The steroid era resulted in inflated hitting stats in the early years of Capra. Here's a count of 50-homer seasons per five-year interval:
For all future parts of this post series, I'll use Season 15 as the "end of the steroid era" for per-season lists. For career lists I'll only count seasons starting with after Season 10.
1/ SP Hugh Palmer . Age 24. AAA. ETA: S10 Selected 13th in the 1st round of the S6 draft, Palmer dominated the lower minors and has averaged a 16-4/3.35 record in 3 minor league seasons. Palmer's big calling card has been the punchout as he's K'd 502 batters in 51o frames. His heater is in the mid-90s and still developing. Palmer comes with 2 good pitchers, the fastball and slider, but could use a better forkball and curveball to sharpen his repertoire. Palmer's about a season away from the bigs and projects to a solid #2 or #3 starter. 2/ SP Vasco Almonte . Age 22. AAA. ETA: S10 A former 1st round draft pick by Atlanta/Chicago, Almonte was traded to Anaheim for fellow prospect Tony Mendoza . Almonte has been consistent in the minors, if unspectacular, with a 4.15 era and 1.32 whip. However, Almonte is just 22 and has progressed quickly through the minors with a AAA season already in the books. If he continues to develop his fastball and change-up he can become a stalwa...
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