Scouting Report, RHP Mitch Talbot

The 26-year old righty was drafted by the Astros in the 2nd round of the 2002 draft, and was traded to Tampa Bay with Ben Zobrist for Aubrey Huff in 2006. The Rays had such an array of high upside arms in the minors that Talbot was lost in their system, so he was a player to be named later in a trade for Kelly Shoppach to Cleveland in Dec 2009. He's only thrown 87 innings in his career, and his numbers aren't anything to write home about. He has a 4.43 ERA and 1.51 WHIP which isn't pretty, but his FIP is 5.40 due to a ridiculously low K/9 rate (4.02) and a high walk rate (4.33 W/9). In the minors he had good command (< 3 W/9), but that obviously hasn't carried over to the majors. He's only appeared in 15 career games (13 starts), and he has not faced the Mets.

Talbot is a four-pitch pitcher, featuring a 91 mph fastball (2 and 4-seam), an 84 mph slider (new this year), 89 mph cutter and a plus change-up (79 mph). Coming up through the minors he was mainly a fastball, change-up pitcher and many scouts thought he was destined for the bullpen due to a lack of a reliable breaking ball/3rd pitch. Although he throws a slider and cutter, his two above average pitches are still his fastball and change. In fact, his change-up was rated the best in the Rays system before he was traded. He doesn't get many swings at pitches outside of the strike zone, (24%; league average is 28%), nor many swings and misses period (3.8% when league average is 8.2%).

So far this year he has made 12 starts, and is 7-4, with a 3.59 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. He hasn't been as good as his numbers suggest (4.85 FIP), as he strikes out < 4 per 9, and walks 3.6 per 9, which is the worst rate combo I've seen of any pitcher I've looked at this year. Talbot finds a way to keep his home runs allowed to a minimum (seven games without a home run allowed). He's allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his 12 starts. His last start versus Boston he threw only four innings (99 pitches), allowed 10 base-runners and five runs (two earned), with only two strike outs.