I spoke on yesterday's Sportsmemo Podcast about some of Minnesota's young starting pitchers. Of the current three – Scott Diamond, PJ Walters and Cole De Vries – none are considered “highly touted” nor are they all that “young” being 25, 27 and 27 respectively. But while Diamond and Walters had thrown a few innings at the MLB level prior to this year, it appears that the trio has had somewhat of an advantage this season in facing various teams for the first time. Despite being 13 games under .500 for the year, the Twins are 10-4 +9.2 units when the trio starts. That is obviously better than the 10-21 record the team has when Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano and Nick Blackburn toss. The problem though is how is the trio going to handle facing teams for a second and third time? Like a lot of Minnesota pitchers, Diamond, Walters and De Vries don't miss a lot of bats and have displayed average velocity. Combined, they've posted 53 strikeouts in 85 innings. That worries me when innings and fatigue start to become factors later in the season – assuming that they make it that far.
