Jason Hammel is 5-4 with a 4.07 ERA so far this season with the Colorado Rockies.  Better than that, he’s coming off a June where he was 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.  These are pretty impressive numbers from someone who could rarely manage more than a spot-start with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hammel spent the 2008 season in the Rays bullpen, mostly in mop-up duty.  In the minors, he made 110 starts compared to only seven relief appearances.  Overall, he was 37-34 with a 3.46 in the minor leagues.  But, when he came up to the big leagues, he couldn’t hold onto a starting job. 

The Rockies pretty much knew when they acquired him this spring that he would be a starter.  And, if you listen to Rockies’ pitching coach Bob Apodaca, he’s not suprised with the results.

“I’m not surprised at all.  But I think his emphasis has changed. He thought of himself more as a breaking-ball pitcher. We needed to get him thinking about the importance of his fastball.  He has such good off-speed stuff — his slider, curve, changeup — that I think he underestimated and maybe didn’t emphasize his fastball enough.”

Over on www.raysallday.com, I compare the Jason Hammel trade for Aneury Rodriguez to the Edwin Jackson trade for Matt Joyce.  In the end, I think the Hammel trade could be worse.

photo:  commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jhammel.jpg