Midnight Express - Future on the Mound

[Paul Moots]

The Midnight Express

4/30/2008: New Orleans, LA – As many Fish fans know already, the Fishermen staff is off to a lopsided start this season. The big names are not producing and the small guys are taking command of the mound. What does this say about the Fishermen? Maybe the future stars will be ready to shape the team soon.

Of our top 10 prospects in the system, only three of them are pitchers. One of them, Rob Jones, is already sitting at the end of the rotation after putting in some time in the bull pen. Jones is a hard worker and very smart, but his engine doesn’t pack much of a punch. His velocity is around 86-88 and he doesn’t move the ball too well. This might turn into a problem in the future after some of the league has had a good look at him.

Either way, GM Houser thinks that he will show an improvement in comparison to last year’s outing. If you look at his ERA, it is almost half that of what he collected last year in the same amount of innings. Houser claims that the reason he threw in the pen so far, “… was too see if his ERA would fly out of control. After 11 innings of play and an improvement like this, I was a bit more confident in him.”

Edward Cooley was Houser’s first choice to bring up after Spring Training finished but was reluctant due to his age and developmental level. I believe Houser did not want to rush this young ace and set his development back another season or two. Right now, however, Cooley is cruising with a solid 1.84 ERA after 29 innings of tossing. It might be that Cooley gets the call sooner than later, if the other boys don’t shape up!