Sports Pro File: Neftali Feliz

In the game of baseball word travels fast when you can throw a pitch over 100 miles per hour. Such is the case with Texas Ranger rookie Neftali Feliz. He gave all of Major League Baseball a preview of his talent late last season when he struck out 39 batters in just 31 innings pitched, all while having an earned run average under 2.00 and allowing just 13 hits. The 21 year old seems poised to put up a similar performance in 2010.

Neftali Feliz was born on May 2, 1988 in Azua, Dominican Republic. The Atlanta Braves signed Feliz as a free agent in 2005 when he was just 17 years old. He was still pitching in the rookie league for the Braves when he was packaged along with Beau Jones, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in a trade with the Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay in 2007.

In 2008 Feliz pitched in A and AA and in 127.1 innings pitched he struck out 153 and only allowed 89 hits. It was more of the same in 2009 as he started at AAA Oklahoma City where he struck out 75 in 77.1 innings.

Feliz would make his Major League debut on August 3, 2009 against the Oakland A's. In that game he struck out four in two innings pitched, without allowing a hit. It was clear from the start that Feliz was a special kind of pitcher. During the game he would throw a fastball at 101 miles per hour to Tommy Everidge and two others at 100 mph in the same at bat.

When 2010 rolled around Feliz was to be a setup man in the bullpen, but when Frank Francisco blew two saves in his first three tries, the closer's role was assigned to Feliz. Since taking over the role Feliz has converted three of four save opportunities and still is striking out an average of over a batter per inning.

Since Feliz only pitched 31 innings in the majors in 2009 he is still eligible to win the Rookie of the Year Award in 2010. He could make it two relievers in a row to win the award, following 2009 winner Andrew Bailey of the Oakland A's. One day Feliz may return to starting and then start racking up some really impressive strikeout numbers and maybe, just maybe start reminding people of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, just a little bit. Until then a Rookie of the Year Award wouldn't be so bad.