Hector Noesi Called Up To Trenton

Written by Greg Fertel | 17 May 2010

In case you hadn't heard, the Yankees promoted right-hander Hector Noesi from Tampa to Trenton yesterday. John Nalbone thinks that it is time to crank up the hype machine for Noesi. While Noesi has been a personal favorite of mine for a while due to his great strikeout and walk skills, I'm not sure we should get too excited just yet.

When I ranked Noesi as the Yankees' 11th best prospect this past offseason, I actually assumed that he would begin the year in Trenton. I don't want to take anything away from what Noesi has done in Tampa so far, as his line was great:

43 IP, 35 H, 13 ER, 3 HR, 6 BB, 53 K, 2.72 ERA, 2.06 FIP

But the thing is that Noesi was nearly as good in 41 innings in Tampa last season, when he posted a 2.57 FIP. When Noesi started the year at Tampa, we should have expected dominance from him, and that is what we received. He's 23-years-old, which is older than much of his competition, and mainly gets by with command and good secondary stuff.

With that combination, it was extremely predictable that Noesi would just eat up FSL hitters. Again, I don't want to take anything away from him, I just want to put his hot start in perspective. Right now, I don't view Noesi much differently than I did a month ago.

Besides for a few innings in 2007, Noesi has never really been challenged in professional ball. Heading to AA Trenton is a big jump, and this is when we'll really see what Noesi is made of. It's been a long time coming, and I look forward to seeing how Noesi's game translates to the next level.

As the Yankees bring Noesi up, they simultaneously have moved Ryan Pope to the bullpen. Pope received some hype during spring training as reports of his added velocity led to optimism throughout the organization. Things did not go as planned, and Pope really struggled out of the Trenton rotation:

37 IP, 38 H, 21 ER, 4 HR, 17 BB, 23 K, 5.11 ERA, 4.74 FIP

After a strong first start where he struck out seven and walked one, things really went downhill and there was no other positive signs. Pope was never really much of a prospect, so the bullpen is a better place for him. If he was going to make it to the majors at any point, it was likely to be as a reliever anyway.

Pope got into his first game since being moved to the bullpen yesterday and did a phenomenal job, striking out four batters in two perfect innings. That's an encouraging sign for Pope, and maybe he will be able to do a good job out of the 'pen. Over the past few years we've seen how much more effective a pitcher can be when he can utilize his best pitches in short bursts. It looks like both the Trenton rotation and Bullpen just got a whole lot stronger.

Photo Credit: wayne.koehler