This time last year, some of the top arms in the nation were sophomores — Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Sonny Gray, Matt Barnes. They’d made a name for themselves early and they were continuing to emerge. As juniors, many are likely first-round picks.
The current sophomore arms don’t seem to have the same reputation at this point, save Matt Purke, who’s draft-eligible anyway.
But Kurt Heyer is certainly making a name for himself.
The sophomore righty from Arizona ranks third in the nation in strikeouts. He’s punched out 60 batters, better than Gray, Cole and Barnes, and not far behind leaders Hultzen and Bauer. To go with the strikeout numbers, he’s 4-1 with a 1.33 ERA.
Heyer, who’s slated to play for Orleans this summer, has made two more starts than most of those guys, but you can look past that. Bottom line — there’s another star sophomore emerging.
It’s not out of nowhere. Heyer earned the Friday starter’s job from day one with the Wildcats last year and set a school freshman record in ERA with a mark of 3.26. He also set a freshman record with 109 strikeouts, earning freshman All-American honors in the process. He was also picked as a preseason All-American by several publications this year.
Now, he’s living up to the advanced billing, and if he keeps it going, he’ll get even more accolades. He’ll also be very high on the list of players to watch for the Cape League summer.