SBLM Rookie Pitchers... The Top Performers

Reanna Beach. 190 IP. 11-11. 2.94 ERA. 1.15 WHIP. 2.7 WAR


Call me biased, but Beach is arguably the top performing pitcher in a class that was stacked with pitching talent.  Beach was used as the #1 pitcher in the deep Las Vegas rotation and she did not disappoint.  Despite earning a quality start in 70% of her outings, she only won 11 games. Despite her seemingly terrible luck, Vegas could feel confident every time she took the mound. Even in the playoffs, Beach managed to tally 4 straight quality starts. Her ERA ranked 5th in the league, and 1st among rookies. She kept runners off the base paths; her WHIP was 2nd among rookies behind another who we will look at here. All we can say here? How did she fall so far in the draft...






Silas Delaforge: 72 IP. 6-4. 2.61 ERA. 1.15 WHIP. 15 Saves.  1.0 WAR


It's hard being a closer on the worst playoff team in the league.  Silas performed admirably as a guy chasing saves on a team that was losing more games than it won. The only complaint I have with Delaforge is due to him blowing 25% of his save opportunities.  But one cannot overlook the good from Delaforge. He gave the Storm 72 innings of mostly quality reliever. Things are only looking up from here. 






Snu Mitsu 56 IP. 3-7. 2.89 ERA. 1.05 WHIP. 32 Saves. -0.1 WAR


Mitsu was filthy this season. If he walked out to pitch the 9th, you may as well turn off the television.  He converted 91% of his save opportunities . If this league crowned a reliever of the year, Mitsu is easily a contender.  His overall stats don't quite match the volume or effectiveness of Delaforge. But, no one was better with the game on the line. Snu Mitsu is cold blooded. 






Snarky Shaman. 203 IP. 13.6. 3.01 ERA. 1.11 WHIP. 3.2 WAR


Shaman finished the season with a 70% quality start percentage. Playing with the mighty Sherbrooke offense, that translated to a 13-6 win loss record.  (As compared to Reanna Beach going 11-11 with an identical quality start percentage. ) Shaman had slightly more innings than Beach, and a .04 advantage in WHIP. Beach held a .07 advantage in ERA. The two pitchers were nearly identical statistically, but Shaman finished with a .5 advantage in WAR. Why am I comparing the 2? Well, Sherbrooke definitely got a stud in Shaman. It is very close, but he is quite likely the best pitcher drafted in the s1 SBLM class. 






TJ Maddox. 191.1 IP. 12-11. 3.48 ERA. 1.22 WHIP. 0.3 WAR


Quality starts have been discussed often throughout this list. For those wondering, a quality start occurs any time a pitcher manages at least 6 innings pitched and allows less than 3 earned runs. TJ Maddox happened to do this on 73.3 of his starts. Basically, he had one more quality start than the previous two starting pitchers mention here. Apparently, his not quality starts just happened to be much worse. His ERA, while still very good at 3.48, is significantly worse than the ~3.00 ERAs of Beach and Shaman. Still, Maddox is very good.  Look for him to be quite scary when everything clicks.