Pitcher Eric Hurley, the 30th overall selection in the 2004 draft, will make his Major League debut on Thursday against the Kansas City Royals. Hurley has a 5.30 ERA in AAA this season but has pitched much better lately. If you didn't read my review of his season on Sunday, you might want to check it out. Hurley has been homer-prone, but Kansas City is batting .258/.311/.370 as a team with an MLB-worst 37 homers.
Hurley’s first seven starts:- Innings per start: 5.1 with 102 pitches thrown
- Grounders: 32% of all batted balls, .389 average / .444 slugging percentage
- Outfield Flies: 36%, .400 / 1.175
- Line Drives: 20%, .864 / 1.045
- Infield Flies: 13%, .071 / .071
- Bunts: none
Hurley’s last six starts:
- Innings per start: 6.5 with 104 pitches thrown
- Grounders: 44%, .204 / .204
- Outfield Flies: 30%, .294 / 1.000
- Line Drives: 20%, .682 / .773
- Infield Flies: 4%, .000 / .000
- Bunts: 3%
Homers remain a problem for Hurley. 20% of his outfield fly balls left the yard in his early starts. Since then, the homer/fly rate is 21%. His rate of walks plus HBPs has been league-average in both his older and recent starts.
Brian Bannister is a career 1-1 against Texas and in his last start, he gave up seven runs in three innings of work. His career ERA on the Rangers is 6.30 and the Rangers hit him for a .262 batting average.
This season, Bannister is 5-6 with a 4.98 ERA. Opponents hit him with a .275 batting average. In 13 starts, he has thrown 6 innings or more 7 times and being held to under five innings twice, including his last start against the Yankees.
He opened the season with three straight wins. Kansas City is 5-8 when he starts.
Rangers to Watch: (most a player has is 4 at-bats)... but as a team, the Rangers are 8-27 (.296 BA) with three home runs and seven RBIs. Hamilton, Bradley, and Boggs all have homeruns and they are the ones with the RBIs, as well.
Forecast: I simply wonder if Hurley is going to have any debut jitters. He's been hot in the minors of late... but it was his first time in AAA and we can see how he adjusted to that... it took seven rough starts to work out the bugs. Will the bugs revisit him in a Ranger uniform? Yes. Rangers will still win it by a score of 8-5. Hurley still gets his first ML win, despite the rough outing. Johnny Out.Home Plate
2 Random Thoughts:
Wow, the Rangers almost got the sweep. I can't beleive that Frankie Fran blew it. And I can't believe that the Royals took it late.
the other way to look at it - you only missed on your prediction of a sweep by one inning. :-)
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