Scott Richmond

I am really intrigued by this starting pitcher on the Toronto Blue Jays. While I know hes nothing besides average, I think it's great to see a guy come up from the minors and succeed, kind of like in the same way Aaron Small did when he was on the Yankees. In order for the Jays to be successful this year, they are going to need some of their young guys to step up. They have been dealt with such a handful of injuries to their pitching staff that this is going to be a necessity until they can come back healthy.

A closer look on Richmond. He is a 28 year old guy from North Vancouver, BC. He is the first Canadian pitcher to appear for Toronto since Paul Quantrill made his debut in 2001.

His repertoire of pitches consists of a fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, change-up and curve. I have seen some clips of his curveball and it is as sick as a 12-6 curve can get. What I have read online is that it is his strongest pitch that he uses to get out lefties.

This is what they had to say in 2008 when he was called up:

"TOR: RHP Scott Richmond (0-0, -.-- ERA)
Richmond was summoned from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday, when the Jays placed Tallet on the DL. The 28-year-old Richmond will be making his Major League debut on Wednesday. The Jays have indicated that the right-hander will be a part of the rotation for at least the time being. Richmond replaces Parrish, who was moved to the bullpen. In Double-A New Hampshire, Richmond was 5-8 with a 4.95 ERA. After being promoted to Syracuse, he went 0-2 with a 2.53 ERA, holding opponents to a .210 (25-for-119) average. He walked six and struck out 31 across 35 innings."

He was called up last year and I think I can recall him pitching a game against the Yankees. Of his 5 appearances in 2008, he had a record of 1-3 with an ERA of 4.00. This is a small sample size and would be hard to make any positive or negative assumptions about the type of pitcher he truly is. It is also noted that he pitched a CG shutout in '08, but when I looked further into that it was against the Orioles and was a game that was shortened in the 6th inning due to rain.

He made the team in 2009 out of spring training. He is 4-0 with an era of 2.70. His wins have come against Texas, Minnesota, Baltimore, and Kansas City- so you can take what you want from those stats. I have read from sites such as THIS in which they state Richmond is somewhat overrated and is tired easily.

While he obviously isn't an ace and isn't going to be at the top of the rotation, I say give the guy a chance.