2012 MLB Spring Training: 12 Pitchers We Cannot Wait to Watch Pitch This Year

Spring training has begun and the excitement of another baseball season is in the air. Every team has a renewed outlook on the season and their chances at making baseball's post season.

The off-season transactions saw some of the biggest and best players, managers and general managers switch teams, and countries, and one franchise changing their name.

The excitement of young, unproven players is what spring training is all about. What rookie will come out of nowhere and make an immediate impact on the game and who will fizzle and fall out of relevance before the mid-summer classic?

Last season was dubbed "the year of the pitcher." Both Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw won the pitching Triple Crown en route to taking home their respective league's MVPs. 

Three no-hitters were thrown with countless others taking no-nos deep into games. 

Building on the success of pitchers last year, here is a list of 12 that, for one reason or another, will be talked about and watched more than any other around the country. 

Their expected success or failure will have fans in constant debate and will help fuel what should be another great season of baseball.

Mariano Rivera

Why not start the list with the greatest closer in the history of the game?

Mariano Rivera has been in baseball for 17 years so there shouldn't be much interest in seeing him pitch. Everyone that knows baseball knows what to expect with him—the best cut fastball in the game and an almost guaranteed victory once he toes the rubber. 

His Hall of Fame career includes being the all-time saves leader, 12 all-star appearances and a World Series MVP.  

At 42 years, old Mo has nothing left to prove or accomplish as a player.  

Then why is there extra excitement to see him pitch this year?

Rivera said at the start of spring training the year that he knows if he will retire at the end of this year, but he won't tell anyone, according to an ESPN.com article.

Mariano said he doesn't want a farewell tour across the country and will announce his decision in October.  

If this indeed is his last season of breaking bats and jamming thumbs, every time he enters the game will bring a new level of excitement inside each ballpark from the Bronx throughout the country.

Jake Peavy

Jake Peavy's time in Chicago has been mired by injury since being acquired at the trade deadline in 2009.

From his ankle injury the year he was acquired to his latissmus dorsi tendon detaching in a game in 2010 that almost cost him his career to a nagging groin injury last season, the former Cy Young award winner cannot seem to stay healthy for the White Sox.

Peavy has made a declaration that he is healthy and expects to make 30 starts in 2012, something he hasn't done since his Cy Young winning season of 2007. 

In fact, he has reached the 30 start plateau just four times in his ten year career. 

Now two years removed from his unprecedented shoulder injury of 2010, a healthy Jake Peavy will be paramount to the White Sox having any chance of competing in the AL Central. 

With the departure of Mark Buehrle, Peavy is now the elder-statesman of the starting rotation.  While he won't be counted on to be the staff ace like Buehrle was, his ability to stay healthy and return to his award winning form will give the fans on the south side something to be excited about in 2012.

Clay Bucholz

After a breakout 2010 season, Clay Buchholz was pegged to help lead the Boston Red Sox to the promised land in 2011. They signed prized free agent Carl Crawford and traded for perennial all-star Adrian Gonzalez.  

A back injury limited Buchholz to just 14 starts last season and Boston stumbled down the stretch and missed the playoffs.  

When healthy, he can dominate the most potent of lineups. He masterfully mixes his fastball with a plus straight change and a biting 12-to-6 curveball.  

Buchholz is another of the many great young arms in baseball today. He leads the Red Sox pitching staff with fellow starters Josh Beckett and Jon Lester into the 2012 season with something to prove.  

The ravenous Red Sox faithful will be relieved to have Buchholz back, but the rest of the American League might not share in that sentiment.

Adam Wainwright

It's not often the defending World Series champions need to regroup heading into the following season.

After experiencing the highest of highs in 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals faithful had to deal with the loss of their prized slugger, Albert Pujols, via free agency to the Angels.  

But if you have to regroup, what better way than getting a former 20-game winner back from injury? 

Adam Wainwright is fresh off Tommy John surgery and will look to take over his No. 2 spot in the starting rotation once the season begins. Before the injury, Wainwright was able to masterfully mix up his pitches, keeping hitters off balance and off the bases.  

He put together a 39-19 record in 2009 and 2010 with an ERA of around two-and-a-half. 

The hope of Cardinals fans is that he will come back fully recovered from the surgery and be able to regain his electric, dominating form.  

The onus will be on the pitching staff to help make up for the loss of Pujols.

A healthy Wainwright teamed with former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter and youngster Jaime Garcia will anchor the starting pitching and veterans Lance Berkman, Matt Holiday and Carlos Beltran will shoulder the load on offense.

C.J. Wilson

What does a 31-15 record over your first two seasons as a starter get you?

If you're C.J. Wilson, it'll get you a five-year, $77.5 million contract.

Wilson was the best left-handed starting pitcher available in the off-season and the Angels wasted little time wrangling him away from their divisional rival Texas Rangers.

He gives his new club an all-star southpaw to go along with the dominating Jared Weaver and Dan Haren from the right. 

The only question surrounding Wilson is if he can continue his success as a starting pitcher and not break down from the increase in work. He has thrown just over 427 innings in his two years as a starter—more than double from his previous five years in the league as a reliever.  

If Wilson continues to improve as a starter, the Angels' faithful will have an exciting young player to support every five days and a ball club that can be a serious contender to win the AL Pennant.

Clayton Kershaw

The ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of the most exciting young pitchers in the game today.

He is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner and the face of a struggling franchise trying desperately to rebuild and move on from the Frank McCourt saga.

Clayton Kershaw recently signed a two-year contract extension worth $19 million to stay with the Dodgers, and the thought around baseball is that he is in line to join the $100 million club.

He's young (23) and has improved each year he's been in the league.  

