Background: Talk about a late bloomer. Buried at Class A in the Mets system, where he went 26-35, 3.97 from 1991-97, Roque signed with the Brewers as a six-year free agent and jumped from Double-A to the majors in one season, pitching better and better with each leap. Strengths: Roque has good movement on a 90-91 mph fastball and throws strikes. He has a long, lean body and a fluid delivery. He mixes in a decent changeup to keep hitters off-balance. Weaknesses: Roque needs to work on his curveball to keep righthanded hitters from leaning over the plate. At times, he catches too much of the plate and gives in to hitters unnecessarily. The Future: Roque is penciled into the Brewers' rotation, something of a gamble considering his underachieving background prior to 1998. But the Brewers are thin in starting pitching and have few alternatives at this point.
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