It’s time for everyone to start taking Brad Penny seriously. Sure, maybe I’m patting myself on the back a bit; after all, I had Penny rated higher than just about any other ranking system out there going into the season. My rather high-ranking looks awfully good now, but I’ve certainly had my misses as well (Adrian Beltre, anyone?).
Back to Penny, who is now 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. The 25/2 K/BB ratio in 24 innings is downright impressive. The thing is, his velocity is actually slightly down from a few years ago, which means maybe he is finally learning to “pitch.” Although three of his four starts have occurred at home, his most dominating one happened in Philadelphia, suggesting he might be for real this time.
Penny may finally be completely over the damaged biceps nerve from 2004, which even cost him the first three weeks of last season. Credit the new split-finger fastball for the early success. Penny, who looks at the radar gun MPH reading after nearly every fastball, has always had this potential. Although there’s no way he keeps the current pace, pitching in Dodger Stadium and in the NL West should allow him to remain rather valuable throughout the year.
Poor DePodesta, when Penny and Drew carry the Dodgers to the NL West title this year no one will remember those two as being key DePodesta acquisitions, and everyone will hail Colletti for the turnaround. By the way, since leaving the Dodgers, Mota’s ERA is 4.49; meanwhile, Brad Penny is poised to dominate the National League.
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