Kei Igawa

There's not much I really need to say about Igawa. I had moderately high hopes for him when he was signed. I didn't think he'd be great, but I thought he'd miss enough bats to be a decent starter. It turns out I was only part right; he did miss plenty of bats, striking out 7.05/9 innings last year. His other numbers weren't so pretty: 10.11 H/9, 2 HR/9!, and 4.92 BB/9. He was better in AAA, but still allowed 1.32 HR/9, which is entirely too many for someone who puts a lot of guys on base.

Igawa's spring got off to a horrible start yesterday, giving up 4 runs on 1 hit (a grand slam), 2 walks, and a hit batter. Keep in mind that he was facing college kids using wood bats, and that the guy who hit the grand slam hasn't played in 2 years because of injuries and a transfer. Igawa apparently was hit hard in the head at some point during the game, because after the game, he was delusional:

In one inning, he allowed four runs, one hit, two walks and hit a batter.

The hit was a grand slam by Eric Bauman, who hadn't played collegiate baseball since 2005 because of transferring and injury.

"My control was pretty good," said Igawa, oblivious to the walks and hit batter.

"What I would like to do is to get more control when I am throwing harder. Today, I felt like I was throwing too low."

If two walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch are good control, I'd hate to see him have bad control.

In much better news, the big three had a pretty decent day:

Chamberlain, who was given the start even though he is being groomed as Mariano Rivera's setup man, retired all six hitters he faced, fanning two. Kennedy, who is being counted on as the fourth or fifth starter, worked two scoreless innings and gave up a single. In one inning, Hughes faced three batters, didn't give up a hit and whiffed two.

It was an exhibition against a college team, but it was still good to see the big 3 have a successful day. I have huge hopes for all of them, particularly Phil Hughes (as the blog title would imply). I can't wait to see all three of them in real game action this year.

*Note: I refuse to post any part of the rest of the article, as it is George King and he insists on calling them Generation Trey, which is too stupid to even mock. King also insists on constantly reminding his readers that the pitchers were just facing college guys, as though we were all predicting a 3 way Cy Young race between the three because of their first exhibition starts. This is why I think George King should be fired...out of a cannon, into the sun.