Raising Arizona

The White Sox Stud of Arizona without a doubt has been top prospect Brandon McCarthy. An unknown before last year, except for the hardcore minor league Sox fans, Brandon hit the big time by winning 17 games in the minors along with leading all of minor league baseball with 202 strikeouts, while walking only 30 total batters. I was lucky enough to get the chance to talk to him last year, because he joined as a member on Soxtalk.com, where I like to hang out.

Brandon came to Arizona with no chance at a major league job as for the first time since the early 90's the Sox rotation is 5 players deep. Instead he came about as close to getting a starting gig as possible when the Sox have 5 starters that have big contracts. Brandon has made 4 starts, pitching 15 1/3 innings giving up only one single earned run, and walking only one single batter. He gave up only 9 hits and struck out 9. With an ERA of 0.59 and a WHIP of 0.65, Brandon has been almost too good to be true.

There is no doubt that at the first chance, and with Orlando Hernandez in the rotation it could be pretty quick, BMac will be on the southside. This kid is special, and will be an anchor in the rotation next to Mark Buehrle.