Could Norio Hayashi be the Cyclones 5th starter?(44.11)

[niles08]

Norio Hayashi has had an odd 3 years in the Omaha bullpen. He spent 2041 struggling mightily with a 5.30 ERA for a sluggish Omaha team.
In 2042, Hayashi was fantastic working out of the stopper role. He had a 8-3 record with 7 saves, having a 2.72 ERA in 109 innings pitched. His K/9 jumped from 6.8 to 8.3 while his walks remained steady. Maybe most importantly he cut his home run rate from 1.2 to 0.7 per 9 innings.

In 2043, Hayashi wasn’t bad but wasn’t as good either. He had a 3-3 record with 5 saves in 94 innings pitched. He was removed from the stopper role before the season began despite his showing from 2042. His K/9 dropped a bit as did his BB/9 but his HR/9 jumped back up to 1.1, near his 2041 levels.

Now staring at 2044, Hayashi is supposedly being reinserted into the stopper role and will work from the 7th on, however this isn’t the same Hayashi that the club has seen in years past. Over the off-season the 25-year-old added a cutter to his repertoire. While it isn’t the most amazing cutter that has ever been seen, it is still a viable third pitch. With his durability, stamina, and now the cutter, some fans question whether Hayashi should be slotted into the back end of the rotation rather than the back end of ball games.

Well, here is why. T he Omaha bullpen was really bad last year. That’s why. The bullpen can use all the help it can get, and having a reliable back end option is an undervalued and underappreciated thing. How many games the past few years did Omaha piss away because they had to hand the ball off to the bullpen?

Also, remember that the club has two top 100 prospects waiting in AAA who are in AAA simply because the club doesn’t think they need them right now at the BBA level. Hayashi belongs at the end of games which is where he is staying.