Skip to main content

Who is James Shields and Why is He Nasty?

So if you had a to guess who was leading the American league in innings who would your guess be? CC Sabathia, he's a horse. Johan Santana, he is the best pitcher in baseball? Dan Haren, he is leading the AL in ERA? How about James Shields of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, when would his name cross your lips? Never? Have you ever even heard of James Shields before?

Well, Shields in fact sits as the league leader in innings pitched after last night, and sits one inning behind Tim Hudson for the major league lead in innings, and the amazing part about that is that Shields has one start less then just about everyone else in the top 10.

So where did this guy come from? I like the majority of the world had never heard of him before this season. Well he actually was at one point in time a highly touted prospect, as he was ranked #16 in the country his senior year in high school and was drafted by the D-Rays in the 2000 draft. His first cousin is Phillies Centerfielder Aaron Rowand. He toiled around in the minors since the draft with unremarkable numbers and a season where he missed entirely due to injury until last year when he started to pitch well and got the call when the immortal Casey Fossum went down with injury. His numbers last year were not terrific, but one thing he did do was eat innings and garner Ks. Something he's carried over into this season obviously.

After Kei Igawa started getting repetitively rocked, and because I was drunk when Igawa pitched his only good game against the Sox and thus did not really believe it, I dumped him and picked up Shields. And so far I have reaped the benefits. As since then Shields has thrown no less than 7 innings in a start. WIll he be for real the whole season? Only time will tell but for right now he's been an immaculate pick up for myself and anyone else who jumped on him, and he should be in line to be the D-Rays representative for the All Star game.

So, where else does Shields sit on the major league leader board?

2nd in IP
22nd in ERA
8th in Ks
Tied for 10th in Quality Starts
30th in K/BB rate
4th in WHIP

Pretty Impressive opening two months.
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
Who is this guy and... why is he nasty.
11:30 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lou Holtz is the Homer / Annoyingly Delusional

As my buddy Joe and I always joke, if Notre Dame was suiting up against an all Jesus team, aka a team made up of 55 Sons of God, Lou Holtz would probably still pick Notre Dame to win by a touchdown. So of course this weekend when I'm watching Sportscenter and they have him and fellow old man Corso making predictions, Lou picks ND to beat Michigan. Not that big of a deal, Michigan is a big question mark this year, but of course than Lou says that Notre Dame will win 11 games this year. This is the same Notre Dame that lost to a service academy last year. And just when you thought the douchy homerism was going to end ESPN asks which BCS school is going to be the biggest surprise team in the country. Any guesses to whom it was? I'll give you a clue it was another team he coached. If you guessed South Carolina you would be a winner. Next up on Lou's prediction watch, the Jets win the Superbowl, NC St. wins the ACC, Arkansas dominates the SEC West, Minnesota wins the Big
1 comment
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post

M E T S = Mercifully End The Season

Do it before David Wright gets Hurt!
185 comments
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post

Ranking the New York Jets Historical Helmets

There's no way you can't go with the Helmet they won the Super Bowl in. You just can't. Next, I really don't understand why they don't where the helmet with the Jet as their throwback uniforms. That helmet is awesome. Then I'm going with the Helmets from the 80s because it's the classic feel and the white face mask is 10 times better than the black one. And the rankings continue until you get to... The Titans Helmet. I hate everything about those Titan uniforms. The Helmets are boring and the colors are GOD awful. Navy blue and Mustard? What the hell is that. Disgusting. If they wore those unis when I was a kid I'd probably be a Giant fan, and be much happier with my life in football.
Post a Comment
Continue Reading the Rest of This Fine Post