Cueto or Volquez?

Johnny Cueto could one day be the greatest pitcher in the Major Leagues.  There is a lot to be excited about, he has a superfluous amount of potential, his raw talent is astounding.  When it’s all said and done there’s a chance that he could force us to place his head next to Pedro’s on the Mount Rushmore of brilliant Dominican pitchers. 

The same could- and should- be said for Edinson Volquez. 

Cueto has more electrifying stuff, and when he’s on, his control is as good as it gets, he just hasn’t figured out how to put it all together yet.  Volquez has already arrived.  Outside of Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb, there hasn’t been a better pitcher in baseball.  Yet, for some reason, it seems that all the recognition has been falling to his less deserving teammate who has already become somewhat of a household name among casual baseball fans.

I honestly didn’t realize this was going on until I read an article in Baseball America about the pair of prized pitching prospects.  I figured the debate was over after the third week of the season, whe Volquez was cruising and Cueto was getting rocked, and would be completely disqualified by now.  The numbers tell it all. Volquez is 5-1 with a 1.06 ERA, which match up beautifully with his 52 strikeouts and 24 walks over 42.3 innings, leaving him with a 1.228 WHIP.  While Cueto’s line reads:  2-4, 5.91 ERA, 46 K, 11 BB, 1.248 WHIP, 45.7 IP.

There’s beauty in both those lines. Although, I do hold a discrepancy with Cueto’s.  His strikeout to walk ratio is out of this world, which is a major reason that his WHIP is right on par with Volquez’s.  The thing is, hitters have been tee’ing off on him.  He’s given up a hit for each strikeout (that’s 46 for the mathematically impaired), and has served up 9 home runs, the fourth highest total in the majors- not quite the dominate force that his strikeout total would lead you to believe he is.

So why would Bronson Arroyo, and so many others, be up in arms about Cueto and only bring up Volquez as an afterthought?  In that Baseball America article I mentioned Arroyo made a gushing quote about Cueto that placed him in the same class as Pedro Martinez.

“The kid is unbelievable. I mean you’re talking 1999 Pedro Martinez stuff. I can’t think of anybody else in my lifetime to compare him to. Johnny is Pedro at the very peak of his career.”

Need I remind you that Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 284 strikeouts, and 32 walks that season, and that many consider it the finest season of all-time?

Clearly Arroyo’s evaluation is a little premature, if not completely out of line.  I don’t know who he has been watching, but when discussing stuff, you could make a very strong case that Volquez has the better repitore of the two, though Cueto does have a stronger fastball.  To say that he is more electric would be a disservice to what Volquez does.  Volquez dominates hitters with 92-95 mph fastball, 85 mph slider and a 76-78 mph changeup that both dives and fades.  Cueto lives in the 90-94 mph range, but his fastball routinely touches 97, he has an 83 mph power slurve that he uses as an out pitch, and he has been working on a changeup with Mario Soto, another Dominican Hero, who rode the pitch to 100 major league victories.

In other words, Cueto is still developing, Volquez is here.

Despite his success, his early dominance, and the fact that he baffles hitters, Volquez has oddly remained an afterthought in his own clubhouse.  After gushing over Cueto, Arroyo added this:

“You can make a pretty strong case that Volquez is as good as Cueto.”

As good?  As good?  Are you kidding me?  What people should be discussing right now is how Volquez’s start measures up to Webb’s and Lee’s, and in terms of Cueto- will be good enough to stick for the rest of the year, and in case you are wondering, I would place Lee first, Volquez second, and Webb third.  The only thing Webb has on his competition is wins.  Volquez should be undefeated, but he lost to Atlanta on May 2 after giving up one run on four hits over six innings, a game that his team certainly should have won.

Maybe it was his debut against Arizona, a seven inning gem in which Cueto gave up a single hit and a single run while striking out ten.  Or maybe it was his follow up, when he struck out 8 Milwaukee hitters over 6 1/3 innings.  First impressions are everything, but maybe that’s how Volquez likes it like this.  

He operates in the shadows, out of the hype, like an assassin lining up Major League hitters.  It’s just baffling though, the media loves rookie pitchers, how can this brilliant hurler be so lost in the shuffle?  How can baseball people still be over looking him? 

“I think both of them have a chance to be No. 1-type guys. It’s so rare to find those guys anymore,” One scout says. “The Reds have two of them and they should feel very good about the long-term success of the franchise with these two guys anchoring their rotation for years to come. These guys both have a chance to be very special major league pitchers. In fact, they already are pretty special.”

That’s more like it.