Getting called up from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre is every rookie’s goal, but to start against another AL East ball-club, in middle of a tight pennant race is a lot of pressure. Can Ivan Nova do his job?

The Yankees obviously have a lot of trust in Nova’s abilities. He has been an ace in Triple-A with a 12-3 record and 2.66 ERA.

Look for Nova to throw a newly acquired slider. The Yankees hope is the 23-year-old righty can throw a lot of strikes to keep the team in first place within the division.

The Toronto Blue Jays will counter with another youngster, 26-year-old Brandon Morrow.

On August 9th, Morrow threw 137 pitches, posting 17-strikeouts against the Tampa Bay Rays, just missing a no-hitter, which would have been the second in Blue Jays history. Morrow did record his first complete game and shutout, which is a huge accomplishment for the young righty.

Morrow has made three starts vs. New York in 2010, in which he is 1-0, allowing 11 earned runs, three home runs, four walks and striking out 24.

On the season, Morrow has a 9-8 record, posting a 4.45 ERA, allowing only 10 home runs, with 153 strikeouts over 131.1 innings pitched. He has to get his walks rate down which is currently at 60 in total.

Morrow will be extra careful with Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner who have hit him well this season. Also, any pitcher facing Robinson Cano is aware that he has been a monster with the bat.

MY PREDICTION:

Nova vs. Morrow will be a no-decision, and the Yankees will win 5-2.

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The Toronto Blue Jays not only sweep the Tampa Bay Rays, they dominated in all aspects of the game in their recent series.

In the first game of the series, Toronto capitalized on Tampa’s mistakes, as two of their runs were unearned.

We also saw the first of Toronto’s strong pitching performances in the series, with Brett Cecil going seven complete innings while giving up one earned run on four hits.

In the second game, the attendance rose to 24,168 to watch the highly anticipated debut of Toronto’s top catching prospect, J.P. Arencibia (appropriately dubbed “The Franchise” by Toronto Blue Jays die-hard fans).

And boy, did he live up to that claim.

He hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in his first at-bat and ended up hitting one more homer, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and finishing a triple away from the cycle.

In the final game, it was all about the Brandon Morrow show.

Many were upset that Jays manager Cito Gaston started Morrow’s normal battery mate Jose Molina instead of Arencibia.

We don’t hate you now, Cito.

No offense to Arencibia, but I don’t think Morrow would have had the performance he had Molina not been in the lineup.

Molina has 593 career games of catching experience in the MLB, compared to Arencibia’s one. If you’re not a math genius, that’s a difference of 592 games.

Now, to Morrow himself.

Morrow ended up striking 17 batters. Seventeen! He also no-hit the Rays for 8 2/3 innings.

Among Morrow’s strikeout victims were Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, and Ben Zobrist, three of Tampa’s elite hitters.

The big highlight of this game was the leaping catch Vernon Wells made at the wall to protect Morrow’s no-hit bid. In a weird coincidence, DeWayne Wise was playing left field. Wise made a leaping catch in Mark Buerhle’s perfect game last year.

For Morrow, this could be the start of something special. For a guy known as a fastball pitcher, we definetly saw Morrow come out of his shell and throw the filthy breaking ball never scene before his time in Toronto.

If Morrow had retired Longoria and gotten the final out, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this was the best pitching performance in Toronto History.

No Hitter? No. Best Pitching Performance in Jays’ History? Yes.

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Brandon Morrow, Toronto Blue Jays (pictured)
Morrow had to settle for a one-hit shutout as his no-no was broken up by Evan Longoria in the ninth. Morrow had 17 Ks as he improved to 9-6 with a 4.45 ERA.

Matt LaPorta & Trevor Crowe, Cleveland Indians
LaPorta went 3 for 4 with a HR (7) and two RBIs (27) to raise his average to .259. Crowe went 3 for 4 with a run to raise his average to .255.

Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles
Guthrie gave up one run in eight innings to improve to 6-11 with a 4.04 ERA. He’s 3-1 in his last five starts with a 1.77 ERA.

Jerry Hairston, Jr. & Chris Denorfia, San Diego Padres
Jerry went 3 for 4 with four runs (46), a HR (9), and two RBIs (45) to raise his average to .255. Denorfia went 2 for 4 with three runs, a HR (8) and two RBIs to raise his average to .266.

Potent Middle Relievers
Randy Choate, TB       2/3 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (29 Ks, 30 IP)
Ramon Ramirez, SF    1 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (35 Ks, 45 IP)
Takashi Saito, ATL     Save, 1 IP, 0 Runs, 3 Ks (53 Ks, 43 IP)
Doug Slaten, WAS      1 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (22 Ks, 25-2/3 IP)
Tyler Clippard, WAS   1-1/3 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (75 Ks, 65-1/3 IP)
Kenley Jansen, LAD    1  IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (9 Ks, 6 IP)
Octavio Dotel, LAD    1 IP, 0 Runs, 2 Ks (50 Ks, 43 IP)

Originally published at LestersLegends.com.

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Yesterday, Toronto Blue Jay Brandon Morrow arguably pitched the strongest outing of the year, let alone one of the finest in history. Morrow went 8 2/3 before surrendering a single to Evan Longoria off the glove of Aaron Hill. In only 136 pitches (93 for strikes), he gave up one hit and two walks. Oh yeah, then there was the 17 strikeouts, the most in a game since Johan Santana had 17 in 2006.

Morrow, the first round pick of the Mariners in 2006 never found his footing in Seattle. The most one could have said was that the young gun could strike people out (204 K in 196.5 IP). Seattle only started using Morrow as a starter towards the end of last year. We got a small glimpse at how good he could be in the last game of last year with an eight inning one-hitter and 9 Ks against Oakland.

Brandon certainly has had some ups and downs this season (13 quality starts out of 22), but more than not has shown us what he can do. Although this was the first game this year that he had more than 10 strikeouts in a game, Morrow has had seven games of eight strikeouts and three games with nine. Including tonight’s game, Brandon is leading the league, averaging 10.69 Ks per nine.

It appears that Morrow is really hitting his stride now and has won four straight. Yes, his season ERA is high at 4.46, but after tonight, I’d say Morrow has turned a huge corner and could be part of the elite for years to come, or at the very least a feared strikeout artist.

As of this morning, Morrow was only owned in around 30 percent of leagues and that number will probably jump to around 40 percent by tomorrow. Comparatively, Max Scherzer of the Tigers is owned at around 60 percent and has similar numbers for the year so before you know it, Morrow will be gone in 2/3 of the leagues as well.

Written by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Evan stares at goats but nothing ever happens. Check back daily for more poor humor.

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