A Rising Star and a Falling Legend

Kyle Davies had another nice start for Atlanta. The kid looks like the real deal. He throws a low-to-mid 90’s fastball which is a bit straight but he spots it well, which, as Leo Mazzone will tell you, is the key to good pitching. He also packs a wicked change-up—a surprisingly mature pitch for a 21-year-old—which he used to embarrass Mike Piazza in the fourth inning with two men on base and to pick apart the heart of the Red Sox lineup last week in his major league debut. So far, so good: 2 starts, 10.1 innings, 12 K’s, no runs, 2 wins. If he can learn to keep his pitch count down, Davies should be a solid number two starter in a couple of years. More importantly and unfortunately for the rest of the NL East, he helps the Braves gimp along until Mike Hampton returns to the rotation.

Piazza, by the way, looked horrible the entire series. He fouled back several clearly hittable balls left up in the strike zone, and had some funny-looking swings on outside breaking stuff. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Marcus Giles lit him up for three stolen bases—and we’re not exactly talking about Ichiro on the base paths here.

It saddens me to write this, but Piazza is no longer the type of hitter who inspires fear in opposing pitchers, nor will he likely ever be again. His OPS has steadily declined for the past five years. It’s a shame, because in his prime Piazza hit the ball harder than anyone in baseball. He was fun to watch. He’s still a first-ballot hall-of-famer, but at 36 I don’t see him turning it around. The Mets would do well to see if any AL teams are interested in a DH.