| RANK | PITCHERS | AGE | IP | F12 | |
| 1 | Adam Wainwright | 31 | 72.00 | 32.523 | |
| 2 | Clayton Kershaw* | 25 | 73.33 | 32.252 | |
| 3 | Matt Harvey | 24 | 70.00 | 31.947 | |
| 4 | Anibal Sanchez | 29 | 64.33 | 31.287 | |
| 5 | Felix Hernandez | 27 | 69.67 | 31.128 | |
| 6 | Jordan Zimmermann | 27 | 73.67 | 31.028 | |
| 7 | Clay Buchholz | 28 | 72.67 | 30.849 | |
| 8 | A.J. Burnett | 36 | 70.00 | 30.770 | |
| 9 | Shelby Miller | 22 | 57.00 | 30.427 | |
| 10 | Max Scherzer | 28 | 62.33 | 30.245 | |
| 11 | Yu Darvish | 26 | 66.67 | 30.139 | |
| 12 | James Shields | 31 | 73.00 | 30.015 | |
| 13 | Patrick Corbin* | 23 | 62.33 | 29.862 | |
| 14 | Cliff Lee* | 34 | 72.67 | 29.645 | |
| 15 | Hisashi Iwakuma | 32 | 64.67 | 29.487 | |
| 16 | Chris Sale* | 24 | 64.00 | 29.392 | |
| 17 | Justin Masterson | 28 | 76.00 | 29.383 | |
| 18 | Mark Melancon | 28 | 25.00 | 29.343 | |
| 19 | Madison Bumgarner* | 23 | 65.33 | 28.905 | |
| 20 | Lance Lynn | 26 | 61.00 | 28.724 | |
| 21 | Justin Wilson* | 25 | 28.00 | 28.540 | |
| 22 | Jeff Samardzija | 28 | 63.67 | 28.412 | |
| 23 | Doug Fister | 29 | 54.67 | 28.391 | |
| 24 | Stephen Strasburg | 24 | 64.33 | 28.305 | |
| 25 | Homer Bailey | 27 | 58.33 | 28.209 | |
| 26 | Justin Verlander | 30 | 59.00 | 28.195 | |
| 27 | Mike Minor* | 25 | 58.33 | 28.049 | |
| 28 | Derek Holland* | 26 | 60.00 | 28.026 | |
| 29 | Jon Lester* | 29 | 65.67 | 27.955 | |
| 30 | Travis Wood* | 26 | 60.33 | 27.627 | |
| 31 | Ervin Santana | 30 | 63.00 | 27.613 | |
| 32 | Jake Peavy | 32 | 51.67 | 27.547 | |
| 33 | Mat Latos | 25 | 65.33 | 27.458 | |
| 34 | Alex Cobb | 25 | 59.33 | 27.383 | |
| 35 | Hiroki Kuroda | 38 | 60.67 | 27.302 | |
| 36 | Tommy Milone* | 26 | 64.00 | 27.134 | |
| 37 | Hyun-jin Ryu* | 26 | 62.67 | 27.123 | |
| 38 | Ricky Nolasco | 30 | 61.33 | 26.947 | |
| 39 | Paul Maholm* | 31 | 61.33 | 26.916 | |
| 40 | Drew Smyly* | 24 | 29.00 | 26.899 | |
| 41 | John Lackey | 34 | 39.67 | 26.743 | |
| 42 | Bronson Arroyo | 36 | 66.33 | 26.702 | |
| 43 | CC Sabathia* | 32 | 65.67 | 26.658 | |
| 44 | Jerome Williams | 31 | 46.33 | 26.636 | |
| 45 | Gio Gonzalez* | 27 | 59.00 | 26.594 | |
| 46 | Matt Moore* | 24 | 55.00 | 26.593 | |
| 47 | Trevor Cahill | 25 | 64.00 | 26.487 | |
| 48 | Jose Fernandez | 20 | 49.00 | 26.346 | |
| 49 | Bartolo Colon | 40 | 54.33 | 26.301 | |
| 50 | Kyle Kendrick | 28 | 65.67 | 26.298 |

