Hitting The Cutoff Man

Yesterday, I took a look at the best hitters in the game who are 25 years old or younger. Now it’s time to complete our 25-man roster with the pitching staff. To review, players must have been no older than 25 at the start of the calendar year and have at least 50 innings pitched at the Major League level.

Let’s get this going, and again, feel free to point out any oversights in the comments.

SP – Tim Lincecum, SF, 25 years old. This is as obvious as it gets. The University of Washington product has pitched two full seasons and won two Cy Youngs. Fangraphs has him as the most valuable pitcher in baseball over the past two years, by a comfortable margin over Roy Halladay. He is small of stature and has an unorthodox delivery, but to say it works for him would be a massive understatement.

SP – Felix Hernandez, SEA, 23. It seems like King Felix has been around for too long to be on this list, but he first came up at age 19. His development hasn’t always been smooth, but make no mistake: Hernandez is one of the best pitchers in the big leagues. He also took major strides in 2008, as he set what was easily a career-best in FIP (which stands for Fielding Independent Pitching, a stat that works on the same scale as ERA but only measures things a pitcher has complete control over: home runs, hit batters, walks and strikeouts). His 3.09 mark was 66 points better than his previous low.

SP – Josh Johnson, FLA, 25. Playing for the Marlins has kept his profile low, and injuries have caused him to miss much of two seasons. But since Johnson returned from the DL in the middle of 2008, he is 22-6, and last season he posted a 3.06 FIP. The 6-foot-7, 252-pound fireballer will draw a ton of interest if he stays relatively healthy until he hits free agency after the 2011 season.

SP – Clayton Kershaw, LAD, 21. Kershaw led all left-handed starters in FIP last season, finishing just ahead of Cliff Lee. He only gave up 119 hits in 171 innings while striking out 185, but had trouble with his control at times, walking 91. That number should improve as he learns to trust his stuff, which is terrific and includes a sizzling fastball and a huge hook.

SP – Jon Lester, BOS, 25. The Red Sox southpaw sneaks in just ahead of our age cutoff, as his 26th birthday was Jan. 7. Despite playing in Boston, Lester doesn’t get a ton of publicity, but Fangraphs has him as the ninth most valuable pitcher over the past two years, and he pitches in MLB’s toughest division.

RP – Tommy Hanson, ATL, 23. We’ll sneak in a sixth starter as our long reliever/ swing man. Hanson put on quite a show in 21 starts during his rookie season, posting a 2.89 ERA and a solid 3.50 FIP. The 116 strikeouts in 127.2 innings are evidence of his electric stuff.

RP – Jonathan Broxton, LAD, 25. Big Jon is our closer, as he was easily the most valuable reliever in baseball last season. Broxton just continues to get better, too. In his four full seasons, his FIP has progressed steadily, from 3.13 to 2.73 to 2.26 to 1.97.

RP – Joakim Soria, KC, 25. Playing in Kansas City keeps you anonymous, but Soria not only has one of the best nicknames in sports (The Mexicutioner); he’s one of the best closers around. The only relievers who have been worth more over the past three years are guys by the names of Rivera, Papelbon, Broxton and Nathan. Soria missed some time due to injury in 2009 but still saved 30 games and stuck out 69 in 53 innings.

RP – Andrew Bailey, OAK, 25. The 2009 American League Rookie of the Year wasn’t as good as his 1.84 ERA would indicate. But his 91 strikeouts and 49 hits allowed in 83.1 innings show that he’s still likely to be a force to be reckoned with in coming years.

RP – Luke Gregerson, SD, 25. Who? Gregerson had never pitched above Double-A until last season, when he came over from the St. Louis organization as a player to be named later in the trade that brought Khalil Greene to the Cards. As it turned out, Gregerson had a much better year than Greene, notching a 3.24 ERA in 72 games and striking out 93 in 75 innings. Due to a some bad luck on balls in play, he was actually even better than that, as his 2.50 FIP suggests.

RP – Phil Hughes, NYY, 23. The Yankees might put Hughes in the starting rotation this year, and it would be hard to argue with the decision. That said, the guy was outstanding out of the pen in 2009, posting a 1.40 ERA in 51.1 innings with an outstanding 65-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In the event he doesn’t develop into a solid starter, he has proven he is at least a shutdown reliever.