Jered Weaver, SP, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

July 26, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By Joshua Ellis
Edited by Ryan Dodson

With pitching ace Bartolo Colon being sent to the disabled list early in the season, the Los Angeles Angles called upon Jered Weaver to try and fill in until Colon was ready to come back. Instead, Weaver began to carry the team on his back and emerge as the team's new ace. Jered Weaver, brother of the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Weaver, has gone 7-0 in his seven career starts while recording a 1.15 ERA. He is the first pitcher to win his first seven decisions since Fernando Valenzuela did it in 1981.

Weaver was selected 12th overall in the 2004 draft after playing three seasons at Long Beach State University. Weaver struggled as a 19-year-old in his freshman season at Long Beach State as he was 8-4 with a 4.40 ERA in 92 innings. In his sophomore and junior years though, Weaver began to develop into one of the best pitching prospects in all of college baseball. Over those two seasons, Weaver had an ERA below two and a record of 29-5. He was named to consecutive AP First Team All-American teams and in 2004, Weaver was awarded the Roger Clemens Award, which goes to the college baseball pitcher of the year and the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the best amateur baseball player in the country. It was safe to say the Angels were getting a top of the line prospect in Weaver.

After being drafted, Weaver was a hold out until the end of May in 2005 when he signed a $4 million contract. His agent, Scott Boras, is known to have players hold out for money, which include J.D. and Stephen Drew. After the contract was settled, Weaver was sent to high Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. His short time there lasted just seven starts where he went 4-1 with a 3.82 ERA. He was promoted to Double-A Arkansas to finish off that season. There, Weaver went 3-3 with a 3.98 ERA in eight starts. Overall, in his first year of minor league baseball, Weaver was 7-4 with a 3.91 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP and 11.25 strikeouts per nine innings. 

The promise Weaver showed in his first season of minor league baseball got him invited to spring training with the major league club to begin 2006. In five games, three of which were starts, Weaver went 17 2/3 innings and only allowed two runs. His spring training performances left a mark on the Angels coaching staff that had Weaver promoted to Triple-A to begin the season this year. In 12 games this season, 11 starts, Weaver was 6-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 77 innings for the Salt Lake Bees. He was then called up for his first major league start on May 27.

Weaver would throw seven shutout innings, striking out five and picking up the win in his debut. Quality starts then became the norm for the rookie as he went on to three more wins before Colon came off the disabled list. Weaver was 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA when he was sent back to the minors, where his stay was short-lived. He was recalled to start on July 3, oddly enough to take the place of his brother Jeff Weaver in the rotation. Jeff was just 3-10 this season with a 6.29 ERA for the Angels before being traded to the Cardinals where he is 1-1 with a 6.52 ERA. Jered on the other hand has continued to succeed. In the three starts since his June 30th call-up, he is 3-0 and has lowered his ERA to 1.15. 

Jered Weaver is having similar success this season as rookie Minnesota Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano. Weaver's success is attributed to an unorthodox delivery that players can't seem to solve yet. In fact, Weaver was asked by Kansas City Royals first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to move the rosin bag because he claimed that the ball was blending in with the bag. A similar incident occurred with Jered's brother Jeff and Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney five years ago, which ended in a brawl. Either way, Jered Weaver has been unhittable this season so far.

Weaver has been a great source of wins as he has won each of his seven starts, his ERA is a tiny 1.15, his WHIP is only 0.79 and he has struck out 7.7 batters per nine innings. Weaver has been a fantasy baseball stud this season and if you got him early you've done a great job. This might be the time to trade Weaver though with his value at its peak. Weaver missed a start with a sore biceps muscle but rallied back with a solid one run effort in 6 2/3 innings. Although he came back from the missed start strong, his biceps may be an issue. Another issue is that teams will now have more film on Weaver, and he will begin to face teams he has already faced this season. The more knowledge a batter has, the better prepared he is to face that pitcher. Therefore hitters may begin to figure him out and find ways on base. Similar problems arose for Florida Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis.

Overall, Weaver has been a fantasy baseball stud this year with the numbers he has put up, but with more teams getting looks at his stuff, he may hit a wall and get knocked around a little bit. Weaver's fantasy value is at its peak, and he can be used as a pawn in a pre-deadline trade to address other needs your team may have. If pitching is your need however, stick with Weaver for a few more starts and see if he continues to pump out the great stats he has been at the beginning of his career, and then decide if he's worth keeping or more valuable as trade bait.

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Joshua Ellis
Joshua has been a KFFL contributor since 2006.

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