Imaginary Diamond

Cleveland Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona is overcoming surprising control lapses to find success in his second season as a starter. Carmona threw a five-hit shutout and walked four in the first game of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, running his personal winning streak to three games and improving to 4-1 on the season.

It was the seventh time in eight starts that Carmona walked at least four batters. Rock bottom came in a home start against the Oakland Athletics on April 12, when he walked eight and was pulled in the fourth inning.

Carmona’s start defies the logic that a sturdy strikeout-to-walk ratio is imperative to a pitcher’s success. That logic holds true most of the time, and perhaps we can chalk Carmona’s 4-1 record and 2.40 ERA up to some early luck. But, the 24-year old sinkerballer has been able to work past a woeful 18-to-35 strikeouts to walk ratio by leading the majors in both double plays (13) and groundball-to-flyball ratio (3.71, tops among starting pitchers).

To put it simply, his ball sinks so hard that hitters struggle to get the ball out of the infield. Carmona has allowed just one home run in 48.2 innings, not surprisingly joining the likes of teammate Cliff Lee and fellow sinkerball artists Atlanta’s Tim Hudson and the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang as starters who have allowed just one homer this season.

Carmona is pushing his luck, though. It’s hard to doubt that he can be extremely successful at this level, but he must get a grip on his rising walks total. He’s not going to escape the long ball all season long, and 6.5 walks per nine innings will do a lot of damage when homers do, eventually, happen.

The Indians stellar starting pitching has been a mix of new and old, with 24-year old Carmona and 23-year old Aaron Laffey complementing veterans Lee, Paul Byrd and ace C.C. Sabathia. Laffey, the organization’s No. 5 prospect according to Baseball America, is 1-2 with a 1.83 ERA in three starts since taking injured Jake Westbrook’s spot in the rotation.

Fantasy Spin
You have to wonder when the good fortune will end for Carmona, but you also have to believe that he can straighten himself out before that happens. He doesn’t make for a particularly appealing trade target because he is winning games and managing to do so with a 2.40 ERA. If he’s on your roster, you can’t sell high. If he’s not, you can’t buy low. My suggestion: let the owner who has him worry about his future.

More thoughts …
Indians Confidential celebrates Cleveland reaching the .500 mark. Carmona’s shutout on Monday helped the Tribe to a winning record for the first time since improving to 2-0 on April 2.

Indians Locker goes into greater detail about Laffey’s major league career.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman describes Lee’s journey from 2007 demotion to 2008 domination.

Dustin Hockensmith is editor of ImaginaryDiamond.com. He can be contacted at dhockensmith[at]fantasysports101.net.