Hey Buddy-

Welcome to Major League Baseball.  You're a fantastically talented pitcher with top-notch stuff.  If all goes well, you are going to have an excellent career.  I hope it's spent in Colorado.  But last night, watching your start against the Padres (and to a lesser extent, when I watched your start against Atlanta last week), I noticed something that compelled me to write this letter.  Guess what?  There are going to be some guys here that can hit you on certain nights.  It's just going to happen. 

I know, I know- you've got absolutely nasty stuff.  But the hitters at this level are used to seeing nasty stuff, and occasionally, one of them is going to get a hit off you.  Like Kelly Johnson did in the top of the first last week.  Or like Brian Giles did twice last night.  Here's the crux of this letter- when this happens, when someone nails one of your pitches, that's OK!  Move on.  It doesn't matter anymore.  It already happened.  You don't need to suddenly alter your approach and tentatively nibble at the corners or chuck everything into the dirt.  Just focus on getting the next guy.  Don't worry, your stuff is still as nasty as ever.  The odds that that next guy is also going to hit you hard are pretty low.  That is, unless he gets a 2-0 or 3-1 count.  That's the surest way to get yourself into more trouble. So... yeah, this is getting awkward, considering you'll never read this and that I've taken two paragraphs to say what could be said in two sentences.  So I'll wrap it up.

Stick with it, kid.  And as a side note, take a few hacks in the cage occasionally.  You look awful up there.

-Larry B