From the headline you might assume that I am down on Cole Irvin. “Throw the bum out of the rotation!” I can hear you hearing me say. But that is not the case. Watching Irvin today something came sharply into focus: Cole Irvin pacing himself and throwing mostly 89-90 MPH is a very flawed pitcher, but Cole Irvin throwing 93-94 MPH is darn effective.
Today’s game was, in fact, A Tale of Two Irvins. The lefty was knocked around a bit as he tried to finesse his way the first time through the line up, hanging a curve to Jared Walsh and then having all his offerings punished like a naughty schoolboy.