This is my weekly segment where I'll cover two Major League players and one in the minors. Since this is the second week in a row it is now officially a weekly segment. The three players I'll cover this week are Justin Masterson, Kyle Lohse and Liam Hendriks. We'll see if I continue to alternate weeks with batters and pitchers.
I've liked Justin Masterson since he was a right-handed prospect in the Red Sox system and he showed promise as a starter. Masterson is a 6-6, 250 horse and shows glimpses of greatness on the mound. With the Red Sox he got spot starts his initial year then found himself in the bullpen behind a logjam of talented starters. It appeared that his career got a jolt with a trade to Cleveland and they eventually settled on him as a starter after giving him time at both. I had seen his potential as he teased with stretches of brilliance only to be coupled with stretches of frustration when he has trouble keeping the ball down. While I had held him on my teams a few times in the past I did not get him this year and he was drafted in the later rounds for a dollar. It appears my rival got a bargain as Masterson has shown the ability to keep the ball down so far while getting off to a red hot 4-0 start with an 1.71 ERA and 15 strikeouts versus 9 walks and 21 hits over 26 innings. I think he might have finally figured it out and should have the first of many stellar seasons.
Kyle Lohse has the trifecta going for him as a starting pitcher: he is showing he can dominate now, he has a history of doing it in the past, and he has an awesome hitting corps to pick him up. Although he has had some down years the right-handed Lohse has had a few solid ones by going 13-8 and 14-11 with the Twins in 2003 and 2004 and very good 15-8 season with the Cardinals in 2008. When healthy Lohse has shown he can eat innings as he has gone over 180 five times in his career with twice hitting the 200 mark. This season he is off to a great start going 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 22 strikeouts versus only four walks and 19 hits over 31 innings. While his career has shown it is unlikely he can maintain that sort of control he still has the foundation of a career year going.
Liam Hendriks came on my radar last season when I noticed his name among the leaders for WHIP and ERA. He is a right-handed starting pitcher in the Twins organization and was selected to play in the Futures game last summer when he was sidelined with appendicitis. Hendriks has shown himself to be a great control pitcher with the ability to strikeout batters in in the mold of Greg Maddux and more recently Jeremy Hellickson. In his 2010 season Hendriks went 8-4 with 1.74 ERA and 105 strikeouts versus only 12 walks and 79 hits over 108 innings. This season he has started at Double A and they are starting him off slow with two relief appearances before his first start where he struggled a little. It is early but his numbers so far are 0-1 with an 5.87 ERA and eight strikeouts versus zero walks and six hits over 7.2 innings. I fully expect those numbers to continue to improve. Plus the Twins expect good things out of him as indicated by their tabbing him to the Futures game. Some expect Hendriks to eventually be a middle rotation starter for the Twins. I believe he has a very bright future.
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