The Case

The Midwest League Pitcher of the Week was announced yesterday. He was not Rattlers pitcher Jake Odorizzi.

The winner was:
Austin Adams, Lake County
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 1 GS, 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K

Indians prospect Austin Adams, who was a fifth-rounder in the '09 Draft, staved off the South Bend Silver Hawks over four innings on Monday. His Captains would go on to lose, 6-3, but Adams began the game with two no-hit innings, worked around a leadoff single in the third and worked a perfect fourth, fanning four throughout the brief start. On Saturday, he came in to do some relief work in the fifth inning of a no-hitter. He kept the no-no going into the eighth, when he surrendered a two-out single, and he allowed another single in the ninth. Adams struck out seven over his five dazzling frames, though, and he didn't walk a batter in either of his two appearances.

Jake Odorizzi's numbers last week:

1-0, 1.38ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 13 IP, 10 H, 2R, 2ER, 3 BB, 15 K

• Odorizzi could have been 2-0 had the Rattlers bullpen held on in the game at Cedar Rapids on May 30
• Two games as a starter
• Seven of those innings pitched were shutout frames at Kane County
• Eight strikeouts six innings in the game against a very good Kernels team
• "Staved off" seems like a term of desperation. Google it.

I can see why Adams won the award, but Odorizzi should have been in the conversation.