West Makes Strides Despite Bad Outing

The Marlins inserted Sean West in the rotation during the middle of the season, and like rookie pitchers, West experienced the highs and lows in learning on the job.

West started off well, but then he struggled to the point the Marlins sent him down in the minors. He came back in August, and overall, he did well enough to help keep Marlins afloat in the wild-card race.

Prior to Sunday afternoon's start, he won four of his last five decisions. The Marlins rookie earned the trust of Fredi Gonzalez to pitch him in September.

Sunday was not his day, to say the least. West displayed no command of his pitches, and it resulted to him giving up three walks, five hits and five runs in his start against the Reds.

West took the loss after the Reds gained a split in their 8-1 victory over the Marlins.

We should have expected this. Not every rookie pitchers are as polished as Braves phenom Tommy Hanson.

West still needs to work on developing many pitches that can make him effective.

His curveball could use retooling, and his fastball has to show some bite so that it would intimidate hitters.

Walks continue to be his bugaboo, and it showed in this game.

Avoiding a big inning will be a key in West's development as a starter.

West showed improvement in his call-up by not giving up home runs. It's been awhile since he gave up one.

The Marlins feel optimistic that West's recent performance can help make their starting rotation even better for next year. They have two good pitchers in Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez to complement Josh Johnson, and West can only improve from experience.

It's a good thing West showed that he can be relied on, since it beats watching Chris Volstad and Andrew Miller pitch. This makes a long shot for Volstad and Miller to get a role in the starting rotation.

Of course, West can't show any regression come spring training and in April.

West will be a question mark heading to spring training next year. Can West build off from his starts in September?

The Marlins hope that’s the case.

It seems like West pitches with confidence these days, and that can come a long way.

If a young pitcher figures out how to hit the strike zone consistently, he evolves into being a reliable pitcher.

West may not have the stuff to be like Johnson and Nolasco, but that's okay.

As long as he goes seven innings and throw strikes, that will work.

West can only get better from this.