Monday, February 25, 2013

Meet A Prospect : David Phelps


David Edward Phelps was born on October 9th, 1986 in St. Louis, MO where he attended Hazelwood West High School in Hazelwood, MO where he played both basketball and baseball. Standing 6'2" and weighing in at 200 lbs you can see why the New York Yankees drafted him in the 14th round of the 2008 MLB First Year Players Draft. Phelps can throw five pitches for strikes including a four seam fastball that sits around 92 mph, a two seam fastball that also sits in the low 90's, a cutter that sits in the high 80's, a curve ball that tops out at 80 mph, and a change up that hits the mid 80's. David likes to throw the two seam fastball primarily to left handed hitters while saving the four seam fastball for right handed hitters. He also saves the change up exclusively against left handed hitters to keep them off balance. Coming off of a stellar 2012 season out of the bullpen and in the starting rotation the sky seems to be the limit for David Phelps in pinstripes and nobody is happier about that then myself.


While attending Hazelwood West High School David was named to the All Conference team playing both outfield and pitcher as a sophomore. As a junior and a senior David was named All Conference, All Metro Performer, and his teams captain while also finding time to be in the National Honor Society. David played his college baseball at the University of Notre Dame even though he was ranked as the sixth best prospect coming out of Missouri before the 2005 MLB draft. David did not pitch much as a freshman for the Fighting Irish but bounced back in 2007 as a starter putting up a 1.88 ERA with 102 strike outs to go with only 30 walks in 110 innings pitched. David would be named to the Big East All-Conference Team as well as Academic All-District and Academic All-American teams as well. He would struggle as a junior putting up a 4.65 ERA with 75 K's and 28 BB's in only 93 IP after entering the season looking to be picked in the early first round. He would see his stock fall all the way to the 14th round when the Yankees signed him for a $150,000 signing bonus.


David would start his professional career in 2008 when the Yankees put him on the Staten Island Yankees. He responded by putting up an 8-2 record with a 2.72 ERA in 15 starts. In his 72.2 IP he struck out 52 batters and put up a 1.170 WHIP. David would split time in Charleston and Tampa, both A Ball affiliates, putting up a combined 13-4 record and 2.38 ERA in 26 starts. In his 151 IP he struck out 122 batters while putting up a 1.205 WHIP. He would split his 2010 season as well between the AA Trenton and the AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre teams putting up a 10-2 record with a 2.50 ERA in 25 starts and one relief appearance. In his 158.2 IP he struck out 141 batters and put up a 1.103 WHIP while being named to the Eastern League All Star Team and was also named the Yankees Minor League Pitcher of the Year. 2011 would see David being added to the 40 man roster for Rule 5 Draft protection and would see him start the season with the Gulf Coast Yankees.  After putting in seven innings in the GCL David was brought up to the Scranton team where he put up a combined 7-7 record with a 2.99 ERA in 20 starts. In his 114.1 IP David struck out 95 batters and put up a 1.277 WHIP. David would put in 18 IP across three of the Yankees affiliates in 2012 but spent the vast majority of the season with the big league club.


David would spend basically the entire 2012 season with the big league club after making the team as the long man out of Spring Training. David would start the season as the long man in the bullpen until April 29th when he was moved into the rotation to replace a struggling Freddy Garcia. He would only make two starts before being knocked back to the bullpen when the Yankees promoted Andy Pettitte to the big club. David would be sent down to Scranton when David Robertson came off the disabled list with his oblique problems but would be right back to the majors when the Yankees lost both CC Sabathia to Andy Pettitte to injury before the All Star Break. All in all David would appear in 33 games, 11 of them out of the starting rotation, to put up a 4-4 record with a 3.34 ERA in 99.2 innings pitched. He would compile 96 strike outs while putting up an impressive 1.194 ERA. David will be fighting Ivan Nova for the 5th spot in the rotation this spring so good luck to both men.


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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)