| 01 July 2010
Travis Wood was my pick to win the Reds' No. 5 starter job coming out of spring training. They picked Mike Leake instead. This is why I'm blogging and they are running a baseball team.
However, the 23-year-old Wood will make his Major League debut today against the Cubs and I'm very intrigued about the situation. He is a 5-foot-10 lefty that certainly won't blow anyone away with his fastball that usually tops off at 91-92 MPH, however, he has a mean cutter and a really nice change-up. He was the Reds' minor league pitcher of the year last season (13-5, 1.77 ERA, 167.2 IP, 121 H, 53 BB, 135 K at AA-AAA combined) and has backed it up with a strong season this year at Triple-A Louisville (5-6, 3.12 ERA, 98 IP, 83 H, 23 BB, 97 K). Ignore that win-loss record this year and look at his strikeouts-per-inning (nearly a 1:1 ratio) and the amount of hits he's given up. The guy might not blow batters away, but he's definitely tough to hit.
And he gets to make his debut at Wrigley Field - it doesn't get much better than that for a road game. Going for Chicago will be Carlos Silva, who has pitched anything but like Carlos Silva this year. His luck will run out eventually - you can count on it. Thus far in 2010, Silva is having a career-year (8-2, 3.01 ERA). Not bad for a guy the Cubs got for Milton Bradley who makes Ron Artest look sane.
Anyway, enough about the dysfunctional Cubs (Carlos Zambrano melting down again was about as surprising as Kosuke Fukudome's yearly swoon after a hot start to the season). They are down and it's time for the Reds to kick ‘em in this four-game series (all day games of course - I love it). Can Wood get things started in style, or will he be too nervous in his first MLB start? We'll find out soon enough.
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