Who the Heck is Jeremy Accardo?
To be completely honest, Jeremy Accardo was not exactly high-up on my "list of guys the Giants might promote to the Majors in 2005" list. I didn't put him in my book this year, and when the Giants moved him up to the Show this past weekend, I had to do a quick scramble to find out something about him more than just the raw numbers.
Accardo was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He went to college at Illinois State University where he posted a 5.94 ERA in 2003. But he had a live arm, and the Giants thought he had a chance to be a surprise. He posted a mediocre 4.25 ERA for San Jose in the California League in '04, but he did save 27 games, and had a decent 43/15 K/BB ratio in 55 innings. He gave up 57 hits, however, and despite a fastball that can get to 94 MPH at times, I saw no reason to think he would develop into anything more than an organization pitcher. Yet here he is in the Majors.
The Giants are not adverse to rapid promotion of unheralded pitchers. . .witness Kevin Correia a couple of years ago. I still don't see any reason to be super-excited about Accardo at this point, but he's in the Majors, which is something that hundreds of guys who were drafted ahead of him in 2003 cannot say. I like rooting for guys like this.
