Todd Wellemeyer, SP (STL) (1 Viewer)

Wellemeyer has been pitching well enough to start the season where it seems like people should start taking notice.

Pitching mainly in relief for 4 teams over the last 3 years, Wellemeyer has struggled mightily with his control, despite possessing pretty strong stuff and posting a solid strikeout rate.

Yet, since his move to the Cardinals under pitching coach Dave Duncan, Wellemeyer seems to have greatly improved his control while continuing to strikeout a lot of batters. After his move to the Cardinals last year, Wellemeyer started 11 games and finished with a 3.11 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 51 Ks in 63 innings. While he still has a tendency to walk batters, his K/BB ratio has improved from 1.22 K/BB with the previous teams to over 2.00 K/BB with the Cards. Duncan has apparently worked with Wellemeyer a lot to help improve his command and consistency.

Wellemeyer has a mid-90's fastball, sharp slider, and a nice changeup.

His stat lines for his first 3 starts this season have all been solid.

vs. COL 5 IP 4 hits 1 ER 3 BB 6 Ks

vs. HOU 7 IP 5 hits 2 ER 1 BB 7 Ks

vs. SF 6 IP 4 hits 1 ER 3 BB 7 Ks (in progress)

Does anyone think that Wellemeyer can continue to put up solid numbers? Has anyone watched him pitch this season? Could he be one of the surprising late breakthrough players this year or is his performance so far unsustainable over-achievement?

No. He stays hot for a month or so, and then, like Braden Looper last year, will implode.

Another start this week against the Giants merits a look.

No godly way he keeps this up, much less stays in the rotation after Carpenter, Mulder, Pineiro, and Clement return and Wainwright stays. Cards have quite a conundrum on their hands after those guys return. What becomes of Lohse or Thompson?

Any word on why all the runs against Wellemeyer were earned today? 4 of them came after a two out error by Schumaker allowed Molina to reach first.

MrPhoenix said:

No godly way he keeps this up, much less stays in the rotation after Carpenter, Mulder, Pineiro, and Clement return and Wainwright stays. Cards have quite a conundrum on their hands after those guys return. What becomes of Lohse or Thompson?

Click to expand...

Thompson is headed to the pen as Pineiro starts today. Looper and Wellemeyer are next when Clement and Mulder come back. I don't think Wellemeyer can keep this up. He is just off to a good start.

curta269 said:

MrPhoenix said:

No godly way he keeps this up, much less stays in the rotation after Carpenter, Mulder, Pineiro, and Clement return and Wainwright stays. Cards have quite a conundrum on their hands after those guys return. What becomes of Lohse or Thompson?

Click to expand...

Thompson is headed to the pen as Pineiro starts today. Looper and Wellemeyer are next when Clement and Mulder come back. I don't think Wellemeyer can keep this up. He is just off to a good start.

Click to expand...

Clement and Mulder coming back is funny. When was the last time Clement has pitched? That guy is a waste of time and money.

Another strong outing by Wellemeyer, albeit against the Giants.

7 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks

His control was pretty good as well throwing 72 of his 107 pitches for strikes.

Wellemeyer is in some good company strikeout-wise. Here are the MLB leaders after most pitchers have started 4 games. (Matsuzaki has started 5 and Lincecum has started 3).

1. J. Cueto 29

2. D. Matsuzaka 28

3. J. Santana 28

4. T. Lincecum 27

5. J. Peavy 27

6. J. Vazquez 27

7. T. Wellemeyer 26

8. F. Hernandez 24

9. B. Sheets 24

10. C. Zambrano 23

11. B. Webb 22

12. R. Halladay 21

13. A. Harang 21

I don't doubt that Wellemeyer could implode at any moment. Nonetheless, he was a highly regarded power pitcher coming up in the Cubs farm system, viewed as the Cubs closer of the future, but failed to have any success because he couldn't consistently throw strikes. Now, he's throwing consistent strikes and is striking people out at a rate of a K/inning, the same approximate rate that he has averaged over the course of his 5 year career working between the bullpen and starting.

If you need help in Ks and Wins (and who doesn't really), I really like Wellemeyer's potential as at least a short-term pickup. I wouldn't drop any proven vets to pick him up, but if you have extra players sitting around on your bench, I think that Wellemeyer is at least worth the short-term gamble due to his strikeout capabilities.