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Physical Description: Tall, lanky build. Has
considerable remaining projection. Athletic, looks the part.
Mechanics: Throws from a
high-three-quarters arm slot starting on the third base side of
the rubber. Effort in delivery. Violent head whack. High leg
kick and drives off his back leg, landing on-line to the plate.
Shorter stride. Very quick, loose arm. Long arm swing back
during which he shows the ball before whipping his arm forward.
Fastball: 93-95 mph. Tops out at 96 mph.
Inconsistent command and control. Pitch is on the flat side and
grades out poorly metric-wise. Loses velocity as he goes deeper
into games, starting 94-96 mph but settling in more at 92-94 mph
by the third or fourth inning. Lower fastball quality that might
struggle to miss bats against more advanced hitters and plays
below its velocity. Potential average pitch.
Curveball: 76-81 mph. Long, vertical, 11-to-5 breaking
ball. Extremely comfortable throwing the pitch and will use it
in any count, although sometimes will over-throw it. Can land
the pitch in the zone for strikes and bury outside of the zone
to induce swings. Pitch shows some depth when he gets over it,
but he does not always get on top of it. Has advanced feel for
spin for his age. Potential above-average pitch.
Slider: 82-86 mph. Varying shape, with some shorter and
more horizontal and others more vertical. Can run into his
curveball at times. Will flash bat-missing potential and adds an
east/west wrinkle to his primarily north/south
fastball/curveball combination. Potential average offering. |
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Changeup: 89-91 mph. Work in progress. Looks
like a fastball he took something off of at times. Not a part of
his arsenal in 2023 regular season looks after showing it in
Spring Training.
Career Notes:
Participated in the Fall Performance Program in 2021. Was set to
participate in the 2022 Fall Performance Program that was
canceled due to Hurricane Ian. Stuff took a significant step
forward in 2023, moving him from an off-the-radar type repeating
the FCL all the way to High-A and top 30 prospect status by the
end of the year.
Summation: Potential
up-and-down, multi-inning relief arm. Ceiling of a back-end
starter. High variance arm who is still learning to pitch. Still
very projectable and has already added velocity, even within the
season. Could gain even more velocity given how loose his arm is
and the remaining projection in his frame. Stuff took a
significant step forward in 2023, making him a much more
interesting prospect. Needs to show more consistency and improve
command and control as he moves up the ladder. Fastball quality
could stand to improve, as could creating separation between his
two breaking balls. Has dabbled with a changeup in the past and
adding something like that or a splitter could give him a better
chance to stick in the starting rotation. Pitches with emotion
and swagger.
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