Michael Wacha, who is just 21 years old and in his second professional season after a stellar career at Texas A&M, has been perhaps the most dominant pitcher of Spring Training. Wacha has appeared in two games, pitching five innings and allowing just two hits and a single run. But most impressive has been his five strikeouts while not walking a single batter. Now it's just two Spring Training games, and he may not have faced the best talent in the league, but it's impressive nonetheless.
The New York Mets broadcasts made mention during the Cardinals-Mets match-up on Wednesday that with the draft system in place now, high draft picks are more capable of playing in the majors quickly because they are drafted out of college more often. Ten years ago, teams wanted to draft high school players who were three to four years away from being able to contribute. But Wacha appears to be able to get to St. Louis sooner rather than later.
During the 2012 season, Wacha appeared in 11 games in Rookie Ball, Advanced Single-A and Double-A, pitching 21 innings and allowing only 8 hits. He struck out 40 hitters compared to only four walks and he posted an astounding 0.86 ERA. More than likely Wacha will open the season in Triple-A, or maybe even Double-A, but I'm assuming his name will be heard over the public address system in Busch Stadium during the summer, if not before.
Scores from Wednesday:
Atlanta 5, Detroit 3
Baltimore 10, N.Y. Yankees 7
Houston 10, Toronto 1
Miami 5, Washington 1
Minnesota 12, Philadelphia 5
Tampa Bay 8, Pittsburgh 2
St. Louis 12, N.Y. Mets 4
Baltimore 5, Boston 3
Notes from Wednesday:
The biggest news of Wednesday in baseball was the wrist injury suffered by Boston's Will Middlebrooks. It appears the injury is not serious, but Red Sox fans and probably the entire organization, will anxiously await to find out the extent of the injury. Prince Fielder launched his second homer of the spring on Wednesday as part of his 2 RBI day, while Victor Martinez continued his hot spring, going 1-3, moving his average to .375. The position to play in the Orioles-Yankees game was left field apparently, as the two starting left fielders for the two teams had phenomenal offensive performances. Steve Pearce got the start for Baltimore and he did not disappoint, going 2-3 with a double and three RBI. His Yankees counterpart, Brett Gardner also knocked in three runs, going 1-3 with a triple. Minnesota got a pair of three RBI performances on Wednesday, one from C/DH Ryan Doumit, who went 2-3 with a homer, and the other from Mark Sobolweski, who went 2-2 while knocking in three runs for the Twins. If you're looking for a fantasy player to steal lots of bases, look no farther than Desmond Jennings in Tampa Bay, who swiped a pair on Wednesday. St. Louis got monster days from Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina to help trounce the Mets. Beltran knocked in two runs, while Molina knocked in three. The Cardinals are trying to work Matt Adams into their Opening Day lineup somehow, as he continues to rake at the plate, hitting .556 this spring. It appears they are trying to get him some innings at second base to see if he can handle it, but he sure doesn't fit the prototypical build of a second baseman. The most impressive offensive performance on Wednesday goes to Houston Astros outfielder George Springer, who went 2-3 with a pair of homers and five RBI in the Astros 10-1 win over the Blue Jays. Jose Reyes went 3-3 for the Jays, and Brett Wallace, who I featured in the recap from yesterday, went 1-2 to raise his spring average to .417. And finally, props to the Orioles, who went 2-0 today, and not from two split squad games. The Orioles traveled to take on the Yankees during the afternoon and then hosted the Red Sox at night.
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