I'm like all Fantasy owners when it comes to Rays starting pitcher Matt Moore. Because of his past as an elite pitching prospect and his promise as a Fantasy option, to see him struggle in the spring is concerning. He's walked 13 batters in 17 1/3 innings, which certainly stands out. But after hearing manager Joe Maddon call Moore a "notoriously slow starter," I'm at ease.
Sure, it could be just coach speak to cover up a glaring problem, but looking at Moore's past numbers (five walks in 10 spring innings in 2012), I can buy into Maddon's reasoning. Though, let's not forget Moore carried his spring struggles last year into the regular season. He walked 28 batters in his first nine starts and had a 5.07 ERA in that span. Luckily, Moore settled down and posted a 3.31 ERA in his final 22 starts and struck out 127 batters in 127 2/3 innings in that span.
Despite the alarms going off in my head, I'm not putting much stock in Moore's spring numbers. I will take perhaps a few bad starts at the beginning of the season knowing Moore's upside. He has just 32 major-league starts under his belt and not every elite pitching prospect begins their career like a Jered Weaver. In fact, if you recall, both Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw had ERAs above 4.00 in their first full MLB season before turning into elite Fantasy pitchers. Moore's ERA was slightly under 4.00 last season, so to me he seems right on track.