Porcello off to flying start with Tigers
Porcello did, however, show why the Tigers spent the 27th pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft on him and signed him to a package worth $7 million. Porcello, all of 19, is in the Florida Instructional League working on becoming more of a pitcher rather than just a thrower, which doesn't bode well for the batters he's likely to face next year in the Double-A Eastern League.
The Lakeland ace finished with a modest 8-6 record in 24 starts but led the Florida State League with a 2.66 ERA. Porcello struck out 72 and walked only 33 in 125 innings, totals that would have been much higher had he not been working on a pitch count this season.
The Tigers won't keep the youngster on such a short leash next season, so those numbers should improve across the board. Add in the work he's doing this month with Detroit's roving instructors and it should be a fun 2009 season in Erie.
"Things have been going well so far," Porcello said of instructs. "I knew there was stuff they wanted me to work on and that this was the best place for that. I'm working on my breaking ball here and getting a more consistent feel for it. There's also some stuff with arm speed and arm angle and I'm working on my four-seamer as well.
"I want to incorporate that more in the two-strike count. With the four-seamers, I'll be able to change the look instead of just sticking two-seamers in there. The hard part will be doing all that after pitching the way I've been pitching for so long. I have to train my brain to go with the breaking ball. I lost my feel for the breaking ball at the beginning of the summer but I got it back by the end. And it feels good here."
It's not surprising to hear that Porcello started to get a better feel for his pitches toward the end of the season when you look at the numbers. He was at his best over the final five weeks of the season, going 5-0 in his last 12 starts. He had a 1.74 ERA over his final six starts, a span of 31 innings.
Porcello never went more than six innings in any one start this year and only equaled that mark seven times. But he showed poise and promise from his first start at Tampa in April to his last start in August at Ft. Myers, overcoming some hard luck in the early going to become one of the circuit's most dominating pitchers over the final six weeks of the season.
His big finish was quite a contrast to the 1-4 record he sported after six April starts, despite allowing only eight earned runs and holding the opposition to a .198 batting average.
"I thought I pitched well and my record didn't show it all the time," said Porcello, who is still in Lakeland taking part in the Florida Instructional League. "I threw some good games but there was a stretch when we weren't scoring. But after April things started to turn around. I put up some wins the rest of the way. But April was a tough month."
While the results were better after the season's first month, there were other rough patches along the way. Porcello admits that he was a little tired before the All-Star break and that his pitches had lost a bit of their velocity. But a few days off during the break and some time in between starts clearly rejuvenated him.
The rejuvenation period -- remember, he had only played a high school schedule prior to this year -- was yet another reason why he finished up so strong.
"There were some difficulties this year," he said. "It was definitely a lot harder to strike out a batter, that sort of thing. Certain things were easier than I expected, too. I knew going in it was going to be a long season and that I was going to have to pace myself. So I had to try to not air it out too soon in Spring Training.
"I have a workout regimen in place and I have an idea now what my body will respond to. I don't think I could have had myself do anything different this year. I'm proud of the year I had and I'm going to build off it here [instructs] and get better."
Kevin Czerwinski is a reporter for MLB.com.