Stream of the Week: Marcus Stroman

Last week's choice got ugly quick. Daisuke unsurprisingly walked 5 hitters and didn't make it out of the 5th inning. Since Robbie Erlin never made it to his start and Jorge De La Rosa was great, we'll say the record so far for Pete Talking Sports' "Stream of the Week" is 1-1. The choice for this week is much more intriguing than Dice-K. Marcus Stroman, RHP (right-handed pitcher) for the surging Toronto Blue Jays, is a 23 year old rookie. He throws a mid-90s fastball with a decent cutter and solid curve. Stroman has shown fantastic control so far this season as he has only walked three hitters over the course of 18.1 innings pitched.

An immediate red flag for those who are not so familiar with Stroman is his 5.40 ERA and 1.53 WHIP. Those numbers are almost completely due to two awful relief appearances back in mid May. Since then, Stroman has made two starts against the Cardinals and Royals. In those two starts, he's combined for 12 IP, 12 H, 2 BB, 2 ER, and 13 Ks. He won both starts and went six innings both times out. In addition, his GB:FB ratio in those starts was almost 2:1. Stroman has been keeping the ball down, striking batters out (8.35 K/9), and winning games.

Stroman's start this week comes against the lowly Minnesota Twins. Sure, the Twins are almost a .500 ball club so far this season. Regardless, they are 22nd in all of MLB in both batting average and slugging percentage. They have a high OBP but Stroman's control should continue to help him avoid giving up walks and putting hitters on base. If your league counts wins (stupid category, sorry!) then this should ideally be a win for you at least. Toronto is top 5 in the major leagues in runs, BA, OBP, and SLG. When Stroman toes the rubber he'll be opposite Phil Hughes. Hughes is enjoying a solid season so far but he just got rocked by the Astros in his last outing and Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista has a career BA over .300 against him.

Not only will Toronto most-likely win this game (or, to put in better terms, they'll be the favorite) but only four teams in baseball have struck out more times collectively than the Twins (White Sox, Marlins, Mets, Astros). Stroman could give a win and solid strikeout total this week very easily.

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 Why you shouldn't listen to me: For one, Stroman is just a rookie. Even with his two impressive starts, he is bound to go through some rough patches. The Twins' (arguably) four best hitters: Mauer, Dozier, Morales, and Willingham, all leave reasons to be skeptical about Stroman's start. Mauer is a flat out great hitter and most likely a Hall of Famer. This year, he's hitting .292 against RHP and both of his home runs have come against righties. Out of Dozier's 12 home runs, 8 have come against RHP. Out of his 13 steals, 12 have come against RHP. Though he hasn't logged any major league at bats so far this season, the newly acquired Kendrys Morales hit 17 of his 23 home runs off RHP last season. Finally, Willingham (who is on fire at the plate right now), is hitting .295 against RHP. These bats will certainly test the Blue Jays' rookie.