JEFF KARSTENS

9/24/82; '03 19th (New York Yankees); Texas Tech Univ.
R/R; 6-3, 170

Level

W-L-Sv

BB/9

K/9

WHIP

OAVG

ERA

2003 A- (NYY)

4-2-0

67.1

2.1

7.1

1.17

.256

2.54

2004 A+ (NYY)

6-9-0

138.2

151

116

2.0

7.5

1.31

.284

4.02

2005 AA (NYY)

12-11-0

169.0

192

147

2.2

7.8

1.38

.285

4.15

2006 AL (NYY)

2-1-0

42.2

2.3

3.4

1.20

.242

3.80

2006 AAA (NYY)

5-5-0

73.2

3.7

5.9

1.49

.275

4.28

2006 AA (NYY)

6-0-0

74.0

1.7

8.2

0.92

.198

2.31

2007 AL (NYY)

1-4-0

14.2

5.5

3.1

2.46

.397

11.05

2007 AAA (NYY)

3-0-0

31.0

2.6

7.8

1.10

.219

1.74

2007 AA (NYY)

1-0-0

5.0

3.6

9.0

1.20

.222

1.80

2007 A+ (NYY)

0-0-0

4.0

2.3

11.3

1.00

.200

0.00

2007 A-(NYY)

1-0-0

5.0

0.0

14.4

0.80

.211

1.80

2007 R (NYY)

0-0-0

3.1

2.7

5.4

1.20

.214

0.00

2008 NL

2-6-0

51.1

2.3

4.0

1.34

.279

4.03

2008 AAA (NYY)

6-4-0

68.2

2.0

7.2

1.18

.256

3.80

2009 NL

4-6-0

108.0

115

3.8

4.3

1.48

.279

5.42

2009 AAA

0-0-0

6.0

0.0

10.5

0.67

.182

0.00

Karstens ended up in the re-worked trade with the Yankees for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. Originally, the trade included Phil Coke and George Kontos along with Ross Ohlendorf and Jose Tabata, but for unknown reasons the teams replaced the first two with Karstens and Dan McCutchen. Karstens is a finesse pitcher whose velocity sits around 88-89.  His ostensible strength is being able to locate his slider, curve and change accurately and throw them for strikes. He's generally had excellent BB/K ratios in the minors. He missed much of 2007 with a broken fibula and then went out twice in 2008 with groin muscle problems.

The Pirates inserted Karstens into the rotation immediately after the trade. He was a brief sensation at first, as he shut out the heavy-hitting Cubs over six innings in his first start and then took a perfect game into the 8th inning against Arizona in his next. Reality set in quickly afterward, though, as he struggled through his remaining starts, sometimes allowing extra base hits in bunches. His ERA is misleading, as he allowed eight earned runs over his last three starts while allowing 22 hits in just 14 IP. Surprisingly, he had a reverse platoon split, allowing an OPS of.806 to RH batters and .737 to LH.  In 2009, the Pirates gave him a chance to win a rotation spot in spring training and he responded by pitching very poorly. He won the spot anyway, though, as the competition simply melted away.  He pitched poorly through the beginning of June, when the Pirates moved him to long relief after acquiring Charlie Morton. Karstens had a couple good stretches out of the bullpen, but he really wasn't any better in relief. He went on the DL in mid-August with back problems and missed a few weeks, leading to spin from the Pirates that he'd been doing fine prior to the DL stint. He did pitch worse after returning, but his ERA was 5.03 when he went on the DL. That amounted to 5.30 as a starter and 4.62 in relief, so he wasn't doing very well either way.

Aside from having mediocre stuff, Karstens didn't show the sort of command he needs to pitch successfully in the majors. The result was a very poor K/BB ratio, too many walks generally, and frequently pitching behind in the count. He's a flyball pitcher, with a GO/AO ratio of 0.94 in 2009 and 0.82 for his major league career. With his stuff that meant a lot of long hits and an opponents' slugging average of .478.  To the surprise of many, Karstens was designated for assignment after the season. If he clears waivers and the Pirates don't find a team to trade for him, they'll probably outright him to Indianapolis. He profiles better as AAA depth anyway.

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