Kevin Slowey

[Cards10WS]

Pitch deep in to games and he is viable. I grabbed him this week, I like what he is showing so far this seas

[thatguy27]

I'm ecstatic I picked this guy up shortly before starting this thread. Is he becoming a guy you start without hesitation? His ERA is down to the mid 3's now, his WHIP is juts above 1, and his K:BB ratio is sick. Nothing in the peripheral numbers suggests he's playing over his head...

[RyeWhiskey]

Today, June 29th - Slowey vs. Ben Sheets:

Sheets:
7 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Slowey: COMPLETE GAME
9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K

Looks like this guy is here to stay. He just out-dueled one of the top SPs in baseball as well as shut down a very powerful lineup. In another thread at the beginning of this month I wrote the following, which I'll re-post because it has some good information:

Slowey was a very deep sleeper coming into 2008.

In 2007, as a rookie with eleven starts, he held the following line:
66.2 IP: 4-1, 47 K, 11 BB, 4.72 ERA, 1.40 WHIP

If you consider that four of those eleven walks came in one game (Jun 17 vs. Mil), and five of those eleven starts were of good quality, Slowey looked pretty good in his first year.

This year, if you throw out his single April start, his May stat line is as follows:
31.1 IP: 2-3, 22 K, 6 BB, 2.87 ERA, 1.02 WHIP

That's pretty dirty, IMHO. In May he has a K:BB of around 4:1 (which coincides with 2007), allowing no more than three runs in a start. I wouldn't count on 15 wins, but good ratios and some Ks to boot, with about 10-13 wins is reachable. I just added him in a couple of leagues and am confident with him here on out.

- Monkey

[kcs261]

This guy has been off the charts good. Unbelievable. I'm telling you, you always look to a player's WHIP and K/BB in deciding whether to grab a guy. I have never even seen him pitching. But I looked at those two categories, loved them for Slowey, grabbed him and WOW! K/BB and WHIP is a great indicator in deciding whether a pitcher is legit! 8 Ks today and 0 BBs in a complete game shutout! And I had him in my lineup. WOW!

[Scooter1027]

This guy has been off the charts good. Unbelievable. I'm telling you, you always look to a player's WHIP and K/BB in deciding whether to grab a guy. I have never even seen him pitching. But I looked at those two categories, loved them for Slowey, grabbed him and WOW! K/BB and WHIP is a great indicator in deciding whether a pitcher is legit! 8 Ks today and 0 BBs in a complete game shutout! And I had him in my lineup. WOW!

This is how I got on the Scott Baker train too...the K/BB was incredible. Of course it can backfire (Dave Bush), but it's definitely something I look at quite a bit. Watching Slowey today, I was quite impressed. He really hits his spots well, he has very solid command. He doesn't have elite velocity by any means, but yet he was blowing his 91 MPH fastballs by the Brewer hitters with deception and command. I don't think they had a hard hit ball all game.

[thatguy27]

His BABIP is a bit low at .281. Even if it corrects itself, the effect will be minimal and shouldn't inflate his numbers a whole lot from where they stand presently.

His LOB% is well in line with the league average, a tad low even, at .696.

His fly ball percentage is extremely high at .467 which has led to a high HR/9 rate of 1.57. However, this hasn't hurt him too much thus far due to his low BB/9 rate of 1.22 and his high K/BB rate of 5.

As long as his control and K/BB rate remain stellar, he should keep his ERA in the mid to high 3's and keep his WHIP in the 1.2 range making him a solid 3rd/4th pitcher for any staff. If he could somehow get his flyball percentage down, he'd be even better, but given his history, I don't see that happening.

[Element]

Slowey has toned down his fastball some this season. I watched him here in Rochester a few times and he was in the mid 90's. He was the same after his callup last summer. He has some good sink on his fastball, but was leaving it up a little and paid for it. This year he seems more controlled and is letting the ball work. The ball is in the low 90's. He has shown pinpoint control and good tumbling movement on his fastball. Everything is down or off the zone. He can still throw it 95 when the situation is right though. Change is always down and in the low 80's. He'll be a very efficient starter or a while, IMO. He reminds me a lot of Greinke in both build, poise and stuff.