Here's how you finish a baseball pitch, Blake, Daniel

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I/O:  Zduriencik asked, hey, what's so good about Hultzen.  Sleep-deprived free association was? ....  "96 mph."

CRUNCH:  This is not at all my first impression of what Hultzen's pitcher template is; it's Taro's.  Huh.  

Z said, more specifically, they gave Hultzen so much money because "He's 96 miles an hour lefty, he's real short to the big leagues and he's got TWO good offspeed pitches."

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Hey.  You start talking about $10M* to Danny Hultzen for six club-controls years ... vs whatever free agent money gets you ... well, an average ML starter is going to be worth about $10M per season in FA dollars.

Like we had argued on Strasburg:  spending $20M or $30M, for a draft pick that you are truly confident in, that's "no-brainer" all the way.  Really the only reason not to give Danny Hultzen $10M, or twice that, is industry salary structure.

You're telling me that you wouldn't give Dustin Ackley $30M for his first three years?  If you dunno, you better ax somebody.

The draft is broken.  Some of these guys are worth two, or three, or five, times their signing bonuses in absolute terms.  Makes our job easy.  We root for the sign, at any price.

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I/O:  Hultzen with one of the all-time great ACC pitching careers -- thrown with an ML skill set.

CRUNCH:  It's like two college quarterbacks, one who has a college skill set and another that Mel Kiper will call "a pro-style pocket passer."

Hultzen's game couldn't be more pro-style.  Here's the series on Z-axis lefties.  In essence, if a LHP throws 90+ with real good location and a real good change speed game, he figures to be Cole Hamels.  Hamels was a star in the major leagues at Hultzen's age next year.

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SSI doesn't say that Hultzen is a Lincecum-type lock to splash first year.  But we /cosign on letting him come to camp and show you what he's got.

If Danny Hultzen is one of the Mariners' five best, so be it.  When a pitcher is throwing great, you let him throw great.  You have no idea where his arm is going to be in seven years.

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I/O.  Anything else?

CRUNCH:  Back in the 1980's, Bill James' "secret weapon" used to be Pitcher IQ.  Not baseball IQ:  actual book intelligence.

An NFL team wouldn't think of starting a moron at quarterback.  Pitching is offense -- offense is about thinking; defense is about quickness and reaction.

Hultzen, a kid from a surgeon family, is probably more Trevor Bauer-esque than Taro would care to admit.  ;- )

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Dr's Prognosis:  IFF Hultzen has plus ML command right now, and IFF his change is roughly as good as advertised, you can easily afford to let him learn in the big leagues.

Here's a pitcher who wouldn't need to hit the ground at 900 miles an hour, the way Michael Pineda had to hit the ground as an All-Star.

Hultzen wouldn't have to be a 130 ERA+ pitcher in 2012.  You could take his 110-115 ERA+ the first year, and the 135 in year two and every year after.  That's what Cole Hamels did.

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