JC Sulbaran has been on the radar of prospect fans since being drafted, and on the radar of casual prospect followers since he struck out Ivan Rodriguez as a teenager in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He has had ups and downs ever since then, struggling with his consistency and dominating when he found it. He has battled minor injuries as well, but nothing that has been serious. The Reds sent him to Bakersfield for the 2011 season after spending two season with the Dayton Dragons.
In April, he struggled through four starts for the Blaze, throwing a combined 19.1 innings with a 5.12 ERA. His peripherals were not as bad as his ERA suggests they should be though with 16 strikeouts to go along with 7 walks and just one home run allowed despite the league being very home run friendly.
May was mostly more of the same for Sulbaran in the hitting paradise that is the California League. He made five starts for 25.2 innings pitched with a 5.96 ERA. However he did put up very strong strikeout numbers, with 35 strikeouts on the month and had 11 walks to go against those. In his start of May 17th Sulbaran struck out 13 batters and walked just two in just 5 innings (4 hits, no HR, 3 ER) to mark his season high in strikeouts in a game as well as the first time in his career he went into double digit strikeouts in a single game.
The month of June was a turn around of sorts for the right hander. He lowered his ERA for the month to a solid 4.06 and once again posted very strong strikeout numbers with 39 strikeouts in just 31 innings. He did however walk a very high number of hitters in the month, with 17 free passes given out. He made six starts and only once during the month did he not walk three or more batters. In that one start where he didn’t however, he made perhaps his best start of the season with 10 strikeouts and 1 walk over 6.1 shutout innings pitched.
July was a big breakthrough on the season as Sulbaran threw 23.1 innings over four starts with a dazzling 1.54 ERA. He cut down his walks, with just 5 on the entire month and countered with 19 strikeouts. His first start of the month was a strong 6 shutout innings without a walk and 7 strikeouts. His next start was below average, but followed it up by allowing just one run over the final two starts of the month.
In August and September he would make a combined seven starts and while his ERA was not strong, his peripheral stats were. His ERA on the stretch stood at 5.73, but in 37.2 innings he had 46 strikeouts and 10 walks along with just three home runs allowed. In his final start of the season he went on to strike out 11 batters and walk no one in 7 innings, but did give up 4 earned runs during the game.
Overall Thoughts
Sulbaran took steps forward this year overall, but he still was inconsistent and that has long been a rub against him that has kept him from being a higher rated prospect. He has the stuff to be a good Major League pitcher with two above-average pitches, but he still needs to work to round out his game and find the consistency from start to start. His ERA on the year looks rough, but with the league environment he played in it was not nearly as bad as it looks on the surface. I would expect to see him spend the full season in AA Pensacola next season.
Stats
| W | L | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | SO | WHIP | BB% | K% | K/BB |
| 9 | 6 | 4.60 | 137 | 140 | 10 | 50 | 155 | 1.39 | 8.3% | 25.7% | 3.1 |