Ryan Vogelsong - Best story in baseball?

[demolition23]

Dude has an undistinguished career from 2000 - 2006, with his only season as a regular starter resulting in a 6 -13 record and 6.50 ERA. Apart from 6 scoreless innings in his first season he never had an ERA south of 4.43.

A bit of surgery, 3 years in Japan, bounced around a couple of MLB teams before being called up by the Giants to replace the injured Zito, and...

Dude has a 9-1 record after 18 starts, with a 2.19 ERA.


Sure, he could well fade, or be on some sort of super 'roids, but right now it' some Disney movie shit.

[demolition23]

And yeah, I've only even heard of him because he's on one of my fantasy teams now.

[WTF]

or be on some sort of super 'roids,

That's what I was thinking.

[killeverything]

Interesting. I was just wondering about this actually. I went stomping around of fangraphs, because if someone is doing something out of the ordinary. They're the ones to try to explain it.

Tony Rancel looked at his numbers and feels a regression is likely, but his peripherals don't hint at it. I'm wondering if Hardball Times is going discuss this in their annual. In the 2010 edition they look at the emergence of Cliff Lee. I wonder if it's the same with Vogelsong. With Lee he just started locating and mixing in his slider more.

I don't think the information is out there yet to make an accurate analysis, small sample size and all that. It's intriguing though.

[demolition23]

Yeah, I'm not saying he's an emerging superstar or anything, but while 18 starts isn't a lot to go on, plenty of really good pitchers have never carried such a low ERA this deep into the season. Of course, he's not that far away from passing his previous highest inning tally so it will be interesting to see what he's doing come September. Fascinating regardless.

[ParaDime77]

Before The Franchise on Showtime, nobody gave two shits about him other than his whiny fucking wife. Lemme guess, you watch that show.

[demolition23]

Before The Franchise on Showtime, nobody gave two shits about him other than his whiny fucking wife. Lemme guess, you watch that show.

And yeah, I've only even heard of him because he's on one of my fantasy teams now.

I have no idea what that show is. And I imagine plenty of people give a shit about a 2.19 ERA after 18 games, regardless of whatever other press he's getting.