Kevin Slowey: The 7th best fantasy pitcher this season??

by Justin & Joe on Mar 4, 2009 5:57 PM EST Comment 20 comments

According to Jay Clemons at SI.com anyways...

"Talk about someone who's physically ready for a "shock the world" type of breakout season. Slowey reminds me of Roy Halladay so much ... that I'm willing to pencil him in for 18 wins, 2.93 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 168 strikeouts -- essentially Halladay's stats from his breakout campaign in '02, at age 25, coincidentally."

Thoughts?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/fantasy/02/23/starting.pitchers/index.html

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Slowey's rookie stats were fairly ridiculous

123 K’s, 24 BB in 160 innings with a 1.15 WHIP as a 24 year old? I haven’t seen him pitch enough to get a feel for his stuff, but the numbers are there.

by YaoPau on Mar 4, 2009 6:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’m high on Slowey but I think those numbers might be a little high, particularly the 18 wins. Slowey has the best command of any young pitcher in the big leagues but his stuff isn’t quite as good as Halladay’s.

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism,
but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism,
until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism." --Nikita Khrushchev

And thus the New Rome will fall

by jeg on Mar 4, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well the wins really have very little to do with him anyway.

by thejd44 on Mar 5, 2009 2:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Projecting wins is a crapshoot at best, even for the top starters in the league

And thus the New Rome will fall

by jeg on Mar 5, 2009 10:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Doc

I think his path to stardom makes him an awful comp for a lot of reasons, and honestly, I don’t know if Slowey will ever have a season that good, and think it’s not likely to happen yet, if it does.

Rios is the next Juan Gonzales, thats right, I said it.

by KaoticKlown on Mar 4, 2009 6:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

RE: Projections

Sadly, Clemons was playing The Show 09 on rookie mode.

For Slowey to SO that many batters he would need to pitch well over 200 innings.

Remember: baseball guys... baseball...

by Metty5 on Mar 4, 2009 6:37 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

168k's in

200IP is a 7.56 K per 9 slowey had a 6.9 k per 9 last year he could easily improve that this year that many k’s is not out of reach for slowey. At 6.9 K per 9 in 200 IP he would k 153 guys adding 15 k’s over 200 IP is hardly unreachable.

1941 .406

by FrozenTed9 on Mar 4, 2009 10:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Slowey

There’s so many problem with this “bold” prediction.

1. Slowey needs a lot of innings to k that much
2. Twins won 88 games last year and isn’t getting significantly better. 18 wins is a lot.
3. 1.19WHIP doesn’t translate to a sub 3 ERA usually

My more conservative prediction

Slowey will be the 3rd best SP on the Twins by the end of the season

by playingwithfire on Mar 4, 2009 7:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Since 1990, the list of pitchers 25 or younger with 6+ K/9, 2- BB/9 and 160+ IP

Ben Sheets, Ervin Santana, Javy Vazquez, Ricky Nolasco, James Shields, Dan Haren, Brad Radke, Jose Lima, Mark Buehrle, Eric Milton, Odalis Perez, Mark Mulder, Steve Woodard, Kevin Slowey

Lots of good names on this list, many of whom eventually put up big seasons. I’m not sure Slowey will get there next year though.

by YaoPau on Mar 4, 2009 7:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not this year

Still gives up the Big Fly too often. He’ll be good though, just not Halladay-esqe

"Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish Whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."

by strums on Mar 4, 2009 7:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Slowey or Jurrjens

Who would you rather have going forward?

by SamS on Mar 4, 2009 7:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'll take the GB

Remember: baseball guys... baseball...

by Metty5 on Mar 4, 2009 8:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pretty stupid statement by the SI writer

“Pitcher X reminds me of Pitcher Z, so Im going to go ahead and pencil Pitcher X in for Cy Young level numbers this year.”

I do like Slowey a lot, though.

by alskor on Mar 4, 2009 8:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Halladay's stuff is on a whole different level than Slowey's

Plus, Halladay is an extreme GB pitcher where as Slowey is a flyball pitcher. Nevertheless, I do see good things in the future for Slowey.

Something like 3.72/1.18/140 K’s is what I’m looking at from him in 2009.

by Take3 on Mar 4, 2009 9:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wow I think Slowey's good but not nearly Halladay Good

1. Slowey
2. Baker
3. Liriano
4. Blackburn
5. Swarzak/ Mulvey
6/7. Perkins

Slowey, still doesn’t K enough batters, and A lot of the time when he Finally does Strikeout a guy it takes him 7-9 pitches or more to finish him off, + as strums said above he still gives up a little bit of the Big Fly for me. And I’m a HUGE Twin fan~!

Above -thats how I see the Twins staff if they were in a playoff series in 2009
Must Win down to….. play in game….

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Mar 4, 2009 9:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

well

Liriano still has the most talent of the group, we will see this year if he is feeling good.

by hotshotschamp on Mar 4, 2009 9:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Halladay stuff, no, lots to like

HR were the downfall, yes. I think he will have a 1/3 reduction in HR this year as he learns to pitch more. most the HR came from lack of experience rather than stuff.

Innings: remember, slowey is a guy who has already shown the ability to roll out CG’s and go deep into a game. Not that I want him to dial up 230 innings for the hell of it, I am just saying he has the potential to do it.

Stuff and K’s: no he doesn’t have Halladay stuff, but 150’s is VERY attainable for Slowey based on his blend of control and stuff. My opinion is he has pinpoint control of an very good cut and sink fastball with an average slider.

15W, 150K, 3.5ERA looks right to me (3.25 ERA wouldn’t shock me)

by davidsabin on Mar 5, 2009 2:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

"Slowey reminds me of Roy Halladay so much"

HUH??? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. If that’s the basis he’s making his prediction upon, then I don’t think I would jump out on a limb to follow it. I don’t see them as being similar pitchers at all, and their pitchfx agrees with me.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Mar 5, 2009 11:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

slowey's comp

all the way coming up was brad radke clone with slightly better stuff….and i still think that’s a solid comp…probably can have a few more K’s than radke with the same sort of walk rate…radke had one of the game’s best defenses behind him when he broke out, and the twins can now make a good argument for their defense ranking in that “elite in the league” category, so you may see radke’s top end season from slowey now, with maybe a little more…radke’s best season was at age 24 in 1997 with a 20-10 record, 239 2/3 IP, 48/174 bb/k, 1.19 WHIP and 3.87 ERA…i think slowey can do a little better in the era department and the HR allowed department, but similar bb/k and WHIP numbers are possible certainly….

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

by biggentleben on Mar 6, 2009 9:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Thoughts: ridiculous

Slowey and Halladay are completely different pitchers. Halladay’s an extreme groundballer, Slowey’s an extreme flyballer. Halladay throws a cutter 33% of the time, Slowey doesn’t have one. Halladay is a pitch-mixing artist, using his fastball only around 40% of the time and continually keeping them off balance. Slowey uses his fastball more than 60% of the time. Slowey’s go-to secondary pitch is a slider. Halladay hasn’t thrown a slider in years. Halladay’s fastball averages 3mph more than Slowey’s. Halladay’s 6’6, Slowey’s 6’3.

They have different bodies, different repertoires, different velocities on the pitches they share in common, they mix their pitches differently, and get guys out different ways.

How the hell does Slowey remind Jay Clemons of Halladay, other than the fact that both are white, righthanded, and throw a baseball for a living?

by slamcactus on Mar 7, 2009 6:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs