Low-90s fastball, fine slider, side-arm herky-jerky motion, and these minor league numbers...
| Year | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA | SV |
Double-A West Tenn | 2004 | 53.0 | 23 | 2 | 24 | 64 | 1.87 | 21 |
Triple-A Iowa | 2004/05 | 46.2 | 27 | 6 | 17 | 58 | 1.93 | 19 |
Pringles Park, the home of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, plays very much like the pitcher's park, and the Southern League as a whole is a pitcher's best friend too. But Van Buren, a former Rockies top prospect, now 25 and just over a year and a half removed from the Independent Leagues, has taken the same kind of success to Iowa and the Pacific Coast League, which is very much hitter friendly. With our bullpen in Chicago not exactly dependable, what's not to like? And what's to lose? The flagrant underemployment of Sergio Mitre, who's thrown just 3 innings since the All-Star Break? Send him to Iowa, or preferably elsewhere today via trade, anywhere where the innings will come thicker and faster, and give Van Buren the shot that he deserves.
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