Blue Jays prospect Marcus Stroman looked brilliant once again on Tuesday, striking out 10 batters over six no-hit innings in his fifth start of the season. Over his first 26.2 innings of the year, Stroman is sporting a 1.69 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 36 strikeouts to just seven walks.
Meanwhile, back in the Bigs, Dustin McGowan looked slightly better than his previous start as he held the Royals to three runs (two earned) on three hits, three walks, and two strikeouts. Of course, that only lowered his ERA to 5.87 and his WHIP to 1.61 so there aren’t going to be any parades just yet.
McGowan may have possibly earned himself another start but one thing is clear, as Blue Jays Assistant General Manager Tony LaCava said this week, Stroman’s “time is coming soon.”
Ultimately, McGowan will either get demoted or hurt. He has played in just 30 games since 2008 and 26 of those were out of the bullpen. Brandon Morrow is struggling even worse, posting a 6.04 ERA and 1.57 WHIP, and also poses a strong injury risk after starting just 31 games over the last two seasons. Make no doubt about it, if Stroman isn’t up very, very soon, he’ll be up very soon.
Stroman, rated the No. 27 prospect in the league by Baseball Prospectus, has quickly developed into a strikeout demon in just 40 minor league games. Where other pitchers excel only on strikeouts but give up a lot of free passes and longballs, Stroman does neither.
In his first taste of the minors, Stroman made 15 relief appearances shortly after he was drafted in the first round out of Duke and looked strong as he posted a 3.26 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts to nine walks.
In his first real season in 2013, Stroman made 20 starts in Double-A New Hampshire, going 9-5 with a 3.30 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts to just 27 walks.
As you can see above, this year he has been even better.
His 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings through 157 innings in the minors are great, and look outright phenomenal when compared to his 2.5 walk per nine rate. Few 23-year-olds with just 40 games under their belt own that kind of command. His 0.8 home runs per nine rate and 7.8 hits per nine rate don’t cause a whole lot of alarm either.
He may only be 23 but after posting the second-lowest ERA in Duke history in the aluminum bat era and a strong and improving 3.03 ERA in his short minor league career, Stroman is far more advanced and poised than most prospects his age and is ready for the next level in his career. He is already owned in 5 percent of Yahoo leagues and you shouldn’t hesitate to give this 5-foot-9 phenom a shot if you have room to spare on your roster.
