First a disclaimer: I KNOW THIS IS PREMATURE.
But, here's the thing: Joe Kelly's been pretty good his last three starts. Dare we start to hope?
With the pitching lesson from Pedro Martinez a few days before, we have a potential precipitating event.
3-0, 17 1/3 IP, 16 H, 7 BB to 16 K, 2 HR, 1.56 ERA, 1.32 WHIP. That ERA is supported by some strand luck, but the BABIP is neutral (compared to a .330 BABIP earlier in the year). He's shaved most of a run off his season ERA in this span.
Detroit is a good offensive club, while Seattle is okay (post-parasite Robi Cano helps a lot!), but Cleveland is pretty bad.
I guess my question is how long does Kelly have to pitch how well before he makes himself into someone the FO (or someone else's FO) should consider for the 2016 rotation picture? I think he has one option year left, but I might be wrong about that. Please correct me if you know otherwise. Needless to say, I'm much more interested in Joe Kelly as a sixth starter than as one of the top five.
I was hoping some of the people here who are good with pitchFX stuff (paging Jnai, Sprowl, iayork, et al...) might chime in to share any differences they see, if any. I see him throwing a few more sliders and changeups in the recent stretch at the expense of his sinker and curve, but I don't know how significant that is.
What should we be looking for going forward?
But, here's the thing: Joe Kelly's been pretty good his last three starts. Dare we start to hope?
With the pitching lesson from Pedro Martinez a few days before, we have a potential precipitating event.
3-0, 17 1/3 IP, 16 H, 7 BB to 16 K, 2 HR, 1.56 ERA, 1.32 WHIP. That ERA is supported by some strand luck, but the BABIP is neutral (compared to a .330 BABIP earlier in the year). He's shaved most of a run off his season ERA in this span.
Detroit is a good offensive club, while Seattle is okay (post-parasite Robi Cano helps a lot!), but Cleveland is pretty bad.
I guess my question is how long does Kelly have to pitch how well before he makes himself into someone the FO (or someone else's FO) should consider for the 2016 rotation picture? I think he has one option year left, but I might be wrong about that. Please correct me if you know otherwise. Needless to say, I'm much more interested in Joe Kelly as a sixth starter than as one of the top five.
I was hoping some of the people here who are good with pitchFX stuff (paging Jnai, Sprowl, iayork, et al...) might chime in to share any differences they see, if any. I see him throwing a few more sliders and changeups in the recent stretch at the expense of his sinker and curve, but I don't know how significant that is.
What should we be looking for going forward?