Tonight's loss was frustrating but not all was to be frowned upon tonight. Hellickson had another masterful performance in AAA (I know I know its just the minors). The thing that jumped out to me the most about tonight's performance was 10K in 5 innings compared to just 2 walks and 3 hits. Essentially his KIP was 2x as high as his whip. That got me wondering how his numbers in that regard stack up to others (Not sure if there is a stat out there or not for KIP/WHIP ratio's but I'm sure there is I'm just not aware of it. There are many ways to look at a pitcher and how he stacks up against others and this is just one way and maybe it is me cherry picking but it shows Hellickson compares quite favorably to other top pitching prospects and also shows just how nasty Tommy Hanson was in AAA this year.

I'm just going to take current level (or AAA if they are now in the majors) numbers from him and others all stats from this season only (Granite it is a small sample size but maybe it can be expanded later if wanted)

Hellickson

35 1/3 innings 21 hits 12 walks 39 K

Whip of .935

KIP of 1.105

Total +.17 (+ meaning more K)

here are his AA numbers to add a little more to the sample size

56 2/3 IP 41 H 14 BB 62 K

Whip .972

KIP 1.095

Total +.123

#41 Wade Davis

145.2 IP 128 H 59 BB 129 K

Whip of 1.284

KIP .886

Total = -.398

#1 David Price AAA

34 1/3 IP 28 H 18 BB 35 K

Whip 1.341

KIP 1.020

Total -.321

#4 Madison Bumgarner SF AA

92 IP 72 H 28 BB 66 K

WHIP 1.087

KIP .717

Total -.370

#10 Tommy Hanson AAA

66 1/3 IP 40 H 17 BB 90 K

Whip .860

Kip 1.357

Total + .497  (DAMN)

#22 Brian Matusz AA

46 1/3 IP 31 H 11 BB 46 K

Whip .907

Kip .994

Total +.087

#9 Neftali Perez AAA

77 1/3 IP 69 H 30 BB 75 K

Whip 1.281

Kip .970

Total -.311

#25 Jarrod Parker AA

78 1/3 IP 82 H 34 BB 74 K

Whip 1.481

Kip.945

Total -.536

I didn't use Cahill or Anderson because they have been in the majors all season but that was all the P in the top 25 plus Davis and Hellickson and Hellickson would rank #2 only behind the outstanding numbers of Hanson. So yea maybe saying he was only slightly behind Hanson was a bit off because Hanson is so damn good was a stretch, saying that Hellickson should be considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball going into 2010 shouldn't be.

Those are just some of the BA (I used Callis' list for Ranking I listed) top pitching prospects coming into the season