Armando Galarraga 2009

One of my readers commented on my post on Mike Pelfrey that he's a similar pitcher to Armando Galarraga. I don't completely agree that they'll put up similar stats, but they are probably about equally good pitchers. Galarraga has a slightly better K/BB ratio (6.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9) and is doing it in the tougher league. Pelfrey makes up for that by doing a better job of keeping the ball on the ground - Galarraga had a 43.5% groundball rate last season...not bad, but significantly worse than Pelfrey. I would expect Galarraga to be solid again in 2009, although he may be drafted higher than he deserves based on his very lucky 3.73 ERA in 2008. He's also young enough that there could be substantial (and rapid) improvement in his future. As with any young pitcher, the best early indicator of an improving skill set is the K/9 rate.