The Baseball Analysts: Lederer: Dustin McGowan: Better Than You Might Think

I used to liquer-chat with our old mayor, Wilbur McGowan about pitching…as he had faced Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig during the barnstorming 30’s. I bet Dustin is better.

Rogers Centre played as a pitcher’s park in 2007, suppressing hits and runs. The AstroTurf surface may be conducive to McGowan, who was 8-3 with a 3.27 ERA at home and 4-7 with a 4.91 ERA on the road. An infield consisting of John McDonald at SS, Aaron Hill at 2B, and Lyle Overbay at 1B is a decided plus for any groundball pitcher. Alex Rios in RF and Vernon Wells in CF are two of the better fielding outfielders in baseball as well. The Defensive Efficiency Ratio was .727 (which is basically the same thing as saying batters hit .273 on balls in play).

McGowan has future ace written all over him. Only 25-years-old with a high ceiling. First-round draft pick. Top prospect in the system on two separate occasions. Mid-90s fastball with a “plus” slider. With excellent groundball and strikeout rates, he lives in the tony Northeast Quadrant (which I will update and feature once again this off-season) with similar percentages as Chris Carpenter in 2006. My kind of pitcher indeed.