Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Could Purcey return to the rotation?

After David Purcey was sent down to AAA following his miserable control issues in the first month of the Jays season, it seemed like it might be a very very long time until he came back north of the border. With the Jays having quite a few young hurlers waiting to burst though to make it to the starting rotation, and after Purcey's horrendous first couple starts with AAA Las Vegas, it seemed plausible that he might be passed over in the clubs future plans.

However, the big southpaw has found his game down in the minors and might just be putting himself back on Toronto's radar should Ricky Romero continue to struggle. In 5 of the 6 starts since the demotion, Purcey hasn't allowed more than 2 earned runs, while his shortest outing in that span was 5.1 innings, posting a solid 3.50 ERA overall. If you throw out his horrendous second start, in which he gave up 8 earned runs in 2.1 innings, that ERA would be sparkling.

Purcey has the tools to be an effective major league starter. He displayed that last year, and occasionally this season. If he should continue his strong play, and limit his walks (20 in 36 innings pitched), he could find himself back with the Jays sooner rather than later.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Purcey needs to learn to be consitent with his control, if he can do that, he'll be a very effective pitcher

Michael Harrison said...

I absolutely agree. Purcey had more control issues in his last start in Las Vegas :( Unfortunately, he can't seem to shake the base on balls. He's still young, however. I think he can be a viable major league pitcher. Especially after some of those outings last year against Tampa Bay