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MLB Baseball's Best Young Pitchers

The Cream of the Crop Among the Major League's Young Guns

Jun 4, 2007

From Cole Hamels to Felix hernandez, baseball has seen a recent explosion of top pitchers who are still under twenty-five years old.

In an era that is dominated by hitting, it is nice to see that some good youg pitchers have been making their Major league debuts over the past couple of seasons. While not every one of these seven youngsters will become Cy Young Award winners, some of them will surely become All-Stars and there may even be a 20 game winner or two in there. Here they are: Baseball's Best Young Pitchers. All pitchers are under 25 years old, and their age is listed in parentheses nect to their names.

Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies (23). Hamels is among the best young pitchers in the National League, and through the first 55 games of the season, he has firmly established himself as a Cy Young candidate. He leads the Senior Circuit in wins with 8, and he is second in strikeouts with 91, trailing Jake Peavy by just one. Without Hamels, the Phillies would be in big, big trouble.

Jonathan Broxton, Los Angeles Dodgers (22). The six-foot, four inch, 290 pound relief pitcher has been gold for the Dodgers' bullpen since he first came up to the Majors in 2005. This year, the big man has provided a strong and consistent bridge between the Dodgers' excellent rotation and its top closer, Takashi Saito.

Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians (23). The young Carmona had one of the worst rookie seasons in memory when he went 1-10 with a 5.24 ERA during the 2006 season. He's recovered very nicely in 2007, posting a 6-1 record with a 3.29 ERA for the American League Central Division-leading Cleveland Indians.

Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers (24). When he was just 23 years old in 2006, Verlander won the American Leage Cy Young Award when he went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA and 124 strikeouts. In eleven starts this year, Justin is still going strong, with a 5-2 record and a 3.44 ERA to go along with his 50 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched. Verlander also has valuable postseason experieince, having pitched in four games during the Tigers' World Series run last season.

Jeremy Bonderman, Detroit Tigers (24). Like Verlander, Bonderman is one of the young studs leading the Tigers' tough starting rotation. After suffering through the Tigers' dark years from 2003-05, Bonderman was one of the key starters for the team last year, when he went 14-8 with 202 strikeouts. He also pitched very well for Detroit in the playoffs and World Series, gaining experience beyond his years. This season, Bonderman has stepped it up another notch. As of June 4, he is 5-0 with a 3.27 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 66 innings.

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners (21). Hernandez started the 2007 season in style, striking out 12 Oakland A's in his season debut on April 2nd, and then hurling a one-hit shoutout against the Boston Red Sox nine days later. An injury sidelined Felix for a month, and he has not returned to form just yet. But given his incredible stuff, it's hard to believe that Hernandez will continue to struggle for very much longer.

The copyright of the article MLB Baseball's Best Young Pitchers in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish MLB Baseball's Best Young Pitchers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.