Remember Them?

by Peter Bendix on Sep 18, 2008 12:57 PM EDT

There are two pitchers in the minors who look like they’re going to have bright futures. Both are right-handed; one is 24, the other is 22. They both have track records of dominating the minors, and both have good enough stuff to suggest success in the majors (although, to be fair, the 22-year-old has better stuff than the 24-year old). Here is a breakdown of their recent histories in the minors:

22-year-old:

Age	Level	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
20	AA	10.71	2.48	0.39
21	AAA	8.79	2.51	0
22	AAA	9.62	2.79	0.6

And the 24-year-old:

Age	Level	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
22	A+	10.29	3.14	0.29
22	AA	10.54	3.14	0.37
22	AAA	8.83	2.86	0.52
23	AAA	9.39	2.22	0.5

Note: each player’s most recent season is this year.

Those are some fantastic numbers. It seems that both pitchers are poised to step into a major league rotation next year, and experience some degree of success – perhaps even a lot of success.

So who are our mystery prospects? You’ve probably guessed by now: we’re talking about Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

Some people may have forgotten about this pair, or perhaps given up on one or both of them. Yes, they have somewhat checkered histories at the major league level, but they have occurred in extremely small sample sizes. Both men have the stuff and track record that suggests success, likely as soon as next year.

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