Seattle @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2010 ) Seattle 3, Toronto 5
For those teams that are clearly out of the playoff chase, the end of the season becomes a time to examine some prospects and set up for next season. The Toronto Blue Jays are doing just that.
The Blue Jays will give top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek his second career start when they take on the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.
Under first-year general manager Alex Anthopoulos, Toronto has come to the realization that if it ever hopes to compete with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East again, it needs to build from within.
It was with that in mind that he shipped franchise icon Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies last winter, receiving Drabek as part of the return package.
The 22-year-old right-hander is the son of 1990 Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek and features a fastball in the low 90s to go along with a sharp curveball and an improving changeup. Having overcome Tommy John surgery, 2009 was Drabek’s first full minor league season and he raced all the way to Class AA, prompting the Blue Jays to demand him in the trade.
Drabek spent all of the 2010 minor league season at Class AA New Hampshire, going 14-9 with a 2.94 ERA and 132 strikeouts to lead the Fisher Cats to the playoffs.
That performance earned him a September callup, and Drabek did well enough in his first big league start, allowing three runs and nine hits in six innings against the Baltimore Orioles last week. He struck out five and walked three but suffered the loss as the Orioles picked up a 3-1 victory.
A couple more strong appearances this month and a decent spring could lift Drabek into the 2011 rotation, where he would join Brandon Morrow, Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil and Shaun Marcum to form a strong corps of young arms.
Another young pitcher trying to earn his spot, Marc Rzepczynski, was on the mound Tuesday and held the Mariners to two runs over 6 1/3 innings to pick up a win in the series opener. Vernon Wells and Travis Snider each hit two-run homers and Edwin Encarnacion added a solo shot for Toronto, which leads the league in home runs.
Trying to keep them in the yard for Seattle will be right-hander David Pauley. The 27-year-old has been the recipient of very little support from his offense lately, posting an 0-4 record over his last five starts as the Mariners averaged less than three runs per game.
Pauley surrendered just one earned run against Boston last week but still took the loss in a 5-1 setback.