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<\/a>When Vicente Padilla<\/a> landed on the DL, the Dodgers<\/a> decided to call up John Ely<\/a> from AAA.\u00a0 For those who have not heard of him, Ely was one of the players that the White Sox<\/a> surrendered in the Juan Pierre<\/a> trade.\u00a0 No, I’m not bringing this up because I wish he were doing this for the White Sox.\u00a0 Actually, I played against the Homewood-Flossmoor High School<\/a> alum in various showcases during both my junior and senior high school seasons.\u00a0 As I reflect on Ely’s immediate success with the Dodgers, I cannot help but recall my memories of him as a 16\/17 year old flame thrower.<\/p>\nMy first encounter with the major league winner was during the Jack Kaiser Memorial All-Star game which placed some of the best Illinois, prep prospects against each other.\u00a0 I’m going to go ahead and boast here for a second because, well, I can.\u00a0 At the beginning of the summer, I was selected to play in the Northwest Suburban Junior All-Star Game, which was essentially the premiere, prep scouting combine in the state; I’m talking radar guns, stop watches, sun glasses and collared shirts everywhere, literally lining the fences.\u00a0 Every conference within state was represented by a 25-man squad whose constituents were selected by the coaches association.\u00a0 I played pretty well that weekend and followed with a ridiculous summer that ultimately lead to my selection for the Jack Kaiser Memorial All-Star Game.\u00a0 Essentially, it was an all-star game of the all-star game.<\/p>\n
I had heard Ely’s name off and on for the previous two years and was therefore psyched to learn that he was the starting pitcher for the other team.\u00a0 As I stood at the top of the dugout with a few teammates, watching him warm up in the opposing bullpen, I found myself marveling at his every pitch.\u00a0 It was, without a doubt, the fastest I had ever seen.\u00a0 Back then he was not the 6’2″, 200lbs. pitcher that he is now.\u00a0 There was no way that he could have been anything more than 6’0″, 170lbs. at that time.\u00a0 But how could this skinny bastard throw so hard?\u00a0 Well, he had a unique, wiry frame that allowed him to generate an absurd amount of tilt and arm speed.<\/p>\n
On that day, Ely only made it through the first inning.\u00a0 While I don’t exactly recall his line, my guess is that it was something like 1 IP, 6 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 3K, 2 wild pitches.\u00a0 With every pitch, Ely let out a grunt that indicated that he was either giving birth, or just trying to light up the radar gun for some scouts(I believe both).\u00a0 There was no denying that he threw hard, but his control and overall makeup were suspect.\u00a0 Due to the fact that I was part of the second wave of players that entered the game in the 5th inning, I never got to face Ely that day.<\/p>\n
The next fall arrived and I was still unsure as to where I might be playing the following year.\u00a0 I had it narrowed down to what I believed to be my four best options, but was nowhere close to making a final decision.\u00a0 One of these schools, Miami University(OH), had invited me to their final showcase before handing out scholarships; I had performed well at their summer camp and was looking to make one final, lasting impression.\u00a0 You can only imagine how I felt when I learned that I would be facing Ely, who apparently was already a scholarship lock.\u00a0 I guess no major programs wanted to risk a scholarship on him- probably due to his mechanics, attitude or height.\u00a0 I was skeptical of him as well.\u00a0 After all, I did witness his disastrous first inning only a few months before.<\/p>\n
That day, Ely put on one of the most impressive pitching displays I have ever seen.\u00a0 His previous composure and control problems were gone and a new pitcher had been born.\u00a0 Topping out at 91 mph, he struck out 7 of the 9 batters he faced- one of which was me.\u00a0 My at-bat went some like this.\u00a0 1st pitch: absolute gas on the outside corner, called strike.\u00a0 2nd pitch: took a late hack at a letter-high fastball, strike two.\u00a0 3rd pitch:\u00a0 fouled off a devastating slider. How? No clue, especially considering that I always struggled with good sliders.\u00a0 4th pitch: an even more devastating slider that I really struggled with.\u00a0 I was one of three batters who managed to make contact while only one of those was put in play- a weak groundball to second base.\u00a0 The next year, our first season of collegiate baseball, Ely was a Freshman All-American at Miami(Ohio).\u00a0 Need I say more?<\/p>\n
After watching each of Ely’s 4 starts this season, I am beyond impressed with what I have seen.\u00a0 He is no longer the skinny, smoke thrower that he was when I faced him then.\u00a0 In fact, quite the contrary.\u00a0 Ely’s fastball consistently sits in the high 80s and is complemented by a sharp curve and change-up that drops off the table.\u00a0 He also features a 2-seam fastball in the low to mid 80s that generates tremendous, late movement that reminds me of Jake Peavy’s<\/a>.\u00a0 He is a strike throwing machine who is making a name for himself as a control expert.\u00a0 Here are what his first four starts looked like:<\/p>\n April 28th at Mets:\u00a0 6 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 K, 3 BB – 116 pitches\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Loss (0-1)<\/p>\n May 6th vs. Brewers:\u00a0 6.2 IP, 4 H, ER, 7 K, 0 BB – 108 pitches\u00a0\u00a0 ND (0-1)<\/p>\n May 11th at Diamondbacks:\u00a0 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 6 K, 0 BB – 105 pitches\u00a0\u00a0 W (1-1)<\/p>\n May 17th vs. Astros:\u00a0 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 8 K, 0 BB – 97 pitches\u00a0\u00a0 W (2-1)<\/p>\n 2010 Overall:\u00a0 2-1, 25.2 IP, 21 H, 10 ER, 25 K, 3 BB\u00a0 –\u00a0 3.51 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .219 BAA<\/p>\n No you are not misreading those stats.\u00a0 Ely has not walked a batter in his last three starts which spans 19.2 IP and 84 batters – the longest active streak among pitchers.\u00a0 While I doubt that he will continue at his current, absurd pace, I honestly believe that Ely will continue to succeed and warrant the opportunity to throw every 5th day for the Dodgers.\u00a0 It is already clear that Ely is a pitcher who just knows how to get guys out and stay within himself while doing so.\u00a0 Still, there is no way that he will continue his freakish control; there will come a day when his pin-point accuracy is slightly off and he gets knocked around.\u00a0 It happens.\u00a0 However, the moxie that Ely has displayed leads me to believe that he will have no problem bouncing back when this happens.\u00a0 In this era, an era where all of the top pitching prospects are smoke-throwing phenoms, Ely’s success is a refreshing deviation from the norm.\u00a0 It has reminded me that young, intelligent pitchers still exist in baseball but are just buried beneath all of the hype and mayhem that surrounds the game’s well-known prospects.<\/p>\n