Starting Pitcher Hector Noesi #45
25 years old, Experience: one year
Here we go. Hector Noesi. A casual fan may ask him or herself, who is Hector Noesi? A more serious fan may ask him or herself, who is Hector Noesi? A die-hard fan may ask him or herself, who is Hector Noesi? All three of the same questions are fair questions. Hector Noesi is coming into the year as a bit of an unknown. To Yankees fans he probably isn't as much of an unknown. Noesi was the second piece that came to the Mariners in the Montero/Pineda trade. That is right! It wasn't just the Montero/Pineda trade - poor Hector Noesi was sitting on the sidelines and in the shadows.
Noesi probably wasn't going to start for the Yankees this year, so its good that he found himself on the Mariners who have a clear need for some solid starting pitching. Noesi did pretty great throughout his minor league career with the Yankees. The thing is that lots of people do great through their minor league careers but have less than stellar major league careers (Michael Saunders anyone?). But there is reason to believe that Noesi will be able to do all right in his second season, and possibly first full, in the majors.
Reason number one: Safeco! Yay! Safeco is a pitchers park in case you hadn't heard. And you probably hadn't heard otherwise since Noesi is a shadow in his own trade. Noesi is one of those pitch to contact pitchers. In other words, Noesi is one of those pitchers who pitches well because Safeco has so much space. Jason Vargas has made a name for himself doing pretty much the exact same thing; only Noesi is able to hit a few miles per hour faster with his fastball.
He won't exactly be a number one starter, but Noesi shouldn't end up being a number five starter as well. Noesi is a solid role-playing pitcher who can hopefully eat up some minutes, and if his spring numbers are any indication, then Noesi can probably put together a decent campaign that will help make that Pineda/Montero trade more worth it. Of course, being in his first season starting, assuming he lasts all season, Noesi will be on an innings cap. So don't expect to see him tearing up the AL West come September.