There were several Detroit Tiger mentions over the last two days, and many of them included references to
The Free Press had a piece on Zumaya’s new curveball/slider.
“My curve can be a slider,” he said. “If I throw it from over the top, it’s a curve with a 12-to-6 break. If I lower my arm angle, it has more of a slider movement. You’ll see me do that when the count is 0-2.”
His secondary pitch combined with the fastball has Buster Olney making Zumaya his Rookie of the Year pick. (Insider link)
Joel Zumaya has added a curve to his repertoire. I’m picking him to win AL Rookie of the Year. Based on what scouts are seeing in him, he won’t be in the Tigers’ bullpen for long.
In what is pleasantly becoming old-hat, more prospect lists are coming out and they all feature the Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya tandem. John Mayo’s list ranks Zumaya 28th and Verlander 5th. Meanwhile, Aaron Gleeman’s Hardball Time ranking is a little more favorable with Joel checking in at 23. Gleeman had this to say:
At just 21 years old Zumaya is certainly young enough to make big strides with his control, although it appears as though he’ll open this season with the Tigers … pitching out of the bullpen. While Zumaya and his upper-90s fastball certainly fit the profile of a late-inning reliever, Detroit would be silly to give up on eventually having him as a rotation anchor. If I knew he’d be given every opportunity to remain a starter long term I’d probably bump Zumaya up a few spots on this list, but as it is the combination of possibly becoming a long-term reliever and still having to work on his on control leaves Zumaya just outside of the top 20.
Finally, Baseball Prospectus projects the standings using PECOTA. They project an 83-79 record for the Tigers which is good enough for a third place finish in the Central (one game ahead of the White Sox). Their write up also includes a Zumaya mention:
The Tigers are generating some buzz, and Jim Leyland looks to be on board, appointing Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander to starting roles with relatively little bloodshedding. The Tigers, actually, are somewhat reminiscent of last year