This year's Verlander & Weaver?

Phil Hughes gave up two hits and no runs in six innings tonight, striking out 10 and walking none.

 

I'm surprised by the lack of Hughes votes. I don't disagree, but I thought he would certainly get more than one.

 

So junkballers are two of the greatest pitchers in Major League history?

 

Huge improvement from his last start, when he gave up five runs or so. I would vote for him, but I'm still holding out hope that Tom Gorzelanny -- that rare KU/Pirates winning combination -- is added to the list.

 

Hughes will be up for good by May 15 and winning ROY in November. Remember this.

 

Sorry, Oz, you'll be waiting for a while. This list is just for kids still in the bushes. Anyway, I don't know why I didn't think of this soon, but probably the reasons why the Yanks brought up Chase Wright instead of Hughes may be to save on service time and for him to make his debut in a less-pressured environment, like Seattle, KC or whoever. Let the kid get comfortable in the Majors before he goes to NY.

 

91 is slightly below average.

And, that is pretty much junk.

Maybe, junk-plus.

Also.... what is Hoffman not... a junkballer.... or one of the great pitchers of all time?

I can't imagine either being a correct answer.

 

Like I said before, Verlander opened 2006 in the majors. So if you're looking for this year's Verlander, I see no reason for this list to exclude guys like Gorzelanny or Pelfrey, who also started this season in the majors. But that's just me.

 

I guess that depends on your definition of a junkballer. Is it just any pitcher who doesn't throw hard? Is it somebody who relies on a certain type of pitch, such as leaning heavily on breaking stuff?

Hell, Greg Maddux could be considered a junkballer by some standards. Though he had a pretty good fastball early in his career.

Hoffman came up as a power pitcher, then developed a dominant change-up. But he had a plus fastball to go with that change for much of his career.

 

Would rather vote for Gorzelanny, but voted for Hughes. I agree with BYH on him.

 

Wait, I never thought I'd hear you loving on a Yankees player, even if it is Mariano Rivera.

 

Good one.