So Kyle Drabek has been sent down to Las Vegas to figure things out and the thing is that even the guy we traded to get Drabek Roy Halliday was sent down to single A ball to figure things out in the beginning of the 2001 season after the 2000 season where he sported the worst ERA of any pitcher in a season who had pitched at least 50 innings pitched in that season and the ERA was 10.64. So Kyle Drabek has walked more batters than any other pitcher so far this season as he walked 52 batters in 72.2 innings pitched over his 14 starts this season and he has given up 17 runs on 19 hits with 10 walks and 6 Ks and given up 3 long balls in his 3 June starts as he pitched only 10 innings pitched.
The thing is that by all account he needs to learn to handle his emotions as like Halliday he wears his emotions on his sleeve and when things do not go his way he unravels very easily and then there is the thing about throwing strikes as Drabek has trouble keeping the ball in the strike zone as the batters are not swinging at the pitches that are not clear strikes. This means that when his ball moves around the batters just watch the pitch and take the ball and it is my understanding that if the Jays catchers were setup in the middle of the plate instead of the corners it would be easier to fool the batters but in the end if he is able to work his pitches into the strike zone than when he tried to stretch the strike zone the hitters would be more likely to swing at a ball out of the zone.
So Drabek is down in triple A with Brett Cecil and Travis Snider so who is coming up to the big leagues to make Drabek's start on Thursday to finish off the 3 game series against the Baltimore Orioles and it is going to be Zack Stewart from Double A New Hampshire where he has had 2 good starts around a horrible start. As he had a 3 hit shutout over 8 innings and a 1 run on 5 hits over 6 innings which has sandwiched a 4 runs on 11 hits over 5 innings.
I thought that if it was not Brett Cecil who pitched last night and had his second complete game with a 4 hit shutout and which came after an run on 6 hits complete game and they sandwiched a 8 run on 10 hits in 3.1 inning pitched. Then it would of been Brad Mills who pitched a 4 hit shutout on Friday night but before that he had 3 bad starts of 4 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings, 4 run on 7 hits in 6 innings, and 3 runs on 4 hits in 6 innings but still has a great era of 2.87 and has 78 Ks in 84.2 inning pitched which is solid in 13 starts so he may be more deserving but I think Cecil will be back within 10 days especially with another solid outing as I do not know how much more learning he has in Las Vegas.
Drabek still has some mental toughness to gain
Tom Mehegan
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