Probably the story of the first half of the season for the Los Angeles Dodgers was the impact made by rookie starting pitcher John Ely, whose stay in the bigs came to an end at the All-Star break when he was sent down to Albuquerque.
The tall right-hander was not tipped by MLB betting experts to be a long-term prospect for the future, but three months in the major leagues may well have just changed that thought.
Ely was drafted back in 2007 by the Chicago White Sox in the third round and arrived in Los Angeles last December as part of the trade that sent Juan Pierre to the Windy City, but few expected him to progress as quickly as he did.
He was originally called up at the end of April to bolster a beaten-up rotation and although his first start in New York against the Mets was nothing special the next six outings gave Dodgers fans a look at the talent that should be part of the ballclub for plenty of years to come.
The 24-year-old, who hails from Illinois, won three of those starts and was an unlucky loser in one of the others, had a 2.54 ERA by June 1 and although that has risen to 4.63 thanks to three poor outings, there is plenty to build on for the future.
"It's just part of the game. Sometimes you've got to cut your losses while you can. I'm not getting the job done," Ely said after his demotion. "We'll figure out what I need to do, wrestle it out. I'm as motivated as ever. I'll be back."
Ely has impressed everyone at Dodger Stadium and it is fairly clear that manager Joe Torre is a fan, although admitting that the time was right to send him down to Triple-A to get his confidence back and give Jon Link a chance to shine.
"We just decided that he needs to get back on track, and talking to John he certainly understood that," Torre said. "He's going down there with the attitude we need for him to have."
But Ely is confident that he will return to the rotation soon, and it would be no real surprise according to baseball betting tips to see him along with Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley fronting it for a few years if the Dodgers can keep all three of them around, especially with James McDonald not really doing much to earn a promotion.
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