Young pitchers - a heck of a lot or what?

[Thursday]

As i was drafting my fantasy football team with my buddies, the conversation before the draft was pertaining to young pitchers in the majors this year. And wow, there sure is a bunch. Just look!

Francisco Liriano
Justin Verlander
Cole Hamels
Josh Johnson
John Maine
Jeremy Sowers
Joe Saunders
Jered Weaver
Jon Lester
Jon Papelbon
Scott Olsen

Not to mention young guys who played last year (Kazmir, Felix, etc.)

What's the deal here? Am i just noticing it more this year?? You could make a starting staff almost entirely out of WW pickups this year, and have it be the best in the league.

Also, does this dilute pitching for next year... will better pitchers be easier to get?

I'd love to hear some thoughts here.

[DeadWinterDay]

Justin Verlander
Josh Johnson
John Maine
Joe Saunders
Jered Weaver
Zach Miner
Chad Billingsley
(Adam Harang)

I have these guys. And yeah my pitching is pretty good (It's a 20 man league). It's just amazing how many talented rookie pitchers we have this year, and I'm sure as hell the draft techniques I used this year won't work next year.

Although if I remember correctly off the top of my head Texas has 3 highly regarded minor league pitchers, and the Yanks have Hughes...I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting about and there are always the ones you never hear about until they throw a 3 hitter in their debut.

[Belle4Hall88]

Matt Cain

[smoovethug]

Jon Lester
Zach Miner
Ian Snell
Paul Maholm
Chad Billingsley
Jason Hirsh
Matt Garza
Mike Pelfrey
Jonathan Broxton

Ok I'm reaching on alot of these but I bet alot of them were on some fantasy teams at one point or another and there was alot of buzz around the prospects here when they were called up. There does seem to be alot of young pitchers with fantasy relevance this year. More than other years it seems like. I like it though. Interesting.

[Halo Homers]

As i was drafting my fantasy football team with my buddies, the conversation before the draft was pertaining to young pitchers in the majors this year. And wow, there sure is a bunch. Just look!

Francisco Liriano
Justin Verlander
Cole Hamels
Josh Johnson
John Maine
Jeremy Sowers
Joe Saunders
Jered Weaver
Jon Lester
Jon Papelbon
Scott Olsen

Not to mention young guys who played last year (Kazmir, Felix, etc.)

What's the deal here? Am i just noticing it more this year?? You could make a starting staff almost entirely out of WW pickups this year, and have it be the best in the league.

Also, does this dilute pitching for next year... will better pitchers be easier to get?

I'd love to hear some thoughts here.

________________________________________________________

I think your right on. Those guys you've listed are having impact years, meaning their in a starting rotation or closing. Forgot Chad Billingsley of LAD and Ricky Nolasco of FLA as well.

It seems like about double the normal number. Very high number of young (First Year in Starting Rotation) or rookie SP.

[Red Sox Nation]

The AL ROY is SO tough. There's Papelbon, Verlander, Liriano, Jenks, etc.

[davidmarver]

If you're going to include Papelbon, you have to include Jake Peavy. He's a half year younger, has an ERA crown and K crown already under his belt, and leads the NL in K/9 this season.

[teddy ballgame]

The AL ROY is SO tough. There's Papelbon, Verlander, Liriano, Jenks, etc.

Jenks isn't a rookie, and even if he was he'd have no shot with Papelbon ahead of him at the same position. With Liriano out indefinately, it's probably going to be between Papelbon and Verlander. I'm giving the nod to Papelbon, but I'm a Sox fan.

[mikekim2121]

oops

[mikekim2121]

The AL ROY is SO tough. There's Papelbon, Verlander, Liriano, Jenks, etc.

Jenks isn't a rookie,

I'm not so sure

From Wikipedia

What qualifies as a rookie?
In order to qualify for the award a player must have accumulated, prior to the season under consideration:

Fewer than 130 at bats and 50 innings pitched in the major leagues or
Fewer than 45 days on the active rosters of major league clubs (excluding time on the disabled list or any time after rosters are expanded on September 1)

He qualifies under the first part but not under the second.