The Real McCoy: The kid has it

The kid being Johnny Cueto…and Dusty Baker’s take on him.

Baker talked eloquently and positively about Cueto on Saturday morning. Of the short experience, Baker said, “Everybody doesn’t have to go through the natural progression. Especially pitchers. I’ve seen a lot of pitchers go from Double-A to the majors. Who has looked better than Cueto’s performance yesterday? He has aligned himself with the other starters.

“If he has good stuff and control and guts, then he has a chance,” Baker added.

...“He’s smaller than Pedro (Martinez) when Pedro came up,” said Baker. “As a player, I was wrong about Pedro. I thought they made a mistake when they took him out of long relief and made him a starter because I didn’t think he was big enough to be durable. But there have been a bunch of skinny little guys who were durable.

“If you passed Greg Maddux would you believe what he does? Looks like some school teacher,” Baker added. “‘Damn, dude? You got 300 wins?’ He’s been on the DL one time and that was when he got hit in the toe. And there have been some big ol’ King Kong dudes who can’t stay healthy.”

“King Kong dudes who can’t stay healthy”?...Doofy Dusty must be talking about Willis O’Brien’s kids or something!