Fantasy Baseball Prospect Report: Michael Pineda

Eric StashinJul 24, 2010

After Cliff Lee was sent to Texas there had been rumors that the Mariners would recall Michael Pineda to take his spot in the rotation. While that did not happen, the 21-year old right-handed pitcher could make his Major League debut before 2010 comes to a close.

He was lights out at Double-A earlier in the year, posting the following line:

8 Wins
77.0 Innings
2.22 ERA
1.09 WHIP
78 Strikeouts (9.1 K/9)
17 Walks (2.0 BB/9)
.322 BABIP

The numbers have not been quite as impressive since being promoted to Triple-A. In 29.0 innings he has a 4.03 ERA, though he really had just one bad start (6 ER over 3.1 innings). The rest of the numbers continue to impress, with 31 Ks and less then a hit per inning (21 hits allowed).

Signed out of the Dominican Republic, Pineda is armed with a low-to-mid 90s fastball, which certainly has helped him pile up the strikeouts. He has nearly a strikeout per inning in his minor league career, with 289 Ks over 291.2 innings.

He’s shown flashes of greatness at Triple-A in the strikeout department. He struck out double-digit batters in back-to-back starts, totaling 21 Ks in just 13.0 innings of work from June 28 to July 4.

His control has also been solid since signing. He’s walked just 67 batters, good for a BB/9 of 2.1. While it’s up slightly at Triple-A (2.8 BB/9 over 29.0 innings), it is a small sample size.

The biggest concern for Pineda is the elbow injury that ended his 2009 season after just 47.0 innings of work. You have to wonder exactly how far the Mariners will push him this season, since he has never thrown more then 138.1 innings in a season.

Clearly the Mariners aren’t overly concerned, already pushing him to Triple-A, but it has to be in the back of their minds.

There’s no doubting his talent. That type of strikeout potential does not come around everyday, so he definitely merits attention. However, the potential innings limit significantly hinders the contribution he could have at the major league level.

He has all the tools to succeed, so if he does get recalled he’s going to have value in all formats. Is he worth making a preemptive claim for? Not in shallower formats, but in the deepest of formats, I’d say so if you are in need of some Ks. You just don’t find that type of upside potential often. While he won’t be a must-start from the outset, he certainly has the potential to get there.

What are your thoughts on Pineda? Is he worth stashing? How big of an impact do you think he will make?

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