2010 Rookie Evaluations: NL West

I think pretty slim pickings here compared to the last two.  Lets take a look.

Ernesto Frieri - Padres bullpen seems like a good place to be if you're going to be a relief pitcher.  20.2 innings, 28 k's, 8 walks, 2.61 ERA. 

Buster Posey - Hearing some ROY talk even in a year with Heyward and Garcia doing their thing.  Why? 

.329/.375/.503, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 100 hits, 19 doubles, .376 wOBA and 3 WAR per fangraphs. 

Posey has played in exactly 81 games, so double the numbers and you get a 6 win rookie.  Pretty amazing. 

Madison Bumgarner - 79 innings, 54 K's, 22 walks, 88 hits, 3.76 ERA.

Lots of hits, K/bb ratio leaves a lot to be desired, 4.37 FIP, 4.44 xFIP.  Just turned 21 a month ago.

Eric Young Jr - .238/.313/.287, 13 SB/2 CS.

Jhoulys Chacin - 102 innings, 109 K's, 48 bb's, 3.79 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 3.68 xFIP.  2.3 WAR.  Given a choice between Bumgarner and Chacin, I'm taking Chacin because gotta love those K's. 

Esmil Rogers - 55.1 innings, 48 K's, 19 bb's, 68 hits, 5.37 ERA. 

Xavier Paul - 133 PA's, .231/.277/.314, 0 HR. 

John Ely - 79.2 innings, 59 K's, 25 bb's, 80 hits, 4.63 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 3.98 xFIP.  Has done better in the majors this year than in the minors.

Carlos Montasarios - 78.1 innings, 44 k's, 24 bb's, 85 hits, 4.02 ERA.  As someone who lives in Los Angeles, let me tell you that there's not much to see here.  Montasarios that is.  There's plenty of other stuff to see in LA.  I ran into Ron Artest last night.

Kenley Jansen - 14.2 innings, 22 K's, 11 bb's, 8 hits, 1.23 ERA.  Very nice.

Brandon Allen - 2 for 3 with a grand slam.  He in no way qualifies for what I'm doing here but just for fun, Brandon Allen hit a grand slam yesterday! 

Barry Enright - 73.1 innings, 41 K's, 22 bb's, 65 hits, 2.45 ERA. 

Anatomy of a low ERA for a pitcher who strikes out nobody: 88.4 LOB (Left on base) percentage.  .256 BABIP.  7.5 HR/FB %. 4.31 FIP and 4.88 xFIP.

Dan Hudson - 43.2 innings, 42 k's, 19 bb's, 45 hits, 1.85 ERA for the Diamondbacks.  A rougher 3 starts for Chicago, but he pitches for Arizona now and its a whole different league, so I think that's what should be focused on.  3.43 FIP and 3.59 xFIP for AZ.

Overall -

1 definite star in the making and a couple of other interesting players.  SD is very light on big league rookies and also saw major declines in sophomores Everth Cabrera and Kyle Blanks.  But a big jump for Mat Latos at least.  San Fran has the best bunch of rookies, but Arizona and Colorado each have an interesting young pitcher.

Top 5 NL West Rookies:

1. Buster Posey

2. Jhoulys Chacin

3. Madison Bumgarner

4. Dan Hudson

5. Kenley Jansen