Minor leaguers showing up the big guys

An odd occurance has taken place this spring; with all the talk of how deep the Red Sox major league pitching staff is, the fruits of that labor are not being reaped in Grapefruit League action. Out of the top thirteen pitchers in innings pitched (most = 4.2, least = 3.0) at camp, eight project to be in the minor leagues and five in the majors.

Look at this:

Jonathan Papelbon, headed for the 25 man roster when camp breaks, has a 7.71 ERA so far in his 4.2 innings.

Craig Hansen, most likely starting the season at Pawtucket, hasn't allowed a run, so his ERA is 0.00 after his 4 innings.

David Riske, a major leaguer, has pitched four innings so far and taken away an 11.25 earned-run average.

Mike Bumatay, a minor leaguer, has put up a 4.91 ERA in 3.2 innings.

Major leaguer Bronson Arroyo has lobbed himself to a 19.64 ERA in his 3.2 innings.

Abe Alvarez, minor leaguer, 0.00 ERA in 3.1 innings.

Josh Beckett, major leaguer, 15.00 ERA in 3.0 innings.

Manny Delcarmen, minor leaguer, 0.00 ERA in 3.0 innings.

Rudy Seanez, major leauger, 18.00 ERA in 3.0 innings.

and Cla Meredith, minor leaguer, 0.00 ERA in 3.0 innings.

The other minor leaguers, Matt Ginter, Mike Holz, and David Pauley, have posted ERAs of 18.00, 6.00, and 9.00 respectively. Those aren't spectacular numbers, but still better than some of the major leaguers.

In fact, out of all the major leaguers on this list, the only one with an ERA in the single digits is Papelbon, who just came up from the minors. Still, his 7.71 is very high considering that the benchmark ERA - the one everyone shoots for - is around 3.50.

Now I know that ERA is a stat that will lie on the extremes when the innings pitched is very low. Just look at Meredith, whose ginormous 2005 ERA of 27.00 doesn't mean a whole lot since he only pitched 2.1 innings with the Red Sox. Earned-run average is a projected average over nine innings, and none of these pitchers have even thrown nine innings yet.

Still, I just think it's funny that the minor leaguers are performing at a much better clip than the major leaguers. We'll see how it turns out at the beginning of the season, but if by that time someone like Hansen has posted a 2.75 ERA and someone like Riske has posted a 6.75 ERA, I'll be very upset with Terry Francona if Hansen doesn't make the squad.