Behind door #9 we find...Mark DiFelice!
It took Mark DiFelice 10 minor league seasons and 4 organizations to get there, but he made it to the big leagues in 2008 and put together a nice debut season. DiFelice was shelled in his debut at Fenway (three runs on five hits in one inning), but after that he settled down and posted a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings the rest of the way.
All told, even including the rough outing at Fenway, DiFelice posted an ERA+ of 153 for 2008. Only six players in Brewer history have posted a higher ERA+ in their ML debut season:
Pitcher | Season | IP | ERA | ERA+ |
Doug Henry | 1991 | 36 | 1.00 | 402 |
Dave Stapleton | 1987 | 14.2 | 1.84 | 250 |
Jose Mercedes | 1994 | 31 | 2.32 | 217 |
Jayson Durocher | 2002 | 48 | 1.88 | 217 |
Jaime Cocanower | 1983 | 30 | 1.80 | 208 |
Al Reyes | 1995 | 33.1 | 2.43 | 204 |
Mark DiFelice | 2008 | 19 | 2.84 | 153 |