You could say that the Cardinals aren't especially well known for developing rookie pitchers, or perhaps that rookie pitchers aren't especially well known for developing very much at all. But it is enjoyable, at least in a masochistic way, to watch Jaime Garcia climb up the rookie wins list, past the pitchers who never developed and the ones who did.
↵With yesterday's win Garcia reached seven wins, pushing him past another compact lefty, Bud Smith, who went 6-3 in the one year before his shoulder came undone, and into the company of, among others, Bob Forsch and Ernie Broglio (this range appears to make great trade bait.)
↵From this incomplete list—Baseball Reference can't tell when somebody's an eligible rookie, only that they've never played before—I've made a list of some players Garcia will be chasing over his next several starts:
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- EIGHT WINS: Buster Brown (1905) ↵
- NINE WINS: Three Finger Brown (1903), Ricky Horton (1984), Joe Magrane (1987) ↵
- TEN WINS: Vinegar Bend Mizell (1954) ↵
- ELEVEN WINS: Jason Simontacchi (2002), Rick Ankiel (2000) ↵
- TWELVE WINS: Matt Morris (1997) ↵