Norris, Bud

It's hard not to like a guy like Norris who strikes out a ton. His 8.7 per nine last season is almost certainly real coming off 8.5 in triple-A and a minor league number of 9.6. He walks too many people and so even when his ERA is low such as his 2.63 in Round Rock last season and his 1.89 in the 2008 Arizona Fall League, he is giving up baserunners (1.42 WHIP in Arizona, 1.31 in Round Rock). When you give up that many baserunners, you have to limit your home runs or you end up with the 4.53 ERA that Norris did last season when his 0.6 home runs per nine in the minor leagues turned into 1.5 in the big leagues (1.76 in Minute Maid Park).

What you need to know is that he has not shown the slightest ability to control is walks and is still a fairly extreme flyball pitchers, so on the major league level he's likely to continue to have too many base runners amd too many runs scored despite the excellent K-rates. 9-0-4.50-1.40-145. 160IP