2051.03 - The Long Beach Independent - Year In Review - Starting Pitching

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OFF THE RAILS EARLY

Reviewing the 2051 Long Beach Surfers

Eleven pitchers started games for the Surfers in 2051, and if we gave you 6 guesses to tell us which one led the starting staff in WAR, you'd probably not guess his name.

It was Shinsaku Ine, acquired from Vancouver in the offseason, and he led the staff with 1.7 WAR despite a 5.08 ERA. After three seasons as a swingman with the Mounties, he started 31 games for Long Beach, accumulating 7 wins. He performed about as well as expected, not logging a lot of innings or striking out a lot of batters, but taking the mound every 5th day and pitching decently.

Unfortunately for the Surfers, he was the only starter to pitch as expected.

Reigning Nebraska award winner Danya Tchekanov (7/9/9) didn't look right in spring training, and never got much better. It's telling that he hasn't signed an extension with the team yet. He didn't waver from his iron-man reputation, starting 33 games, but his performance dropped off a cliff, as he struck out just 87 batters in 203.1 innings and posted a 4.51 ERA. His days of being a frontline BBA starter are clearly over, and the end of his starting career at all seems to be nearing.

In other depressing news, now 30-year-old Ernesto Delgado (9/10/8) looked entirely the part of a pitcher who never quite made it. Outside of the 2048 season where he had a 2.85 ERA and 4.3 WAR, he never improved upon the promise of his early 20's. This season was by far his worst, with a 6.01 ERA, and only 169.1 innings pitched despite being sent out to start 33 games. Delgado has two years and $20 million left on his extension signed following that 2048 season.

In case you're not sad enough already, remember Sam Rutgers? The former 10th overall pick only managed to throw 6 pitches in 2051 before his UCL called it quits. He'll be back for next year, but early reports on his recovery indicate that he may no longer be the top of the rotation starter that he was projected to be (now 9/6/7 from 10/6/8).

As a result of Rutgers' injury, and Barry Short's ineffectiveness (6.20 ERA in 8 starts), Dayasagara Suryanarayan (8/2/8), Rizal Sabinay (7/7/5) and Yin-zhen Tow (7/3/8) combined to make 48 starts with an ERA over 8.

Lucas Wood had a cup of coffee early in the season, but management decided that his development was better served pitching up the road at AAA Commerce. Now rated 10/10/8, it appears to have paid off, and the former 5th round draftee is poised to take a spot at the top of the rotation in 2052. Barry Short (9/7/9) will join him, and the team will likely give Delgado another shot at the rotation before giving him the Del Willis treatment.