There is nothing quite as exciting as a well-regarded pitching prospect. Why this is the case is a bit of a mystery, given the unpleasant truth behind the nihilistic acronym TINSTAAP - “There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.” They get hurt, they turn out bad, or both. Yet when you start dreaming about your pitching prospects, those all seem like distant problems that happen to other people’s pitchers.
I find myself thinking about all of this as I ponder a farewell to Kevin Gausman, Oriole. Gausman was in a very real way the most exciting draft pick that the Orioles ever got to make in the Dan Duquette era.