A player that we touted in the preseason is showing true major league skills so far during his hot start. Can he keep it up and is he for real?

In a preseason article on the Red Sox in early march I mentioned Justin Masterson as a good looking prospect based on his profile of a high groundball rate and good strikeout rate.  Our view was that he was the best prospect in the Sox system. Thankfully I was able to pick him in my 12-team mixed league, which is a pretty tough league with five or six very good owners who know their stuff.

So far he has been better than expected, putting up 3 excellent starts. Baseball HQ has a PQS rating which essentially is a better method of definiing what constitutes a quality start, and it is five questions for which the pitcher gets one point if the answer is yes. It measures not just innings but measures how many strikeouts and walks and hits he gets. Feel free to check out their website for more info.  The best score is a 5, and a 4 or a 5 score is considered a “dominant” start.

Masterson is 3 for 3 in dominant starts. Despite letting up 4 earned runs yesterday, he pitched 6 innings with 6 hits, 5 Ks and only 2 walks, resulting in a PQS of 4.

Masterson has kept up his groundball inducing ways in the majors, with a groundball rate of almost 60%. Even better is that he is not letting up a lot of line drives with only 15% line drives. It is tough to hit a line drive when the ball is below the knees. He has been helped in this short sample by a .180 BABIP, but he still looks very solid.

So the question is what the future holds. Skill wins out over roles in most scenarios and if he continues to pitch well I think the Sox will at least keep him up in the bullpen. Manny Delcarmen has been inconsistent and has a 4.50 ERA, which given his role is poor. Mike Timlin has 17 innings of terrible baseball, and is at the end of the line.

Forget about roles and focus on the skills; the Sox will find a way to use him and improve their team, even if it is in long relief.  Of course there are no guarantees and the Sox may be steadfast in trying to keep him down and develop him as a starter; but when speculating the fantasy General is far better served to see what could be rather than what is. What could be for Masterson is a role similar to Joba last year, so in a deep league he should be grabbed and held.