Andrew Moore caught too much of the zone for a guy who can throw a pitch anywhere he wants to in his first exposure to the bigs, and has that learning curve to go. Marco is in a similar pattern, and his fastball got slapped around by guys who'd barely seen him on tape. Maybe I'm just soured from remembering all the no-name AAAA players who made one of their first starts against us and obliterated us, but Marco didn't get that same leeway from the Royals.
I agree with you though in that I think the raw parts are there for a decent back-end starter. Like you said, if he gets his pitch mix right and does pitch backwards while working the corners with 90+ mph heat (well, 90 in the old days of measuring but still) he could put some starts together. I hope that begins with his next start.
I just fear he has some adjustment time, as Moore does, and that it may be more of a bouncy to-and-from-Tacoma process than we would like... or can afford in August and September.