Jae Seo

Seo's 2005 turnaround shows how his personal development impacted his play on the field. It would appear his offseason marriage and the birth of his daughter changed Seo's mindset, making him no longer reluctant to learn new pitches to complement his fastball and changeup. He added split-fingered and cut fastballs and now staggers the speed of his pitches to disrupt a hitter's timing. Once the Mets tired of Victor Zambrano, Seo moved into the rotation full-time. Despite an up-and-down September, he'll have a set spot in the rotation after being traded to the Dodgers.

Seo, who was expected to start 2004 as the Mets' fifth starter, pitched his way out of the spot in spring training and was sent to Triple-A to begin the year. Things actually went downhill from there, with the only team he pitched well against being the Marlins, who he has dominated the past two years. Seo never meshed with pitching coach Rick Peterson and his velocity, which needs to be around 90 mph since he is a fastball-changeup pitcher, hovered most of the season in the mid-80's. There is strong speculation that Seo will return to South Korea since he is no longer in the Mets' plans as a starter.

Seo broke camp as the Mets' fifth starter and excelled for the first three months of the year. He struggled in July and August as his command and mound presence deserted him, before rebounding in September. Seo added a two-seam fastball to compliment his fastball/changeup combination and has a passable slider. At one point he was a big-time Mets prospect but struggled to regain his velocity after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 1999 - his fastball now tops out in the low-90s after being in the 93-95 MPH range pre-surgery. When Seo hits 90 and above on the gun, his changeup is effective, but if his fastball is only in the 80s it will be a long night.