May 13, 2038
After a dominant Spring Training (6 G, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 15 K, 0.87 ERA) the excitement level in Las Vegas was high regarding Wayne Muirhead. When he was acquired from Omaha in April 2036 (for Hirotada Miura and Maximo Trevino) the Hustlers thought they were adding a second dominant lefty in addition to Shawn Huber to their vaunted bullpen. Instead, Muirhead has been a huge disappointment and source of frustration.
2036: 35 G, 42.2 IP, 6.33 ERA, 1.45 WHIP
2037: 38 G, 36.1 IP, 5.45 ERA, 1.46 WHIP
"We just couldn't quite put our finger on what was wrong with him," pitching coach and BBA Hall of Famer Christopher Stoller said. "Maybe we shouldn't have goofed around with him starting a few games here and there, maybe we shouldn't have sent him down the couple of times we did. At the end of last year when we sat down with Wayne to go over his offseason plan we told him straight up that 2038 was going to be enormously important for him. You can call it a make or break year or last chance or whatever you want. But he knew. And I'll give him all the credit, he came in looking like a different pitcher in Spring and it's carried over to the season."
Take away two games, in fact, and his already good numbers (3.52 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 15.1 IP) look even better. Of course you could do this with any pitcher but in the case of Muirhead his FIP for the season is 1.30 so that means there has been some bad luck along the way.
4/28/38 vs NSH (L)
1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
4/13/38 vs RCK
1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Without those two games:
13 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 17 K, 1.44 ERA
Another big step forward this season? He's shutting down RHP:
6-34, 1 2B, 4 BB, 10 K, OPP SLASH: .176/.263/.206/.469 -
that's even BETTER than against lefties.
"I'm throwing loose, and simply not overthinking things," Muirhead said. "I have to give a lot of credit to Antonio Robles and Robinson Lopez who have been calling great pitches for me."
It's still early in the season, but manager Edward Allen made a big statement showing how much faith they have in Muirhead. "It's not the 'Big 3' anymore," Allen said, referring to Huber, Javier Garcia and Augate Balun . "Now we've got the 'Four Horsemen'."