Jon Niese has become an above-average major league pitcher and was considered the ace of the Mets until Matt Harvey exploded onto the scene. The lefty started Opening Day at Citi Field in 2013, earning a W against the Padres.
Niese’s signature pitch is his huge curveball. It’s a big breaker that drops from 11 to 5 and buckles LHs knees. Jon sets up his curve with a quality fastball/cutter combination. He throws both pitches to either side of the plate, to any hitter, with good control of the corners. He routinely comes inside to RHs in an attempt to induce weak contact off the bat handle. His fourth pitch is his changeup, a pitch that has he’s using more often in 2013. In the past, Niese would file away his changeup at different points in the season and go multiple appearances without showing it.
Niese grew up in Defiance, Ohio, and was born on the same night the Mets won Game Seven of the 1986 World Series. The Mets drafted Niese in the 7th round of the 2005 draft, and he quickly climbed through the minor league system, succeeding at every level.
[fastball(87-94), cutter(84-91), curve(71-77), changeup(81-85)]

Mike Leake became the first starting pitcher to skip the minor leagues since Jim Abbott. Or was he? Leake played in the 2009 Arizona Fall League, so technically that was his first taste of professional baseball. As an amateur, Mikey dominated college baseball during his three years at Arizona State, compiling a 40-5 record on the mound.
Leake is a little guy with an assortment of pitches. He’ll mix his five pitches in an attempt to dizzy hitters into confusion. To try and get a quick out, Leake will throw a 2-seamer around 90 mph and a cutter at similar velocity. If he finds himself ahead in the count, Mike likes to break his slider on the glove side of home plate to get a swing and miss. Leake also has a changeup and curveball. The curve will blend with the slider velocity at times. Leake has had good command and control his entire pitching life, and could have himself a long career as an athletic junkballer.
[2-seam fastball(87-93), cutter(87-91), slider(80-84), curve(78-81), changeup(81-85)]
The Next Japanese Phenom: Shohei Otani
Shohei Otani, a 18-year-old with an upper-90s fastball, made his Nippon Pro Baseball debut this morning for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. And yeah, I was up at 5AM to watch it.
Otani has already made plenty of news in Japan. After his impressive high school career Shohei announced that he would skip the Nippon League altogether, therefore bypassing the posting system and sign with a Major League organization. The Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, Dodgers, and Orioles were all said to be interested.
Otani told the NPB clubs not to bother drafting him because he wouldn’t sign. The Fighters selected him in the first round anyway, after which Otani said, “I’m grateful that they appreciate me, but it doesn’t change my desire to play in America”.
Then, due to cultural and family pressures, and the possibility of some shady back-room dealings, Otani agreed to a deal with Hokkaido Nippon-Ham.
Here’s a little write-up of what I saw this morning….
The 6’4″, 190 lb right-hander threw 5 innings today, allowed six hits, two runs, three walks and struck out two. Wearing Yu Darvish‘s #11, Otani showed some outstanding velocity but is clearly in need of some refinements. He stuggled with his control at times and lacked an effective put-away pitch.
Otani is athletic and has a fluid delivery that produced a 90-98 mph fastball. He used a slurvy slider (76-83 mph) as his second pitch, breaking it away from right-handed hitters and trying to backdoor it to lefties. Shohei flipped a couple of 63 mph curveballs as well. The uber-prospect did not throw any splitters, a pitch that almost every Japanese pitcher features. In fact, Otani didn’t show any type of offspeed pitch at all.
[ fastball(90-98), slider(76-83), curve(63) ]
After a few years working on his craft in the NPB, MLB teams may come calling again.




Clifton was drafted three seperate times before he finally decided to sign with the Montreal Expos in 2000. As an amateur, Lee pitched for Meridian Community College in Mississippi and the University of Arkansas. In 2002, he was part of the famous trade involving himself, 


