Wade, Sean #55

One of three rookie starters on the team, Sean Wade came in projected as the #5 starter – a kid with good control and a decent floor who projected to be consistent, though not spectacular. Compared to fellow rookie Samantha Chin, Wade was to be the thunder to Chin’s lightning. Instead, Wade took off in the first half of the season, going 5-0 in five starts in the first month with a 2.04 ERA and an amazing 0.63 WHIP, bested only by Nathan Yan. Wade continued to dominate into May and June, and for a time even led the team in wins. By his fourth game, Wade would already have his first complete game shutout. He began to cool off once he hit the second half, however, with a bad 5.60 ERA July (although he still managed a decent 1.24 WHIP), and at the end of September finished the season at 20-8 in 29 starts, with a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 201 innings. To top it all off, Wade would go 4-0 in the postseason with a 1.72 ERA as the team’s second-best postseason starter. All in all, a huge rookie season for Wade, who also finished #2 in Rookie of the Year balloting behind teammate Henry Nghe, and a promising sign of huge things to come for the slow-throwing Wade.

From glory boy to washed-up prodigy, things fell apart for the sophomore starter, who experienced a slump for the ages in 2006. After nearly winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2005, Sean fell way back from his 2005 numbers, putting up a 13-8 record, 4.09 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 3.63 CERA, and for the rookie named Mr. Consistency, a horrendous 54.2% quality start rate. Nobody’s quite sure what’s happened to Wade, who was on and off all season, pitching 3 shutouts to rank #2 on the team, yet throwing SEVEN games in which he gave up 6 runs or more, a truly horrendous number. Have opposing hitters finally figured out Wade’s impossible knuckleball, or has the boy wonder still got a few more tricks up his sleeve? Wade did put up another spectacular postseason run, with 2 wins in 3 games, and a 1.82 ERA and 0.65 WHIP, so there’s hope yet for a 2007 comeback.

2011 season currently underway!