Anthony Reyes 2009

Anthony Reyes is a pretty good example of how things can go wrong for a young pitching prospect, even without major arm problems. In 2005 (at age 23), he struck out 9.5 and walk 2.4 per nine innings at AAA, and looked like a sure thing to be an excellent major league pitcher. However, four years later, he's still a borderline major legaue talent, and it appears that his skills have gradually declined. After being traded last season, he put up an extremely weak 4.1/3.3 K/BB/9 in Cleveland in 34 innings. Hopefully the elbow problems that eventually ended his season were something that can be fixed by rest. In any case, at age 27, it's now clear that Reyes will never be a star, but he should have a chance to start the season as a member of the extremely weak Cleveland rotation in 2009. Keep an eye on his K/9 ratio in late April to determine whether the elbow is still bothering him. If it's down near 4.0, then he probably has surgery in his future. If it's up around 6.0 then he's probably ok, and capable of being a moderately effective pitcher.