Teamed with Matt Kemp, the Dodgers have two dynamic superstars to build around. Kershaw gives Dodgers' fans a reason for hope and fans across the country a reason to pay attention to Dodgers baseball—at least once every five days.

Tim Lincecum

It doesn't matter how long Tim Lincecum is in the league, he will always be one of the pitchers that fans will want to see.  

He has the long, flowing hair to go along with his long, winding delivery.  He also has back-to-back Cy Young Awards and some of the nastiest stuff in baseball.

Lincecum made headlines this off-season by asking for an astounding $21.5 million in salary arbitration and was offered $17 million by the Giants.  

In the end, the two sides agreed to a two-year, $40.5 million contract. His arbitration asking price was just short of the record $22 million Roger Clemens asked for in 2005.

He is the ace of the Giants staff and has been a model of consistency since breaking into the bigs in 2007.

He has started at least 32 games in each of the last four seasons and gone over the 200 inning mark over the same span. Lincecum is a strike out machine, averaging almost ten K's per nine innings, with a propensity for winning.  

He is aloof off the field, endearing himself to some fans and a vicious competitor when he has the ball, winning over the rest.

Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander had a season to remember in 2011.  

He took home the American League Cy Young award in unanimous fashion and also won the league MVP, becoming the first AL pitcher to win the award since Dennis Eckersley in 1992.  

He threw one no-hitter and carried two others into the 8th inning. He also recorded a stretch of 15 2/3 consecutive no-hit innings spread over three starts and was simply the most dominating pitcher in the game.

Verlander also took months off from losing, going a perfect 18-0 in May, June, August and September. He won the Triple Crown of pitching in the AL and had baseball fans everywhere glued to their sets with each start he made. 

Even with the signing of free-agent slugger Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander is the key to the Tigers success in 2012.  

His ability to hit triple digits on the radar gun late in games and dominate any lineup he faces gives his teammates confidence every time he is on the bump.  He was the most electric pitcher in baseball last season and one of the most compelling players in baseball this year.

Aroldis Chapman

It's not too hard to get excited about a pitcher that has thrown the fastest pitch ever in Major League Baseball.  

The Cincinnati Reds' Aroldis Chapman threw a 105 mph fastball in September of 2010 against the San Diego Padres, further adding to excitement surrounding this Cuban defector.

Chapman will be attempting a move to the starting rotation this year after making 69 relief appearances out of the bullpen the last two seasons.  

Being in the starting rotation won't be new to the 24-year old southpaw.  He started 63 games over four seasons in the Cuban National Series, posting a 24-19 record with a 3.74 ERA. Chapman struck out 365 during his time in Cuba and allowed a .226 batting average against. 

With the NL Central wide open after Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols left via free-agency, the Reds are one of the favorites to claim the crown. Even if Chapman is not in the starting rotation, he will be a fixture out of the bullpen for Dusty Baker's Reds.  

Carlos Zambrano

Sometimes a new address is the best medicine for a troubled spirit.  

Carlos Zambrano is, to put it mildly, a bit troubled.  

He has been the combatant in two different dugout fights (three if you count the Gatorade dispenser), and famously walked out on his team last season after getting shelled in an outing against the Atlanta Braves.  

Zambrano will be teamed with the explosive and unpredictable Ozzie Guillen in Miami after being traded this off season by the Chicago Cubs. The two are close off the field, but that won't necessarily translate into harmony in the clubhouse  

Media outlets across the country will be waiting for the first confrontation between the two to occur. But Guillen, known for his colorful tirades while managing the White Sox, feels he can keep Zambrano in check in 2012.  

Miami ownership is betting on the same.

Matt Moore

Matt Moore gave Tampa Bay Rays fans a taste of what's to come last October.  

Having pitched a total of 9 1/3 innings in his major league career, Moore was given the Herculean task of starting game one of the playoffs against one of the best offenses in the league.

Not only did Moore win the start, but he shut down the Texas Rangers allowing just two hits and no runs in seven innings of work.  

He has been dominate in every level since being taken in the eighth-round of the 2007 amateur draft and was ranked by ESPN Baseball Insider Keith Law as the No. 2 prospect in the game behind the Nationals Bryce Harper.  

Between Moore's playoff start and his three appearances late in September (including a five-inning, 11 K performance against the Yankees), his name should be at the top of every fans' list of players to see this summer.

Stephen Strasburg

Stephen Strasburg took the baseball world by storm in 2010.  

The over-powering right-hander struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates in his Major League debut, electrifying fans and selling out ballparks wherever he pitched.  

An elbow injury cut short his rookie season and Tommy John surgery shelved him until the following September.  

Strasburg made five starts at the end of last year, going 1-1 with 1.50 ERA.  He averaged nine strikeouts per nine innings and gave Nationals fans something to be excited about heading into 2012.  

Strasburg will be on a strict inning count this season, making each start even more of a can't-miss event. If he is able to regain his pre-injury, dominating form, Strasburg will be one of the most thrilling pitchers to take the mound this year.

Yu Darvish

He was the biggest star and best pitcher in all of Japan, and now he'll pitch in the state whose residents believe that bigger is better.  

Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers agreed to a six-year, $60 million contract to bring the Japanese pitcher stateside and help the team win the franchises' first World Series title.

Darvish dominated the Japanese Nippon League during his time there and will bring his plethora of plus-pitches to the American League.  

He throws a two- and four-seam fastball that sits in the mid-to-upper 90s, a curve, cutter, changeup and a slurve.

Without question, Yu Darvish will be the one pitcher in baseball that will garner the most attention.

The Rangers are coming off back-to-back World Series losses and just lost their top starting pitcher in free agency.

Darvish is young (25), charismatic and has some of the filthiest stuff of any pitcher in the game today.