Kyle Gibson Gives Reality Check

Kyle Gibson today didn't make it two innings before hitting his pitch count, reportedly set at 50. This ought to be a reality check for some of the overenthusiastic fans, bloggers and sports writers. The Twins are obviously very high on Gibson. And Gibson has shown the talent to warrant that enthusiasm. He has great stuff, even when he struggled today he struck out three batters.

The problem is that stuff is only one part of pitching. We all ought to have caught on to that after watching Francisco Liriano. He had great stuff. The problem was not that he was a head case. The problem was he is inconsistent, making way too many mistakes. When he was not making mistakes he looked like superman, but those days were too rare to fulfill the talent people saw in him.

Gibson doesn't need to show he has talent, he needs to show that he can use it consistently. There is a lot more of spring training for him to do that. But unless he can be consistent and use his pitches efficiently enough to pitch deep into games, he is not going to win a spot in the rotation. Or, at least, he shouldn't.