I can imagine nothing more nerve-racking in the game of baseball than a player or pitcher’s first plate appearance or first start. Like many, I try to imagine what he’s going through and what he’s thinking, yet I still can’t fathom it. The swirl of opposing emotions must be the most conflicting thing that this guy’s ever been through in his life. Tonight, Adam Warren will take his turn at a Major League debut and more than many things, a Major League debut reminds us of the nature and beauty of baseball.
As I’ve said countless times, baseball is a game of anticipation. It’s not necessarily about the moment and what’s happening in it. Rather, it’s about what’s going to happen; it’s about what’s next; it’s about how anything could happen in the next moment. And that’s what a guy’s debut is all about. We could see the beginning of something incredibly special, or we could never see him again. For his sake, I obviously hope tomorrow is the start of something special for Adam Warren. For my sake, I hope the same thing because I’ve always liked him. While he doesn’t have the greatest ceiling in the world, I’ve liked his polish and thought he’d be up into the majors sooner rather than later. I had him ranked as the 11th best prospect in the system, and he was 9th overall in the rankings. Coming into the year, Eric did have one question about Warren:
Adam Warren: secondary offerings
Warren is a similar story to Phelps: an advanced pitcher with a good fastball, but no plus secondary pitches. He’s getting old enough where I would begin to doubt that major improvements would happen, and he will likely settle in to the swingman/trade bait role in New York.
Using his secondary offerings will be important, but his trademark fastball command is what’s going to have to get him through his two starts with the Yankees. Without that, he won’t be able to use any of his secondary offerings and he won’t be long for the Majors. The anticipation will be killing us, but it’ll be killing him even more. Best of luck tonight, Adam.
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One Response to Waxing poetic on Adam Warren’s first start
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TIQ IQ
I might be missing something, and I’ll admit I don’t follow the minors that closely, but he seems to have mediocre stats. If minor-league hitters are hitting him reasonably well, wouldn’t it be expected that the majors are going to rip him apart? Isn’t there anyone in the farm system with an ERA in the low 2′s, Well under one-hit allowed per inning, batting average allowed in the low 200s, etc.?