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Marlins recall RHP Tucker from AA; Option C Hoover to AAA

Florida Marlins

Recalled RHP Ryan Tucker from AA Carolina; Optioned C Paul Hoover to Triple-A Albuquerque

TG Analysis

A 21 year-old righthander with excellent arm strength, Tucker was part of a cadre of young arms drafted by the Marlins in the 2005 amateur draft, along with fellow righty Chris Volstad and southpaws Sean West and Aaron Thompson.

Tucker can light up the radar gun with a fastball that sits 92-96 with good movement. Not surprisingly, Tucker has whiffed his fair share of hitters in the lower minors, with a career K/9 of 7.95. However, the 6-2, 190 pounder has rudimentary offspeed pitches, as neither his slider or changeup are especially consistent at this point. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Tucker struggle in his Sunday debut, as he has walked 3.84 batters per nine innings (including 27 in 70 IP at AA) during his pro career.

In a perfect world, the Fish would just leave Tucker be at Carolina and let him refine his secondary pitches, but such is the state of the Flordia rotation that any raw-but-promising talent above A-Ball will placed under consideration for a big league trial. The Fish rank 28th in starters ERA (5.24), with Scott Olsen (10.8 VORP) and Ricky Nolasco (2.4) the only rotation members performing above replacement level.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 9:30 am and is filed under Ryan Tucker, Marlins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.