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The stumbles of premium prospects have become a popular topic to discuss in fantasy circles and the latest is Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey was ranked as the Mets top prospect by Baseball America in 2007 and the hype was running high dating back to the days in which he went 33-7 with a school record 2.18 ERA in three season at Wichita State.
His command was an issue early in his professional career, but that is no longer the case. He has learned to trust his stuff and not overthrow.
“The past month he has been unbelievable,” Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran told the New York Times. “Every time he takes the mound now, I feel like we have a chance to win the game.”
Pelfrey credits a May 31st start against the Dodgers as the key moment in which he turned his career in the right direction.
“The L.A. game, that was the game when I went out there with a plan,” Pelfrey said. “I went out there thinking I was not going to walk a lot of guys, that I wasn’t going to overthrow. I went out in the first inning and I was taking it easy, keeping it in the upper 80s.”
The catcher, Brian Schneider, went out to the mound.
“What’s wrong?” he said. “Are you hurt?”
Pelfrey said, “No, why?”
“Well, what are you doing?”
“Just making sure that I’m hitting my spots,” Pelfrey said. “I want them to hit it.”
It’s this more mature approach that has Pelfrey, who has been dropped in many fantasy league formats, rising to the top of most added lists. In a recent conversation I had with a good friend and fellow owner in one of my leagues, we discussed the exorbitant prices C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden commanded in free agent bidding following their relocation to the National League. I completely acknowledge few pitchers have been as dominant as C.C. over the last couple months, but as I saw Harden bidding creep to $48 (bidding is in actual dollars added to the league pot, not free agent bucks), I started to think I would rather have Pelfrey for the $7 I spent than a risk like Harden.
I believe a quote from Mets manager Omar Minaya sums up well my feelings of why I believe Pelfrey will continue to succeed in the second half of the season.
“What happens with young pitchers is that they’ll hit their spots in the minor leagues and then come up to the majors and think they need to hit better spots,” Minaya said. “Failure is part of the process, but once they get some confidence, the talent takes over.”
Photo courtesy of ChicagoMetsFan.com
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