Will Mike Pelfrey Finally Be Ready?

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Mike Pelfrey has kind of a weird story... The guy was highly touted out of college, and one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, until the Mets got their hands on him. After a bullpen session with Rick Peterson, Mike Pelfrey ditched his curveball in favor of a slider that he never threw before. If you talk to people who watched Mike in college they'll tell you he had a plus MLB ready curveball in college.. So if that's the case why would Rick tell him to get rid of it? Well if you remember Rick also made John Maine ditch his curveball, so it's more of Peterson's teaching technique. He likes a hard thrower to stay down in the zone, and he thinks the best pitch to complement that is a slider..

Ok Rick, you've been right so many times that I have to trust you here, your the pitching coach you know what's best. But why would the Mets  call the kid up to the major leagues when he hasn't been throwing his slider for more then half a season in the minors? The truth is the Mets set Mike Pelfrey up for failure. They took at 22 year old kid with less then 100 innings in the minors, who had a good fastball, no slider, no changeup, and told him we need you to get big league hitters out.

Really why did we expect anything from Mike Pelfrey? It was the hype, the media, they all led us to believe that Mike Pelfrey could come up here and fill the hole we needed in a #5 starter. But the truth was he wasn't even ready to be pitching in AAA when he made his debut in the big leagues in August 2006.

He may of only had one pitch, but the kid had so much talent that he was able to get by in his 4 major league starts in 2006. He might of just been pumping fastballs, but he still gave the Mets quality starts they weren't getting from the likes of Jose Lima.

The Mets sent Mike Pelfrey to the AFL to further work on his slider, but unfortunately he had some arm pain, and was forced to leave. So come spring training 2007, the #5 spot in the rotation was up for grabs, and Mike Pelfrey was the favorite. Mike looked great early on in spring, he was a ground ball machine and showed good poise. Eventually he won the spot, and the Mets went into the season with Mike Pelfrey as their #5 starter.

It didn't last long for Mike as he lost his job in early June, after starting the season 0-7. He had some flashes of looking good, along with some games that he probably should of won, but overall he was to inconsistent, and at times couldn't even control his fastball.

After spending a short time in the bullpen, the Mets sent the 23 year old to AAA to refine his pitches. In his time in AAA he posted an ERA of 4.58 in 37 IP. Ok I know that's a pretty high ERA, but he was probably working on his slider, and changeup right? Nope reports that I heard about early on was he was still throwing mostly fastballs, especially when he got into tight spots. I wanna know why Mike Pelfrey is worrying about his stats in New Orleans. This was supposed the be the place where he could just keep throwing his slider, and changeup not worrying about the outcome.

The Mets needed a starting pitcher to face the Braves on September 1st, and Pelfrey shocked the world. Pelfrey allowed one hit in six innings while striking out 7 to win his first game of the season after seven losses. His slider was on that game, and we got a glimpse of what he could be like if he could control it. But we also saw after that what happens when he can't control his slider, as he gave up 10 hits in 5.1 innings against the Astros (though he got away with only giving up 2 runs) His last start of the season was against Washington in a big game he gave up 6 ERA in 5.2 innings.

So now going forwards it seems like the Mets will stand pat with the rotation, and again the #5 spot is up for grabs. Guess who the favorite is.. Mike Pelfrey! Mike will be just 24 years old, and will have a year and a half under his belt with his slider. Hopefully Mike is working hard this winter, and hopefully he'll finally be ready to be an MLB pitcher. He has the talent and the potential he just has to put it together now, and I think 2008 is the season he does it.