Just a small observation regarding those who see height as being an issue with pitchers. I can understand that having a downward plane is clearly beneficial to the pitcher, but I have a hard time agreeing with the consensus that short pitchers are not meant to be starting pitchers.

I am a Seattle Seahawks fan, and we had a similar situation arise in the draft regarding the height of one of the players drafted, quarterback, Russell Wilson. He has a lot in common with Stroman, in the sense that there was never any questions about his talent, but rather his height was holding back from being elite. People would point to the lack of short quarterbacks in the NFL at the moment, stating that 30 teams have a quarterback over 6'2'' tall. When looking at rotations across baseball, we notice a similar trend. There aren't many starters, if any, as short as Stroman.

I was in love with the Russell Wilson pick for Seattle, just as I believe Stroman can be an effective starter for us at the major league level. Yes, there aren't many short quarterbacks or short pitchers in the NFL, but I'd also like to point out that there aren't many successful short quarterbacks or starting pitchers in the college ranks either. Short players are often weeded out long before they reach the highest level of competition.

People point to players like Tim Lincecum and state that he is the exception to the rule. Short players don't do well; Lincecum is just really, really talented. Short players are continuously dropping in drafts of all sports because of their height, but it's not as if being shorter then the average person is a new thing to these individuals. For the most part, they have been short (relatively speaking of course, 5'7" is tall compared to myself) for their entire lives, and always faced their competition as a short individual. They have succeeded because of their talent, and while being taller would almost certainly help these players, it doesn't restrict them from continuing to dominate their competition.

I would look up some factual information, but I am way too drunk for that at the present moment. I'll look tomorrow or something.