MRKARNO
04-22-2005, 05:05 PM
In 2003, a minor leaguer named Brandon McCarthy his first full season (well it was at Great Falls, so 2/3 of a season) in professional baseball. He exhibited some trends that caught the eye of many people. First of all, he struck out a ton of batters. He had a 125/15 K/BB ratio in 101 innings for an 11.14 K/9 and an 8.33 K/BB ratio. These two trends hinted at what was to come the next year as he skyrocketed from Kanny to Birmingham and immediately became one of the top prospects in baseball. You know the rest.
In 2004, Gio Gonzalez had 12 starts (and one relief appearance) in pro baseball at Bristol and Kannapolis. His K/9 was 10.01 and his K/BB was 3.00 (which is still solid). Many of his problems came from the fact that he was just getting acclimated to Low-A. His K/9 at Bristol was actually 13.50 and his K/BB was 4.50. He seemed to have problems with wildness after getting called up.
So far this year, Gio has taken off. Through three starts, he has a 1.13 ERA in 16 Innings and 3 starts (2-1 record). The important thing? 28 strikeouts and 3 walks. That works out to more than a 9:1 ratio (9.33). That is just an insane number of strikeouts. It seems like he has really gotten acclimated.
I saw the video of him from the draft and it looks like he has a nasty curveball that has the potential to be one of the more devastiating in baseball when all of the minor league instructors are through with him. His fastball also got to about 92, which for a lefty, is pretty good.
My question is, does Gio have the ability to fly through the system with excellent control and oodles of strikeouts like McCarthy did last year? Or is it too early to get this excited about him? From the sounds of it, we absolutely lucked into drafting him. This scouting report backs up some optimism IMO:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/draftday/y2004/search.jsp?sc=round&sp=1S
MEDIUM BUILD. ATHLETIC FRAME. ROUND SHOULDERS. STRONG LOWER HALF. BODY TYPE SIMILAR TO A SMALLER BARRY ZITO. NO WINDUP, 3/4 ARM. HIGH LEG KICK. CLEAN ARM ACTION. SMOOTH DELIVERY. EXPLOSIVE FB, TAIL ACTION AWAY FROM RHH. 12 TO 6 BREAK CB W/ TIGHT ROTATION. DECEPTION CHANGEUP W/ LATE TUMBLE IN ZONE. GOOD COMMAND, MOVES BALL IN & OUT WELL. YOUNG LHP W/ ELECTRIC STUFF. PITCHES AT 90-92, 93-94 WHEN NEEDED & A HAMMER FOR A CB. GOES AFTER HITTERS.
The stuff I bolded indicates the similarities I find between him and McCarthy. The biggest difference seems to be that McCarthy is more of a fastball pitcher while Gio has two primary pitches. But the part about going after hitters, having good command and the velocity sounds about the same. Have the White Sox found themselves another uber-pitching prospect?
In 2004, Gio Gonzalez had 12 starts (and one relief appearance) in pro baseball at Bristol and Kannapolis. His K/9 was 10.01 and his K/BB was 3.00 (which is still solid). Many of his problems came from the fact that he was just getting acclimated to Low-A. His K/9 at Bristol was actually 13.50 and his K/BB was 4.50. He seemed to have problems with wildness after getting called up.
So far this year, Gio has taken off. Through three starts, he has a 1.13 ERA in 16 Innings and 3 starts (2-1 record). The important thing? 28 strikeouts and 3 walks. That works out to more than a 9:1 ratio (9.33). That is just an insane number of strikeouts. It seems like he has really gotten acclimated.
I saw the video of him from the draft and it looks like he has a nasty curveball that has the potential to be one of the more devastiating in baseball when all of the minor league instructors are through with him. His fastball also got to about 92, which for a lefty, is pretty good.
My question is, does Gio have the ability to fly through the system with excellent control and oodles of strikeouts like McCarthy did last year? Or is it too early to get this excited about him? From the sounds of it, we absolutely lucked into drafting him. This scouting report backs up some optimism IMO:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/draftday/y2004/search.jsp?sc=round&sp=1S
MEDIUM BUILD. ATHLETIC FRAME. ROUND SHOULDERS. STRONG LOWER HALF. BODY TYPE SIMILAR TO A SMALLER BARRY ZITO. NO WINDUP, 3/4 ARM. HIGH LEG KICK. CLEAN ARM ACTION. SMOOTH DELIVERY. EXPLOSIVE FB, TAIL ACTION AWAY FROM RHH. 12 TO 6 BREAK CB W/ TIGHT ROTATION. DECEPTION CHANGEUP W/ LATE TUMBLE IN ZONE. GOOD COMMAND, MOVES BALL IN & OUT WELL. YOUNG LHP W/ ELECTRIC STUFF. PITCHES AT 90-92, 93-94 WHEN NEEDED & A HAMMER FOR A CB. GOES AFTER HITTERS.
The stuff I bolded indicates the similarities I find between him and McCarthy. The biggest difference seems to be that McCarthy is more of a fastball pitcher while Gio has two primary pitches. But the part about going after hitters, having good command and the velocity sounds about the same. Have the White Sox found themselves another uber-pitching prospect?