Mastersball

Jeremy Hellickson will miss time due to shoulder fatigue. Given his fairly substantial usage as a rookie last year and the lack of translation of his minor league strikeout skills to the Majors (have yet to exceed 6.0 in over 250 innings of work now), it is not at all surprising that Hellickson has hit the DL with shoulder issues. While Ray’s officials think he may only miss two starts, I would be a bit more concerned was I counting on him as a member of my fantasy team.

To replace him, The Rays called up former top Indians’ and Cubs’ farmhand Chris Archer. The 23-year old remains far from a finished product, but he certainly has quality raw stuff as his 10.6 K/9 can attest too.  For me, Archer is a possible late inning relief guy long-term given a rather devastating fastball/slider combination. The subtleties of refining his off-speed stuff, repeating his mechanics, and command his pitches are the issues at hand. On the positive side, Archer is primarily a groundball pitcher due to heavy sink on his fastball and has posted rather miniscule HR/9 numbers over the course of his minor league career. This is an aspect that could really help the right-hander if he does indeed transfer to a late inning reliever role somewhere down the line. For now, given his struggles as a starter at the minor league level, it is hard to envision sustained success, excellent MLB debut not withinstanding, at the MLB level given his current stage of development and role.