The Cardinals signed traveling Miles Mikolas to a significant deal:
As momentum starts to build for a winter that they hope will reshape their roster, the Cardinals signed Mikolas to a two-year contract Tuesday that will guarantee the righthanded starter $15.5 million. A native of the Jupiter, Fla., area who came to Cardinals spring training games as a boy, Mikolas, 29, returns to the majors for the first time since 2014 and after three resounding seasons in Japan’s top league. He went 14-8 this past season for Yomiuri with a 2.25 ERA and eight strikeouts for every walk.
“Our scouts have watched him as he refined his repertoire, improved his velocity and became one of the most effective pitchers in Japan the last couple (of) seasons,” wrote general manager Michael Girsch in an email.
In his time in the North American major leagues, Mikolas posted a walk rate a bit too high, a walk rate a bit too low, and did not keep the ball in the park. His last ten MLB games were starts, and there were a number of terrible ones in that group.
His first year in Japan, he got his walk rate way down. In his second year, he raised his strikeout rate. Both of those came together in his third season, and he reduced home runs as well. He pitched well enough that the Cardinals believe he will be a one-WAR player this year and next.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2nzYUQA
No comments:
Post a Comment