Series: Houston Astros Top 5 Starting Pitcher Lottery Tickets
By Mac Wolff
Jun 18, 2013; Dayton, OH, USA; West pitcher Lance McCullers throws against the East All Stars in the first inning during the Midwest League-All Star Game at Fifth Third Field. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
McCullers is the youngest and also the least experienced of the top 5. He was drafted with the 41st overall pick in 2012 during the first draft of Luhnow’s tenure. He was considered a top 20 talent that slid to the 40s because many teams feared that his demands would be too steep to satisfy. But Jeff Luhnow (and Carlos Correa) was able to win a signed contract from LM and along with it came the hearts of the Astros blogosphere.
Also, to clarify, when I say least experienced I mean the least experience pitching against adults. College level pitchers get more credit for facing batters that have fully experienced puberty.
After a successful run in short season ball in 2012 he spent the 2013 season at Single A Quad Cities where he had a very successful campaign. Compiling a 3.18 ERA in 104 innings with a K/9 of 10.06 and a BB/9 of 4.21.
He has one of the top fastballs in the system and also works in a curveball that does some damage.
McCullers weakness as of now is a weakness that befalls many young pitchers in that he doesn’t have secondary pitches that are worth writing home about. His control is supposedly about average for someone of his level, but without the secondaries the idea of him becoming a starting pitcher starts to get a little foggy. The reason I have him so far back really just comes down to proving he can sustain his success for more than one season.
Most believe his ceiling is at the top of the rotation and his floor is a flame thrower out of the pen. You could have a worse floor, but lets keep working on that curveball Lancey.