Elly De La Cruz 30 - 75 season ?

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-13-2024, 10:09 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The emergence of Hunter Greene as a true ace has been the other. These are the two guys you build around.

He's show the potential to be one, but I think the term ace gets slapped on players far too casually. Up there with "elite" in football. You need to prove it multiple years to be an ace and being the #1 pitcher in a rotation doesn't mean you're an ace either.

If Greene finishes the season strong and then follows it up with another good one, I will be cheering "Ace!" along with you. Just seems a bit preemptive when just at the end of June only 1.5 months ago folks on here were talking about how Lodolo is our clear #1 and future ace because he had a 2.96 ERA (now 3.99) and Greene had a 3.70 ERA (now 2.83).

About this time in 2019 Luis Castillo (also his 3rd season) had a 2.63 ERA and people were saying "Ace!" and then from his Aug 11th start onwards he had a 5.37 ERA over his last 9 starts to finish at 3.40 ERA and never really found the ability to be an ace in his career despite being a very good pitcher who is still going strong.

I also remember Blake Snell winning the Cy Young his 3rd year (same year Greene currently is in) and then having a 3.85 ERA over the next 4 years. Being an ace is about consistent dominance.