Jeremy Hellickson Making an Early Push for 2011 AL Rookie of the Year

The one thing the Tampa Bay Rays have been known for of late has been the organization's ability to groom top prospects into the major leagues.

Especially pitching prospects.

Therefore, Jeremy Hellickson's 5-2, 3.18 ERA performance in 2011 should be of no surprise to baseball fans.

Even more impressive with Hellickson's young career are his performances away from Tropicana Field.  He has not lost, posting a 4-0 record with a 2.08 ERA.

Although Hellickson has received a lot of run support (a league-best 8.65 runs per game), he has done a great job of keeping runs off the board for the Rays, allowing only three earned runs in seven of his eight starts this season. 

The key to Hellickson's success on the mound is the fluid delivery and movement on his pitches.  He hides the ball well during the wind-up and confuses batters with his similar delivery of both his fastball and off-speed pitches, especially his changeup.

His changeup runs in the low 80s and he consistently keeps it in the lower half of the zone.  With the same release point and arm speed on his changeup and fastball, Hellickson possesses one of the best one-two combinations in the American League.  

Despite his great mechanics, the one weak spot of Hellickson's season so far has been his command.  In 51 innings, he has already walked 21 batters.  In his six seasons in the minors, Hellickson only walked a total of 137 batters in 580 innings pitched.  

"The last few starts I've had an inning there where it kind of got out of hand," Hellickson told raysbaseball.com. "Hopefully, I can get through the next few games without having one of those innings."

As for now, Hellickson already has an opportunity to break a Rays record.  If he wins on May 23 against the Detroit Tigers, Hellickson will be the first Rays rookie pitcher to win five consecutive games.  

In the one start Hellickson has had against the Tigers, he pitched seven shutout innings in his major league road debut in 2010.  

His four consecutive wins include a complete game, four-hit shutout of the Rays' AL East rival Baltimore Orioles.  

It was Hellickson's first complete game in his major league career.

If Hellickson continues to get run support from his teammates and improve his command to avoid walks, he could be making a very strong case for American League Rookie of the Year when September rolls around.