Two Rookie Pitchers.

Jordan Zimmerman, pitching for the woeful skidmark/lastplace team of the Nats\' that\'s gone largely underevaluated until his hype-bomb blew up a few weeks ago with his spring training performances

vs

Brett Anderson, pitching in Trevor Cahill\'s shadow, and currently on the active roster as the 4th/5th starter in the cavern of Oakland - has more control, but possibly less K\'s than Zimm\'

So...
-both have a spot in the rotation shored up for now,
-both are highly touted prospects,
-both are young enough to send back to the minors no problem,
-both can lend K\'s and quality fantasy numbers from the 4/5th starter on your fantasy squad


Who would you want and why?

I think Zimmermann is a case of hype catching up with him. Its not like the Nats get a lot of attention to begin with, but aside from him, their farm is a wreck too, so it just seemed like he got no love. But if you look at the #s, very solid. He threw 125 innings, he Ked more than a batter per inning with solid command, fewer hits than IP. Scouts like him, but he just wasn\'t noticed until this spring and he caught everyone off guard.

Anderson, however, though he was in Cahill\'s shadow, got a lot more attention in one of the most lauded farm systems in the game. He was similar, crossing A+ and AA last year with success, though he didn\'t spend as much time in AA.

From a prospect analysis standpoint, I\'m more interested in Anderson, though I like them both. He\'s further ahead of the age curve, and overall he\'s not far behind. Being big and lefty helps too. The upside of Anderson and fact that he\'s developmentally right on Zimmerman\'s heels makes him the more interesting prospect.

However, from a fantasy standpoint, at least for this year, I prefer Zimmermann. He\'s older, and though smaller, probably a bit more physically developed and more prepared to handle his share of big league innings. And being that its the Nationals, there\'s no reason he shouldn\'t be given the chance to finish developing at the big league level. If the A\'s are competitive and Anderson isn\'t at least average, he probably shouldn\'t spend the whole year in the majors. The Nats will have no such issue. Plus, the Nats new park isn\'t exactly small, and its the NL, though the NL East is the closest to an AL division offensively, especially when you don\'t face the Nationals.

Anderson, for this year and future years. Oakland\'s pitching coaches seem to be able to get the most out of their pitchers.

Between the two, Zimmerman and Anderson have similar experience. They both played high A ball and AA. Zimmerman had some control issues once being promoted to AA ball, and his K/9 went down.

Anderson on the other hand has seen his dominance rise roughly a strikeout and has shown that he can throw the ball for strikes.

I do think both will have their ups and downs, but think Zimmerman will have more control issues than Anderson.

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Keeper League:

F) N.Backstrom, E.Malkin, V.Lecavalier, P.Mueller, A.Mcdonald, B.Boyes, A.Hemsky, S.Horcoff, K.Turris, D.Jeffrey, M.Perreault, C.O'Reilly, S.Upshall, M.Erat, S.Gagne, D.Legwand D) S.Souray, M.Streit, A.Babchuk, T.Gilbert, I.Cole, J.Hillen, M.Methot G) B.Elliott, S.Varlamov, C.Ward, J.Reimer P) N.Kadri, E.Kuznetsov, S.Shirokov, V.Tarasenko, J.Blum, OEL, J.Moore, O.Pavelec

I agree long term, but I just don\'t think Anderson is ready for a big league work load. 30 innings at AA isn\'t enough time to draw conclusions about any of his rate stats at the level. Like I said, I don\'t think he\'s far behind, but I also don\'t think he\'ll be ready to be a full time big leaguer at 21. Remember Phil Hughes? He had a lot more AA innings and superior rates to Anderson at age 20, and at 21 when they tried to start him in the bigs, he just wasn\'t ready.

Again you\'re comparing someone that was a blue chip prospect about to step into New York. I think the situation is a little different. New York has done nothing to prove to me that they can get the most out of their prospects.

I think Oakland will be careful with Anderson and Cahill no doubt. I\'d still rather have Anderson this year over Zimmerman.

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Keeper League:

F) N.Backstrom, E.Malkin, V.Lecavalier, P.Mueller, A.Mcdonald, B.Boyes, A.Hemsky, S.Horcoff, K.Turris, D.Jeffrey, M.Perreault, C.O'Reilly, S.Upshall, M.Erat, S.Gagne, D.Legwand D) S.Souray, M.Streit, A.Babchuk, T.Gilbert, I.Cole, J.Hillen, M.Methot G) B.Elliott, S.Varlamov, C.Ward, J.Reimer P) N.Kadri, E.Kuznetsov, S.Shirokov, V.Tarasenko, J.Blum, OEL, J.Moore, O.Pavelec

Guess we\'ll just have to agree to disagree on this one. When a guy is expected to be a big league rotation staple at 21 though, 30 AA innings the previous year just isn\'t enough to convince me of much.

Part of my point is that OAK will HAVE to be more careful with Anderson. If he even sniffs 130 innings he\'s going to become a huge risk moving forward. Zimmermann\'s two years older, and thus probably a bit more physically mature. He also throws a bit harder. Plus, there\'s no reason for WSH to go looking for an alternative if Zimmermann isn\'t particularly good, he\'ll get every chance to prove himself. With OAK, they could be buyers at the deadline, and if they wind up buying a pitcher, it\'ll probably be Anderson that gets sent down.

And believe me, this isn\'t meant to be a knock on Anderson, I just don\'t think he\'ll have much fantasy value this year. Zimmermann probably won\'t either, but he\'s a safer bet to rack up some innings at the least, which makes him more worthy of a flier in the last few rounds of a one year draft. He may already be the best pitcher the Nats having, and they won\'t have to be quite as cautious about monitoring his workload as the A\'s will with Anderson.

guys - awesome stuff.

i\'ve been scouring the prospect sites out there, checking in on any info on forums/comments and people usually jump over to talking about Cahill or some other guy after a while.

seems like both will be \"decent\" options this year - but we need to stay tuned for keeper/dynasty leagues for more concrete and investment value.

interesting call on Hughes too, from a #1 Yankee ace of the future to a \"boy, we\'re glad we have him as a #4/5\" type of guy and let him mature into more potentially with future team growth/movement.

Re-Visted:

This was a good argument.

Anderson: 5-7, 4.25 ERA, 1.28 WHIP
Zimmerman: 3-5, 4.63, 1.36 WHIP

So far a tight race. Anderson's little bump in win and ERA, is supplemented by Zimmerman's great strikeout rate. Both are going to be future ace's.