Sunday, May 29, 2011

Astros call up Lyles

Jordan Lyles, former first-round pick of the Houston Astros will make his MLB debut for the 'Stros on Tuesday against the Cubs. Lyles is just 20 years old and already in his second season at Triple-A.

Fantasy Impact: We've seen uber-young starting pitchers hit the big leagues in recent seasons, so the sticker-shock of Lyles age shouldn't be too scary. He's got to have an impressive makeup to reach the big leagues so quickly. That said, Astros management may be reaching to save their jobs with this one. Lyles is not putting up the kind of numbers to make you believe he'll succeed immediately at baseball's highest level. For starters, he owns a losing record (20-29) across parts of three minor league seasons with six different teams. At Triple-A he's 3-6 and is struggling to punch hitters out (6.3 K per nine). Lyles has given up more than a hit an inning at the minor league level, which doesn't inspire a ton of confidence at the MLB level even if he's limiting the home run ball (0.6 per nine over his MiLB career). We'll reserve further judgment until after we've seen him pitch against the Cubs on Tuesday, but the recommendation is to leave him on the waiver wire until he proves he can put things together against a big league team or two.

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