Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Friday night will be Yusmeiro Petit’s first night in the spotlight as a result of his nearly perfect game, but will likely not turn him into a household name. Just like Philip Humber’s perfect game in 2012 for the Chicago White Sox’s, Petit’s nearly historical performance is not going to suddenly make him a fantastic pitcher.
Petit and the San Francisco Giants managed to take their divisional foes to the brink of a perfect game. Petit finished the night with an outstanding stat line, boasting a complete game, allowing one hit, no walks and no runs while striking out seven of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ batters.
Petit was certainly not a household name in MLB before tonight, although the 6-1 Venezuelan righty has been stating his case for a spot in the Giants’ starting rotation. Nevertheless, Petit’s past performance suggests he simply does not have what it takes to be a legitimate MLB pitcher.
In his two partial seasons with the Giants’ minor league club, the Fresno Grizzlies, Petit accumulated a 12-13 record, a 3.82 ERA and 30 home runs allowed in 43 career starts. In his last major league start, at the end of August, Petit performed admirably in a start over the Colorado Rockies, taking the place of injured teammate Matt Cain. At that time, I wrote that Petit had a good chance to find a place on the Giants’ rotation if he kept up the good play, which he clearly did tonight. Alas, I strongly believe he will always be an aged journeyman with low potential for anything better than a bottom of the rotation arm, at best.
It was painful to watch Petit lose the perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning, but I would be lying if I said I was terribly surprised. For Petit’s sake, I hope I am wrong, but he is already 28 years old and has been floating around the minors for a decade. The signs point to many more run-down bus rides and cheap motels for Petit.
Isaac Comelli is a Los Angeles Dodgers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @IsaacComelli, “Like” him on Facebook or follow him on Google.
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