2021 Taurus Pitchers
Believe it or not, but Taurus was the last sign to have a starting rotation made up entirely of 2,000-plus point scorers. This was way back in 2006, when Brandon Webb, Chris Carpenter, John Smoltz, Roy Halladay, and Aaron Harang had the honors, and the rise of bullpenning and juiced balls have prevented such an accomplishment from happening again. Let’s just say that the current iteration of Taurus pitchers are not nearly as strong, but there are some ace-caliber arms in the bunch.
Lance Lynn had the most fantasy points of all White Sox starters, but there are at least two pitchers that have a better claim on the title of the team’s ace. Marcus Stroman will take his ground-ball machine profile to the Cubs next year, on a three-year $71 million contract. John Means is both the Orioles’ ace and top trade target. The next three Taurus starters are very promising rookies: Shane McClanahan surprisingly had the most fantasy points among Rays starters, Casey Mize is a former #1 overall pick, and Ian Anderson pitched very well for the Braves in their World Series run.
Jose Urquidy is the only other Taurus starter to break 1,000 points on the season, and he should occupy a spot in the Astros rotation for the foreseeable future. Another rookie, Logan Gilbert, has a very promising career ahead of him for the Mariners. Kyle Freeland had a great 2018 with Colorado, but has been plagued by injuries and ineffectiveness since then. Wily Peralta had a brief run as Kansas City’s closer, but is now back to the rotation with their AL Central rival Tigers. The hirsute Trevor Williams split his 2021 season between starting and relieving for the Cubs and the Mets.
Dropping below the 600-point mark, Tony Gonsolin is a future rotation stalwart for the Dodgers. Rookie Eli Morgan limped, rather than burst, onto the scene with Cleveland last season. Griffin Canning has had a promising rise with the Angels derailed by injuries. Elieser Hernandez is one of many extremely talented young Marlins pitchers. Moving on to notable prospects, Zac Lowther and Deivi Garcia both placed #11, for the Orioles and Yankees, respectively. Tyler Ivey is in #12 place for the Astros. A.J. Alexy and Miguel Yajure (pronounced ja-HOO-ray) are lower down (#22 and #24) for the Rangers and Pirates, respectively.
I will say this for the Taurus bullpen: they had one pitcher who got consistent save situations on a contending team: returned Rule 5 pick Jordan Romano for the Blue Jays. Silver fox Trevor Richards saw time with three different MLB teams in 2021: the Rays, the Brewers, and the Blue Jays. The next three Taurus relievers finished 2021 with the Reds: only Lucas Sims spent the whole season in Cincinnati, with Luis Cessa and Mychal Givens being acquired during the season.
Top Taurus left-haded reliever Jose Alvarez went to the Giants in the offseason. Similar to the situation in Cincinnati, the Padres also had three Taurus relievers: Pierce Johnson, Austin Adams, and Emilio Pagan. Dropping into 400-point territory, lefty Brett Martin pitched for the Rangers, rookie Louis Head made his debut for Tampa Bay last year, but was traded away before the lockout, and Dillon Tate got a lot of work out of the Orioles bullpen.
Joakim Soria has a long track record as an excellent closer for Kansas City, but his glory days are long behind him. Amir Garrett struggled his way out of Cincinnati’s closer role in 2021. Another Tampa Bay rookie, Dietrich Enns, will probably move to the rotation, at least based on his minor league track record. Another lefty with starter potential, Daniel Norris, split 2021 between Detroit and Milwaukee. As far as primary relievers who actually had starting experience in 2021, Michael Kopech’s future is all but certainly in the White Sox rotation. It’s less clear when it comes to Rays rookie Josh Fleming, given Tampa Bay’s unorthodox pitcher usage.
Taurus’s 2021 relievers actually had more impressive placements on top prospect list than their starters. A.J. Puk clocks in at #4 for Oakland, while Andre Jackson is #7 on the Dodgers. Going down the line, Jonathan Stiever, who had just one appearance in 2021, is #17 on the White Sox. And rounding out the list, Jovani Moran is #25 on the Twins.
Next time, we begin our final in-depth-look of 2021 with the pitching-rich but batting-poor Gemini Twins!