Down Low with Fausto

Fausto Carmona returned to the mound last night for Class A Lake County and pitched 6 no hit innings before giving up a single to open the seventh. In an article for MLB.com he recounted his experience, explaining that he felt good.

"It was good to get back to normal," Carmona said through translator Julio Rangel. "I was able to throw everything for strikes."

The rest of that article can be found here.

What I have to wonder is how important this start really was. I will not say that it is completely unimportant because what he did was impressive at any level. However, it's not at a level that really matters.

There is where the problem lies. It should be easy for a pitcher with proven major league talent to retire 18 straight players from the Class A level. Most players at that level are only a few years removed from high school or possibly coming right from the collegiate level.

I agree with Carmona that he should feel encouraged that he was able to throw strikes, but I believe that he still has a lot to prove. We watched as he fell apart on the mound in big league parks. He struggled to find the zone, and when he did often it was a mistake, thus pushing him further into his frustration and self-loathing.

I'm not sure if a couple weeks in the desert helped him to correct these issues of immaturity, but I certainly hope that they did. I hope to continue to see this progress from the Dominican pitcher and to see him soon in a Tribe uniform, pitching the way he did in '07.

Once again Wedge seems to have the right idea:

"There are certain things we want to see when he's out there pitching," he said. "If he proves to himself and us that he's getting beyond some of these things, then we'll continue to move him [up]."

There is a lot that still needs to be seen from Fausto and there is a lot of potential that still needs to be tapped. Hopefully the club can prove that they have personnel to develop their own talent, and bring Carmona back as the new, old pitcher that we knew.