Angel Guzman - he of the torn labrum, strained forearm, and fractured elbow - made his major league debut yesterday for the Cubs. For all the wear-and-tear on this guy he’s still only 24 years old.

Angel worked at 92-96 mph with the fastball, and threw in some good curve-balls and sliders. I didn’t see many change-ups, but the two off-speed pitches he featured were clearly MLB caliber strikeout quality.

A couple of observations: his 2-seam fastball has good running action away from lefties, but he sticks with the 4-seamer against right-handed hitters. I didn’t see the “devastating” sinker that scouts raved about, but his 2-seamer did have definite bite deep in the zone. The curve and slider were at 82-84, compared to a fastball that probably averaged at 93-94 mph. It’s clearly a good fastball, and Guzman looks like he knows what he’s doing on the mound. He was painting both corners, and I can see him having a lot of success against left-handed hitters. He pounded Mike Jacobs away with 96 mph 2-seamers that were absolutely perfect pitches. I can’t see anyone in the NL hitting that pitch.

He worked 5 innings, surrendered 3 runs, and Kd 5; he gave up 6 hits, and walked 4 on some very marginal calls. This is a guy with a career walk rate of 2.2/9 IP in the minors, and I think he’s pretty close to a finished product. The command was there despite the 4 walks. I think once he settles into the rotation you won’t see many BBs.

Guzman’s probably a #2 starter talent-wise, but you can’t project his career after one start. Watch him against Pittsburgh and see if the fastball still has the same bite. I really like this kid; and I love the fact he’s not getting any hype.