A Tale of Two Pitchers

It’s unfortunate that Thursday night’s game is not on TV. No, not the Mariners game. That one’s on TV (perhaps unfortunately, as the M’s square off against the Red Sox and Franklin Morales—a strikeout machine so far this season). I’m talking about the Rainiers! You might notice that the Rainiers and Mariners have exactly the same number of wins, and that in both cases that is a bad thing. What you might not have noticed, and what I didn’t notice until Harrison retweeted this little nugget, is the very-possible pitching matchup for that game in Tacoma:

Jamie Moyer versus Danny Hultzen.

The 49-year-old that pitched 2,093 innings in a Mariners uniform will face our 22-year-old, first-round pick in the 2011 draft, a guy we hope pitches at least half that many innings of Moyeresque quality for Seattle. Let’s have some more fun with the numbers…

During his Mariner career, Moyer faced 8,802 batters over parts of 11 seasons. During his brief collegiate and professional career, Hultzen has faced 1,587 batters over parts of 4 seasons, and probably hasn’t faced 8,000 batters in his life.

Over that time, Moyer maintained an ERA of 3.97. Hultzen, a 1.99 ERA.

During Moyer’s best strikeout season, he sat down 158 batters in 234 innings. Hultzen struck out 165 batters in just 118 innings last year for the Cavaliers. Side note: Moyer set the single-season strikeout record at St. Joseph’s University with 90 strikeouts in 1984. Double side note: The St. Joseph’s baseball mascot is not the Soft-Tosser, if you were curious.

During his Mariners career, Moyer threw 25 wild pitches. Hultzen has already thrown 21 wild pitches between college and the minors.

As a hitter, Moyer has slashed .128/.199/.140 for his career. Hultzen slashed .313/.402/.431 at Virginia. Moyer never once hit a home run. Hultzen hit four.  Too bad Hultzen doesn’t get to hit anymore.

Moyer finished 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th in the AL Cy Young voting in 2001, 2003, and 1999, respectively. Hultzen won the John Olerud Two-Way Award, and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award in 2011—an award once won by the likes of Tim Lincecum, and an award for which the M’s 2012 first-round pick is now also a finalist.

This minor league matchup pits the M’s 3^rd best pitcher by fWAR ever up against a kid who has exactly 0.0 WAR. I wish I could be there. Someone go for me.