Eric Hurley

by Mike McBride on May 23, 2007 11:02 PM EDT

Absolutely dominant with the double A Frisco Rough Riders tonight. Complete Game Shut out against Luke Hochevar. Giving up only 5 hits 1 base on balls and 8 K's. His season record is now 6-0 with a 1.83 ERA. Equally impressive is his 51-16 K to BB ratio. His season long dominance begs the question how long will he stay in AA/the minors, with the parent Texas Rangers looking so terrible this year, especially with their pitching rotation. Do you all think he will get a shot at the bigs sooner than later?

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Hurley

I've been a Hurley fan for awhile now, I stole him in a minor league draft in one of my leagues last year and have been very happy with his production. He pitched well in two hitters leagues last year, and has been just short of dominant in the Texas League again this year. I definitely don't want to see Texas rush him along, as he's only 21 and has plenty of time to get to the bigs. I would like to see either a bump in the K/9 numbers or an increase in GO/AO ratio, but those are somewhat minor quibbles. I don't think Hurley is necessarily ace material, but he's a guy who will be a very good #2-3 starter in the bigs. I'd say give him all this year in AA, probably cut him off around the 180 IP mark or so. As young as he is, I'd give him all of next year in AAA before calling him up if he needs it. If he's pitching as well in AAA as he has in AA this year, I'd strongly consider a second half callup next year. Ideally, I'd like to see Hurley get a shot at a rotation spot in the spring of 2009 at the latest, and I definitely don't want to see the Rangers rush him along and stunt his development.

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."-Harry Caray

by gatling on May 23, 2007 11:26 PM EDT reply actions

In AAA soon

He also dominated in 6 starts in AA last season, and Oklahoma has a couple guys on the DL and could use someone to start next Monday. I think he's ready. This guy is underrated.

by t ball on May 23, 2007 11:26 PM EDT reply actions

clarify

I think he's ready for AAA, hopefully they'll let him finish the year there and be in the big leagues sometime in '08.

by t ball on May 23, 2007 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions

September

I think the Rangers are a bit gun shy about rushing pitching prospects given their history. With this clearly being an off year for the club, there's no reason to rush Hurley to help out, so they will probably let him develop at the right pace. Given the way he's dominating AA so far, my guess is he'll be up in AAA soon. Then if he does well there, well give him a cup of coffee in September and let him compete in next year's spring training. That's probably as fast his progress could be and still be prudent.

by FunWithHeadlines on May 23, 2007 11:27 PM EDT reply actions

I just traded him.

I traded him in a fantasy league today. He was in a package deal for Lackey.

I had him for two years and I am glad to see that he is finally getting his due.

The only things I see working against him are the Ranger's poor job of developing pitchers (I think ther are learning and handling him very well) and the ground ball ratio (this scares me the most.)

I think he will be a true #2 starter, at worst an innings eating #3.

by bl on May 24, 2007 12:12 AM EDT reply actions

He's Good

Texas has shown that they are not afraid to test the kid - by the way that they let him throw 7+ innings regularly. I'm not sure I love that idea - but it does give me more confidence in his long term health than a guy that is coddled like Hughes. Anyways, I think that his durability combined with his performance shows that he could help the big club this year. I expect him to throw a professional inning before the season is over...

As an aside, I don't think it would be rushing him at all as some of the other pitchers in his draft class have already pitched in the majors or are currently knocking on the door...

Gorkys Hernandez is my new favorite player (my tribute to VTTigers)

by Dfarth on May 24, 2007 12:53 AM EDT reply actions

why not ace material?

John did a "Hurley/p Hughes" smackdown last year and gave him an A- in this years book.....I think mr. Sickels thinks he can be a #1.

by LipstickOnDipstick on May 24, 2007 3:58 AM EDT reply actions

Well

I found a Hurley/Homer Bailey Smackdown that gave Bailey a slight edge, but I didn't see Hurley vs. Hughes. Anyway, as I said before I'm a big Hurley fan but what keeps me from thinking he'll be an ace is this: K/9 and GO/AO rates. With Hurley pitching in Texas, he really needs to improve his GO/AO ratio from .63 or bump his K/9 rate up from range of 7K/9 he's at now. Most aces with K/9 rates in the 6-7 range(where I expect Hurley to fall unless something changes) usually induce quite a few groundball outs, like Brandon Webb or Roy Halladay. Because of that, I see Hurley ending up most likely as a very strong #2 pitcher unless he comes up with a pitch to improve his groundball tendencies or develops a dominant strikeout pitch.

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."-Harry Caray

by gatling on May 24, 2007 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

Hurley definitely needs to either improve his k rate or his groundball tendencies if he's going to become anything more than a #3 starter in my book. Sure the era under 2 looks nice right now but there's almost no way he maintains that level of performance striking out less than a batter an inning and having a gb% under 40. I think he's a fine pitcher, don't get me wrong, but right now he's getting very lucky not only with his hit percentage (.244) but also with his homerun per flyball percentage (3%). As those start to even out as the season goes along I think you're going to see his era rise dramatically.

by neutralluke on May 24, 2007 4:50 PM EDT up reply actions

-1/+1

i disagree with him needing to improve his k rate. i think hurley actually has a much higher ceiling than bailey, in that hurley has 3 plus pitches, and is close to having a 4th. bailey, on the other hand, has one plus pitch(his fastball), and not much else. if either truly needs to "adjust", its bailey, or bailey will end up in the pen. i do, however, agree he needs to get the flyball ration down. theres no way around that

by rangersfan24 on May 24, 2007 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions