Sam Selman

Selman made his major-league debut at age 28 in August and went on to throw 10.1 largely uneventful innings, posting a 4.35 ERA and a 10:5 K:BB. The lefty's repertoire doesn't seem to make him stand out from the large group of relievers with minimal big-league resumes, as his fastball averaged just 89.9 mph while his slider (his only secondary) came in at 79.9 mph. While those pitches didn't have noteworthy results in the majors, his Triple-A numbers told an entirely different story. In 48.0 innings for Sacramento, he posted a 2.06 ERA with an excellent 43.8% strikeout rate. On the one hand, it's rarely worth getting excited about a 28-year-old's minor-league numbers; on the other, it's hard to ignore a strikeout rate that high. If Selman can recapture some of that form in the majors, he could move towards a high-leverage role, but his complete lack of track record means there's little sense investing now.

Selman began his 2014 season with Double-A Northwest Arkansas on a quest to improve the control issues that plagued him in 2013, when led the Class A Carolina League with 85 free passes. The southpaw was relatively successful in this endeavor, dropping his BB/9 from 6.1 to 4.7, though he still has plenty of work to do. Inconsistencies in Selman's delivery from his 6-foot-3 frame have been partially to blame, but if he can correct those control problems, he may be able to get to the big leagues in his age-24 season. He finished 2014 at Triple-A Omaha, where he'll likely begin the 2015 campaign, and if Selman does get the call, look for him to serve as an emergency back-end rotation option or in middle relief. He was actually far more successful in relief at the Double-A level, posting a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 innings, as opposed to a 4.36 mark in 76.1 innings as a starter.