The young, the old, and the ugly

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 12, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

Young Caleb Ferguson gets another shot after a bad luck first outing last week giving SNLA a chance for even more family shots of his mother looking at Bambi while the hunter takes aim. I expect those big eyes will be rewarded tonight and the night will end up with happy hugs all around.

Caleb is twenty-one years old. He is the young. Oh so young. How young you ask? Only five pitchers this year have made a start in 2018 who were at least twenty-one years old.

Player              Age       Date  Tm   Rslt  IP H ER BB SO GSc
Caleb Ferguson   21.339 2018-06-06 LAD L 9-11 1.2 2  4  3  3  35
Freddy Peralta   21.349 2018-05-19 MIL  W 5-4 4.0 3  4  6  5  39
Freddy Peralta   21.343 2018-05-13 MIL  W 7-3 5.2 1  0  2 13  78
Jaime Barria     21.318 2018-06-01 LAA  W 6-0 6.0 4  0  1  6  69
Jaime Barria     21.312 2018-05-26 LAA W 11-4 5.0 6  4  1  4  42
Jaime Barria     21.301 2018-05-15 LAA  L 3-5 7.0 4  1  0  7  72
Jaime Barria     21.295 2018-05-09 LAA  W 8-0 5.1 5  0  1  7  64
Jaime Barria     21.289 2018-05-03 LAA W 12-3 6.0 4  2  2  2  56
Jaime Barria     21.278 2018-04-22 LAA  L 2-4 2.0 5  2  1  1  38
Jaime Barria     21.267 2018-04-11 LAA  W 7-2 5.0 1  1  3  3  61
Luiz Gohara      21.296 2018-05-23 ATL  L 0-4 4.0 4  2  4  6  48
Mike Soroka      20.281 2018-05-12 ATL W 10-5 4.2 8  1  1  7  42
Mike Soroka      20.275 2018-05-06 ATL  L 3-4 4.0 7  4  3  3  32
Mike Soroka      20.270 2018-05-01 ATL  W 3-2 6.0 6  1  0  5  61

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/12/2018.

His opponent will be Bartolo Colon who is more than twice the age of young Caleb making Colon the old. Oh so old. How old you ask? Only four pitchers have pitched in the 21st century at the age of 45 or older.

Player          Year Age  Tm    IP   H ER  ERA  FIP
Bartolo Colon   2018  45 TEX  71.1  66 33 4.16 5.26
Jamie Moyer     2012  49 COL  53.2  75 34 5.70 5.54
Jamie Moyer     2010  47 PHI 111.2 103 60 4.84 4.98
Jamie Moyer     2009  46 PHI 162.0 177 89 4.94 5.08
Jamie Moyer     2008  45 PHI 196.1 199 81 3.71 4.32
Jesse Orosco    2002  45 LAD  27.0  24  9 3.00 4.59
Jesse Orosco    2003  46 TOT  34.0  41 29 7.68 4.97
Randy Johnson   2009  45 SFG  96.0  97 52 4.88 4.91

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/12/2018.

The ugly would be the Rangers. Let me count the ways:

• A pitching staff that has given up 94 home runs already this year. Four of their starters have already given up double-digit home runs and the ace Cole Hamels is just three shy of 20.
• Matt Moore is part of this rotation and has an ERA of 7.88 in 12 starts.
• Martin Perez was a part of this rotation and gave up an ERA of 9.67 in five starts.
• Rougned Odor smells badly with an OPS of .591. The only thing that Odor seems to do well on the baseball field these days is getting angry.

I feel confident in stating that if Manny Banuelos was on the Rangers he would be their 3rd best starting pitcher.  He should get a better agent, putting him in the Dodger farm system wasn’t exactly a smart move if he wanted his client to pitch in the major leagues.

A porous pitching staff that his home prone going up against a team that has already mashed 26 home runs in June in only nine games. That is as close to a three home run game average as you can get. By the end of Wednesday Night, I expect them to have at least tied May when they hit 31 home runs.

Justin Turner got a nice rest and should be ready to do some damage.

Max Muncy has a 1.011 OPS so he gets his own coverage.