Tampa Bay Rays SP Chris Archer is most unheralded arm in MLB
The Toronto Blue Jays can hit the ball well, score a lot of runs and are a strong example of how to regularly win baseball games with offensive prowess. But not against the Tampa Bay Rays. And not against their young ace-in-the-making, North Carolina native Chris Archer.
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The 26-year-old was a fifth round afterthought in the 2006 draft when the Cleveland Indians selected him. Archer bounced over to the Cubs’ farm system for a short period before being sent in a package deal to the Rays primarily for Matt Garza in June 2011. He showed real promise in 2013 over 23 starts before taking a big leap forward in 2014. Archer started over 30 games for the first time in his big league career, posted a tidy ERA of 3.33 and went 10-9.
Archer may not pitch in a baseball crazed market in South Florida, but he is a special talent the Rays are lucky to have. His unheralded ascent towards being one of the American Leagues premier arms might even be aided by the fact he faces less pressure and scrutiny by pitching for the Rays.
After Sunday’s 5-1 defeat of the Blue Jays, Archer moved to 3-2 on the year and has now made four consecutive starts where he has pitched into the sixth inning without allowing a single earned run. He and the Rays’ pitching staff seem to be Toronto’s kryptonite in 2015. Archer himself is 2-0 with 14 scoreless innings pitched and 18 strikeouts this season against the Jays. Toronto as a whole is 9-10, with a 1-6 record versus the Rays alone. In only one of those seven games — a 12-7 win — have the Jays been able to put up more than three runs in the box score.
Tampa Bay Rays
For pitching in a power-happy division lush with un-forgiving ballparks, Archer’s early success is even more impressive. True, Tropicana Field is considered the only pitchers park in the AL East, but he was actually better on the road in 2014 over 17 starts (5-4, 2.78) than on the road in 15 outings (5-5, 4.00). Archer appears to be smoothing things over in 2015, as his home split in three starts registers a 1-2 record, but a far slender 1.49 ERA to his zero earned runs allowed on the road in two road starts.
A sparkling new ERA of 0.84 after Archer’s fifth start gives him the third lowest mark in the MLB amongst starters with four minimum documented outings, behind the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel (0.62) and the Rangers’ Nick Martinez (0.35). Each of the aforementioned have logged only four starts, however.
Some people might object and try to defend Alex Cobb as being the most talented pitcher on the Rays’ staff, but that simply is not true. In order to be the best at something day-in-day-out, one must make themselves available when called upon. Dating back to 2013, Archer has 60 starts for his club. Cobb, on the other hand, has made only 49 starts since 2013. He is yet to appear in a game so far this season.
When the Rays’ results are juxtaposed with the Jays’ results in head to head match-ups, Chris Archer and Tampa Bay’s arsenal of rotation and bullpen arms are a testament to that age old notion that pitching truly does win ball games. The talented right-hander is now 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 11 career starts versus a historically hard hitting Jays lineup.