This year has been called The Year of the Pitcher in baseball. With so many no-hitters and two (three?) perfect games, not to mention countless close calls for no-hit bids, pitching truly has been at the top of the conversation this season. But the marvels on the mound do not stop with major league hurlers. There are dozens of guys with blue chip arms in the minors who will not even step into a major league stadium. One of those guys is Kyle Drabek.

Drabek is the son of former Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek and is currently pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate New Hampshire. Drabek was a first round pick of the Phillies in 2006 and was a part of the massive trade for Roy Halladay last December. The plan was to keep him in the minors all season and he’s done just that. He threw his own no-hitter on July 4 and has led his team to a playoff berth in the Eastern League.

Going into Thursday’s game, Drabek had a 14-9 record with a 2.89 ERA in 26 starts. He has struck out 127 and walked 67 in 159 innings. Drabek will likely be shut down after the Eastern League playoffs as his inning total is already higher than any other in his career. Making one or two spot starts as a September call up won’t do much to help his development. He’s already made a strong case to be the Blue Jay organization’s Pitcher of the Year.

If things stay the same in Blue Jay land, he’ll have a tough time making the starting rotation out of Spring Training. He can do it, but he’s already up against more than a handful of other guys who are already part of the starting five or have been knocking on the door longer than he has. Despite needing a bit more seasoning, there’s still little doubt that Drabek will be a member of the big league rotation sometime in 2011.