RealGM

There’s a kind of coiled grace in the way Kyle Drabek saunters toward the visitors’ bullpen at Hadlock Field, out there in the left-field shadow of a mini Green Monster.

It’s late afternoon under a still-hot sun, the time for pre-game stretching, a bit of jogging, the tossing of balls. Drabek puts his glove on the top of the bullpen fence, walks through the little gate, and heads straight to the garden hose lying directly opposite, the one used to douse a dusty mound.

This is not what Drabek has in mind.

He’s soon wielding the hose, trying to soak a teammate.

A big, impish grin flashes across Drabek’s face, the same look that had overtaken him a few minutes earlier when the subject of batting had come up.

Drabek might be one of the top pitching prospects for the Toronto Blue Jays, but he loves slugging almost as much. There’s reason, on this day, to have that top of mind.

When the opposing team is held scoreless, a lot of minor-league clubs reward the pitchers by letting them take batting practice in the ensuing days, something they normally wouldn’t get to do.

As the starting pitcher a few days earlier, Drabek had done more than simply work in a scoreless game. He’d pitched a no-hitter, the first time any member of the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats had ever done that through a full nine innings.

When it was over, Drabek’s teammates had mobbed him so eagerly he ended up with a bloody nose.

But still, no batting practice.

Randle McMurphy wrote:I wish people would avoid comparisons to Roy Halladay with Drabek. He looks like he could be a good pitcher in the majors, but if you're expecting Drabek to be the ace of this team in the future, you might be disappointed.

Yosemite Dan wrote:

Randle McMurphy wrote:I wish people would avoid comparisons to Roy Halladay with Drabek. He looks like he could be a good pitcher in the majors, but if you're expecting Drabek to be the ace of this team in the future, you might be disappointed.

Actually I couldn't disagree more. The guy has a full arsenal of pitches and seems to have a great work ethic and intensity on the mound. That's 2 prerequisites for any great pitcher not to mention the good pedigree. The reason he's not burning up in the minor leagues is because pitchers with a few different pitches will work on that rather than trying to strike everybody out. I predict big things for this guy and being a future ace on a staff is a very realistic expectation. The Phillies were not thrilled about giving this guy up. Not every young pitcher is gonna start his career like Stephen Strasberg.

Randle McMurphy wrote:I wish people would avoid comparisons to Roy Halladay with Drabek. He looks like he could be a good pitcher in the majors, but if you're expecting Drabek to be the ace of this team in the future, you might be disappointed.

Did you think Halladay was going to turn out the way he did when he was in the minors and struggled early in his Major League career??

Randle are you able to look into the future? How can you say you might be disappointed? Do you know what's going to be of Drabek 5 years from now?