Jerry Crasnick of ESPN lists nine young starting pitchers ‘trying to bridge the gap from hopeful to fulfilled.’

Mike Pelfrey gets an honorable mention noting ‘he’s given New York an early lift in the absence of Pedro Martinez‘

Brian Bannister comes in at #4. Something you may or may not know, Bannister is a fan of Sabermetrics.

The stat folks love him regardless, now that it’s come to light that he’s so sabermetrically-inclined. Bannister studies tendencies and knows which hitters are inclined to hack at a first-pitch fastball, so he adjusts accordingly. He’s conversant in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) and BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) and knows his way around the Baseball Prospectus Web site. Bill James and Joe Kerrigan would love him.

Maybe if Brian stuck around he could have been a contributing writer at Mets Geek.

No sense in dwelling on what might have been, I am looking toward the future. Go Big Pelf!