MLB Draft Review: 2001 Part Three

Baugh was taken out of the pitching factory known as Rice University, as Detroit ignored the high pitch counts he endured in college. Early on the move looked good as it appeared Baugh would rocket through the Tiger minor league system and join the major league rotation in very short time. He didn’t get the radar gun excited, working in the low 90s, but he knew how to pitch and had excellent command of his fastball and curve to go along with a nice changeup. While Baugh didn’t have the stuff of a top-of-the-rotation starter, he looked like he would slot in nicely in the middle of the rotation. Unfortunately, he tore a labrum in his shoulder and missed the 2002 season. Baugh worked his way back from surgery, recapturing his old velocity, but not his old results. He’s been languishing in the minor leagues ever since, pitching this year in the Astro organization. He’s now a minor league free agent.

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Saving Grace: Fuentes Back on Track

On Sunday, he gave up just his second run as closer, but still managed to hang on for a shaky save. The prevailing wisdom out there is that you have to be a closer on a winner to get lots of saves. That has been proven wrong time and time again, but people still spout it like it’s gospel. Johnson is a fine option in all leagues. Yes he’s going to get less chances than most because the Orioles will win less games than, say the Yankees, but there is no reason he can’t rack up a good number of saves in the meantime as long as he makes the most of his opportunities. And bear in mind that weaker tends tend to be involved in closer games when they do actually win, so virtually every W may result in a save chance.

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Saving Grace: Soria’s Beatdown

Johnson is a 26-year-old righty in his second full season with the Os. He doesn’t have dominant stuff, but relies on good command. Johnson, who earned his fourth save Tuesday, has at least three pitches that he can throw with consistency and his challengers to the closing crown are somewhat lacking so he should be good for this year unless he cracks under the pressure.

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