Carlos Villanueva is in a very similar position to Manny Parra.
Both have the talent to be successful pitchers in the majors, but both are held back by either mental or physical roadblocks.
Part of Villanueva's problem has come from the rest of the pitching staff. He has bounced between the bullpen and starting rotation in each of his four seasons with the Brewers due to either injury orthe ineffectiveness of others.
It's hard even for a veteran pitcher to bounce back and forth between starting and coming out of the bullpen. For a young pitcher, it's almost impossible.
It seemed whenever Villanueva would start to get into a groove as a reliever, he was called upon for an emergency start or two, and he would lose any momentum he had built up coming out of the bullpen.
Villanueva was given a golden opportunity at the start of 2009, when he was named the fill-in closer for the injured Trevor Hoffman.
He got off to a good start, saving a game in his first appearance. That was followed up by his first victory two days later. He blew save opportunities in three of his next seven appearances, and he was never able to bounce back from the early-season adversity.
For the season, Villanueva was 4-10, with a 5.34 ERA in 64 games. He made six starts and pitched 96 innings, his lowest innings pitched total since his rookie season in 2006. He saved three games, all of which came in the first six weeks of the season. He also started six games but was never able to make it past the sixth inning in any of those starts.
Villanueva should fit in quite nicely in the Brewers' bullpen this year. He is a virtual clone of Hoffman; neither has an overpowering out pitch, but each has a great change-up to get hitters out.
The difference between the two is about 585 career saves and a strong belief in themselves. Hoffman goes into every game knowing he will get the job done; Villanueva goes into a game hoping to get the job done.
The Brewers need to have Villanueva become Hoffman's shadow all season long and pick up as much knowledge as possible. It will only benefit Villanueva to do so.
There is now enough depth in both the Brewers' bullpen and starting rotation that Villanueva should finally find a permanent home in the bullpen.
He won't be asked to close games, since the Brewers have Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins and Todd Coffey to handle that job. Villanueva will be asked to bridge the gap between a rough start for the starting pitcher and the back end of the bullpen. He should have several two-inning appearances this season.
Carlos Villanueva is a young pitcher trying to find his way on a big league roster.
Unfortunately for him, he will hardly ever get the credit for any wins this year, but he will be the likely goat for any loss the team has in which he is involved.
For Brewer fans, the less you hear Villanueva's name this season, the greater the likelihood that the team is playing winning ball.
To read more by Jesse Motiff, click here.
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