Rich Harden has had a miserable start to the season so far in 2010. Through five starts, he threw just 23.2 innings, allowing 14 runs and issuing a jaw-dropping 27 free passes. Ordinarily, then, given those conditions, it would take a lot more than one good outing to get people to start changing their minds.
Good News, Texas: Rich Harden Showed Up
↵But on this Monday night, Harden hasn’t only whiffed nine Oakland A’s in seven innings while throwing 71% strikes. He’s also done this:
↵April 28th Start: 88.8mph average fastball
May 3rd Start: 91.8mph average fastball
↵Harden had previously been working in the 88-91 range after throwing 91-94 a year ago with Chicago, so there was good reason to believe he was broken. On Monday, however, he looked much more like himself - topping out at 95.6mph - with correspondingly awesome results.
↵The Rangers paid a lot of money to get Rich Harden. He may not be completely fixed, but this is a huge step in the right direction.
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