Pitching, pitching, pitching.

Whenever you bring up the Texas Rangers, the conversation inevitably leads you to pitching.  And not in the same way a conversation about the Oakland A's or the Atlanta Braves of the past decade does.  While those teams have been rich in pitching, the Rangers have been devoid of it. 

Cue the 2008 minor league system.  Neftali Feliz now headlines a group of youngsters that includes Blake Beavan, Michael Main, Kasey Kiker, Neil Ramirez, Wilmer Font, and Derek Holland...just to name a few.  Jon Daniels and his cohorts have the Rangers busting at the seam with young pitching prospects.  They also have guys like Eric Hurley and Matt Harrison breaking into the big leagues.  And a guy in Tommy Hunter that is attempting to conquer three levels of the minors and make his major league debut all in the same season.

Two things about all this pitching though:

1.) There is no guarantee with any of these young arms.  We all know that, but sometimes have to be reminded of it.

2.) There are two parts to a pitching staff.  You have to have a bullpen.  Rangers fans have been constantly reminded what a poor bullpen can do in 2008.

JD and company know these two things.  It's why they continue to try and load up on pitching.  It's why they will look for more arms should they go into sell mode before the deadline.  It's why they wasted no time getting Warner Madrigal.  It's why they are committed to finding out exactly what CJ Wilson is or isn't.  It's why Andrew Cashner's name was flying around Arlington before Justin Smoak slid to the Rangers.  It's also why they tabbed Andrew Laughter in the 10th round of the 2007 draft.

Laughter was a reliever in college at Louisiana-Lafayette and has become a fast riser in the Rangers' system.  He made 26 appearances (31 IP) for Spokane in 2007 after being drafted.  He had a 2.03 ERA, struck out 32, walked only 4, and didn't get taken deep at all.  The Rangers decided to let him skip Clinton ad he debuted at Bakersfield in 2008.

He quickly proved that Bakersfield was not the place for him.  He appeared in 10 games spanning 16.1 innings.  His ERA??  0.00!  He struck out 9 and walked just 2, and kept everything in the yard yet again.  The Rangers quickly promoted him to Frisco to attempt to challenge the 23 year old right hander.

Laughter has appeared in 17 games for Frisco, working 26 innings.  He is currently sporting a 3.46 ERA with a K/BB ratio of 22/11.  He was finally taken deep, and has yielded 2 long balls since his promotion.  He has improved his K rate over his time in Bakersfield, but has allowed more free passes than in his previous two stops.  And then, there is the date June 13. 

On that day, Laughter worked two-thirds of an inning in a game the Riders eventually won 8-7.  That day, Laughter allowed 5 earned runs.  That is exactly half of the earned runs he has allowed for all of 2008.  If you take the liberty (which I did) of removing this abnormal day from Laughter's Frisco stat line, you come up with this:

25.1 IP, 5 ER, 1.78 ERA

That (still not counting his June 13 outing) gives him a combined (Bakersfield and Frisco) season line of:

41.2 IP, 5 ER, 1.10 ERA

For what it's worth, he still sports a season ERA of 2.13 even with the awful June 13 outing.  The simple fact is the guy is making it awfully hard to score when he is on the mound.  That is exactly what the Rangers will need out of their pen should they ever hope to truly contend.  They need guys who can come into a game and make it difficult to score.  Laughter is probably too young to pigeon hole him as a setup guy, short relief arm, or middle innings guy.  He has, however, shown the ability to work multiple innings and be successful doing so.

Laughter was the subject of one of Jamey's "In Their Footsteps" pieces.  Jamey compared Laughter to former Ranger great (and current DFW Airport Officer, I believe) Tim Crabtree.  He noted that Andrew works with a nice sinker/slider combo with solid control and great groundball rates.  Jamey also said Laughter is a guy who could see Arlington as early as 2009.

The 2007 draft class was headlined by three high ceiling high school arms.  Blake Beavan, Michael Main, and Neil Ramirez could one day form a formidable top three in the Rangers' rotation.  They are the young pups, though.  Laughter joins Jared Hyatt and Tommy Hunter (both at AAA) as fellow 2007 draftees who have already left class A ball in the rear view mirror.  If Laughter can continue his success out of the pen, he could be a key piece of a contending Rangers team in the near future.  The Rangers are dealing with the problems that a struggling bullpen present for a team.  With any luck, Andrew Laughter will be part of the solution.

Andrew Laughter's MILB Page

Andrew Laughter's First Inning Page

Jamey's "In Their Footsteps" Piece on Andrew Laughter