On the Nationals off day Wednesday, I watched the Rangers-Indians, and I was pretty impressed with a certain former National. No, not that one or that one. This one.
Colby Lewis was part of the great spring training starting pitching cattle call of 2006, but he didn't stick, getting released before opening day. Eventually he found his way to Japan, where he developed a cutter and put up a K:BB rate just shy of ten. You've probably seen this article by Tim Kurkjian about Lewis's development overseas.
The Rangers, the team the drafted him in the first place, signed him for a one-year, $5 million contract. In two starts, Lewis has gone 12.1 innings and allowed just three runs with 13 Ks. He has also walked 8, which is way too many, and at 30 years old he is what he is.
But you gotta hand it to Jon Daniels, who despite being handcuffed by the sale of his team and sitting on a bumper crop of cheap, young, excellent pitchers, still out-scouted 29 other GMs to a solid mid-rotation starter for a potential playoff team.
Friday, April 16, 2010
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Lewis is a nice story, and certainly a guy I'll be rooting for, but he's also been more than a bit lucky and, as you note his peripherals are far from breathtaking. See also:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/carson-on-colby-lewis
On the other hand, it says something about the black hole of talent that is this team that Lewis and Claudio Vargas are "the two that got away."
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