AL Rookie Roundup

Jason Michael Barker

It's once again time to check in with the cream of the American League's rookie crop, Ben Grieve, Magglio Ordonez, and Ken Cloude. Anaheim's Todd Greene has been dropped from this feature until his injured shoulder heals, or he switches positions and makes it to the bigs. That may be this season, it may not. In his place, Tampa Bay's Rolando Arrojo has been added, and will be profiled each month with the other guys.

Ben Grieve
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
89	348	67	108	26	2	12	55	50	62	1	2	.408	.500	.310

Well on his way to the AL Rookie of the Year Award, the 22-year old Grieve is having a good, great, awesome, incredible year... I've run out of adjectives to describe him. He's getting on at over a .400 clip, almost unheard of for a player his age. He's still striking out quite a bit, but who cares? He's also walked 50 times, and those K's should come down once he learns AL pitchers and umpires. In trying to compare him to other players at his age, Grieve isn't quite at Frank Thomas level (the Big Hurt posted a .454 OBP his first year), but he isn't far off. He's ahead of where Barry Bonds was at 22, and about on par with Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey hit for more power at that age, but didn't have the plate discipline Grieve does. Of course by then, Griffey was already in his fourth full season in the majors. Anyway you slice it, Grieve is going to be a star in this league for years to come.

Magglio Ordonez
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
82	302	41	84	14	1	10	40	14	36	5	3	.319	.430	.278

Something must have clicked for the 24 year old Ordonez, who has increased his OBP each month this season. Same goes for his slugging percentage, other than a slight dip in June. He still isn't walking enough, having drawn just 14 all season. That's just half the bad news - after drawing 9 walks in April, he earned just one free pass in May and two in June. Fortunately, he hasn't struck out that much either, leading you to believe that he may just be an aggressive hitter, not one with poor plate discipline. A right-handed batter, he's killed left-handed pitching this season, but has yet to adjust to righties who pound him inside with fastballs and then tempt him with breaking balls away.

Ken Cloude
G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	W	L	ERA
18	18	0	0	95.2	109	64	61	17	48	69	1.64	5	7	5.74

Walks and home runs, home runs and walks. When you're a hitter those are good things, for a pitcher not so much. Cloude gives up too many of each, and it's kept him from being effective all season, in addition to his inconsistency. Then, just when you're ready to write him off as a bust, he turns in a performance like he did Monday night at the KingDome. Eight innings, eight hits, two earned runs, no home runs, three walks and four strikeouts. I'm still holding out hope for Cloude. Why? Bartolo Colon. Colon has been the Indians' ace this season, but check out his numbers last season. They're remarkably similar to Cloude's 1998. Similar K:BB ratio, WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), and they're both power pitchers. Cloude doesn't hit 98 MPH on the radar gun like Colon does, but he has better control of his off-speed pitches. So far Lou Piniella has resisted the temptation to send Cloude down to AAA, and I applaud him for that. Much like Colon's breakout 1998, I expect Cloude to put it all together in 1999.

Rolando Arrojo
G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	WHIP	W	L	ERA
19	19	2	2	127.2	116	44	43	10	28	100	1.13	10	6	3.03

It almost seems unfair to compare the Devil Rays' ace to other rookies, because he's way ahead of the pack. Arrojo does what it takes to be effective - keeping runners off the basepaths. The league has just a.300 OBP against him, due in part to just 28 walks in 127.2 innings. His K:BB ratio is slightly better than 3.5:1, and while this number isn't quite Madduxian, it's darn good. He has an outside chance to win 20 games (figure he'll get 16 more starts), and he'd be the first expansion pitcher to do so. Even if he doesn't, he'll go down in the record books as the best starter ever on a first-year team. If any opposing managers are reading this, take note: the way to beat the Cuban import is to get after him early. He allows hitters nearly a .900 OPS in the first inning, but after that the number drops below .700. He's especially tough late in the game, having allowed just one walk after the seventh inning (13 games).

Jason Michael Barker is currently conducting market research in order to determine what the fans want in a new line of ballpark food. Let him know what you think about Alligator on a Stick, Pie in a Bag, and Pizza in a Cup, or feel free to suggest something else to jmb@strikethree.com if you think his ideas bite.