Not every pitcher is a strikeout pitcher, in fact most aren't. Judging anyone based on one metric, is always hazardous. He's 23, and was the consensus top high school pitcher in 2013, and not unlike Mauer, practically a world class athlete. I'm in no big hurry, let's see what the fat lady does.

You don't have to be a strikeout pitcher (lets say 8+ K/9) but you can't be at the absolute bottom (basically avoiding strikeouts).

 

Among pitchers with 500IP from 2013-2017 there are only 6 MLB pitchers (Guthrie - Buehrle - Martin Perez - Kendrick - Simon - Pelfrey) with a <6 K/9. You can have success with out strikeouts but his MiLB numbers rate as among the worst in the majors. Perhaps he can be Buehrle but he is almost the exception.

Straying from the topic of pitchers, what do you all think of Mitch Garver being on the Sickels list? At what point does a player stop being a "prospect", either due to his age or the number of games he has already played at the MLB level? Granted, Garver didn't play a ton of games in the majors this year, and not all were played as catcher, but I think his days as a prospect are over. He's arrived. I think he will stick with the Twins as a backup this year, but it still strikes me as a stretch to rate him so high on the prospect list.

Straying from the topic of pitchers, what do you all think of Mitch Garver being on the Sickels list? At what point does a player stop being a "prospect", either due to his age or the number of games he has already played at the MLB level? Granted, Garver didn't play a ton of games in the majors this year, and not all were played as catcher, but I think his days as a prospect are over. He's arrived. I think he will stick with the Twins as a backup this year, but it still strikes me as a stretch to rate him so high on the prospect list.

There is no age limit, most publications use the official MLB rookie cutoff, which is 130 AB's, 50 IP, or 45 days service time (not counting expanded rosters).