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| Born: 08/23/1993 (Age: 20) | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Height: 6' 7" | Weight: 195 |
| Mechanics |
| High 3/4 slot; brings front leg up high with knee tucked in; upper body tilts back; off balanced; inconsistent with lower half; stride gets long at times; good arm speed; finishes across his body; has trouble staying closed during release; decent athleticism; a little uncoordinated; when he has it all working the ball comes out easy with plus-plus velocity. |
| Evaluator | Chris King |
| Report Date | 06/04/2014 |
| Affiliate | Bradenton Marauders (High A, Pirates) |
| Dates Seen | 4/30/2014, 5/16/2014,5/22/2014 |
| OFP/Risk | 70/High |
| Realistic | 60; #3 starter |
| MLB ETA | 2016 |
| Video | No |
| Pitch Type | Present Grade | Future Grade | Sitting Velocity | Peak Velocity | Report |
| Fastball | 65 | 70 | 92-96 | 100 | Lacks consistent command; below average at present; gets flat when thrown in the 95-96 range; tailing action in the 93-94 range; explosive pitch when located down; primary pitch first time through the order; leaves it over the plate too often; can be squared up when flat; overpowering when the command is on. |
| Curveball | 50 | 60 | 76-79 | 80 | 12/6 action; tight spinning; big drop pitch; has trouble with feel and staying on top; arm action slows down; flashes easy plus potential; solid out pitch; swing and miss generator; plays extremely well of fastball; does good job locating down; has confidence to throw in any count; effective to both LH and RH hitters. |
| Changeup | 40 | 50 | 83-87 | 88 | Feel isn't there yet; floats it up there too often with little to no action; consistently flat, but does get good depth; lacks deception; arm and delivery slow down; good velo separation from fastball. |
| Overall |
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Sporting a workhorse frame, Glasnow has one of the highest ceilings around. Fastball command is really holding him back right now. When he's repeating his delivery, there aren't many arms out there who can overpower guys like he can. While there is concern with control and command, his delivery isn't a mess. This should be a problem that can be fixed with more experience and coaching. His curveball is a second legitimate plus offering that should continue to become more consistent. When he's spinning it right, it's an absolute hammer that can generate swing and miss while also buckling knees and freeing hitters. The changeup needs the most work and refinement, but he's shown enough with it to where it will eventually become an average third offering. He has thrown a few sliders/cutters in the mid-80's, but has not shown it enough in any outing I've seen to grade it.
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| Born: 02/14/1995 (Age: 19) | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Height: 6' 2" | Weight: 186 |
| Mechanics |
| Kershawesque mechanics. Feature a big leg kick while he raises the hands above his head. Drives front hip forward and deliberately extends glove hand. Back foot is in the air prior to his release. When he does release he comes from a very high 3/4 arm slot.
Keeps all this movement when working out of the stretch. Hides ball well and showcases solid arm speed. Keeps release point for all his pitches but complex delivery gets in the way at times leaving his arm late coming through the zone. This leads to misses high and to his arm side. |
| Evaluator | Ryan Parker |
| Report Date | 06/05/2014 |
| Affiliate | Unaffiliated |
| Dates Seen | 5/14/14 & 5/31/14 |
| OFP/Risk | 55/Medium |
| Realistic | # 4 starter |
| MLB ETA | 2017 |
| Video | Yes |
| Pitch Type | Present Grade | Future Grade | Sitting Velocity | Peak Velocity | Report |
| Fastball | 50 | 60 | 90 | 93 | Good velocity for a lefty on his fastball. Lacks the traditional lefty movement to his fastball. Comes in flat. Features good plane and he has no problem mixing locations on his fastball. Currently his control is better than his command leading to many pitches over the white of the plate. Raise in future grade comes from a predicted increase in his command as he at least shows a willingness to vary fastball location at the moment. Body is close to physical maturity so a velocity increase might be unlikely. |
| Curveball | 45 | 55 | 72 | 74 | Big looping breaking ball. 12-6 action that when thrown correctly is a monster to low-level hitters. He will throw it to both righties and lefties but has trouble extending to his glove side. Rather than work away with this pitch to lefties he tends to aim for the dirt right behind the center of home plate.
Movement wise it can get soft and show a noticeable "hump" on its trip to the plate. The movement is solid but doesn't feature any real "fall of a table" break. Between the overall movement and the ability for Clarkin to keep arm speed and not tip this pitch it will be a useable offering. |
| Changeup | 40 | 55 | 81 | 83 | I believe this will be Clarkin's best off-speed pitch when he is fully developed. The curveball will always look better but in terms of effectiveness his changeup wins out. Has both deception and just enough life to his arm side. He can also throw it for strikes or chase pitches to both batters. He is comfortable doubling up on the pitch and using it at any point in the count.
It's not as "sexy" as his big breaking ball but it has more utility. When thrown badly its not as bad as a hanging breaking ball as he tends to spike it. When it's thrown well hitters are flailing. He seems more comfortable with his changeup and can bust it out at any time. |
| Overall |
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Body is close to physical maturity, delivery is athletic, and will have three solid offerings at the big-league level. His command needs to improve but I'm much more comfortable in a guy like Clarkin being able to do so. He repeats well. He works both sides of the plate but simply catches too much of it right now. At worst he is J.A. Happ. At best he's Matt Harrison minus a few mph on the fastball. |
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| Born: 04/07/1993 (Age: 21) | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Height: 6' 2" | Weight: 200 |
| Mechanics |
| 3/4 arm slot; evenly filled-out body; easy, repeatable delivery; smooth and efficient; uses frame to create leverage and plane; gets on top of the ball; throws downhill; can drift with feet during finish; quick to plate – 1.29-1.34 out of stretch. |
| Evaluator | Chris Mellen |
| Report Date | 06/07/2014 |
| Affiliate | Bowie Baysox (AA, Orioles) |
| Dates Seen | 6/03/2014 |
| OFP/Risk | 55/Moderate |
| Realistic | 50; 4th/5th starter |
| MLB ETA | 2015 |
| Video | No |
| Pitch Type | Present Grade | Future Grade | Sitting Velocity | Peak Velocity | Report |
| Fastball | 55 | 55 | 89-92 | 93 | Fringe-average command; showed pitchability with offering—tried to work both sides of the plate; not afraid to pitch inside against right-handed batters; lacks strong movement—demonstrated occasional arm-side tail; left pitch up and in middle of the plate too much; very flat when elevated; offering will need to be consistently spotted down around the knees and on the corners; needs to finesse the strike zone; will not overpower hitters and miss bats frequently; must pick spots when elevating. |
| Slider | 50 | 55 | 81-85 | Solid-average command; consistently threw for strikes; tilt and depth to offering, but not presently a hard biter; showed more sweeping action; lack of hard break off the table enables batters to wait on pitch and get the barrel on well spotted ones; capable of consistently executing pitch; room for growth—showed feel for creating snap with wrist; will need to tighten up to miss bats at the major-league level. | |
| Changeup | 45 | 50 | 83-85 | Below-average command; left up in zone often; lacked finish, causing pitch to float and hang in the strike zone; on the firm side; action more like a fastball that he took something off of; willing to throw pitch in sequences; at times got deliberate with delivery, tipping that it was coming; can throw with appropriate arm speed and create deception. |
| Overall |
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While Rodriguez's stuff was bland in this outing, I saw some room for growth with his arsenal and an understanding of the fundamentals behind executing his craft. The lefty was willing to work both sides of the plate with his fastball, along with showing no fear in trying to get the pitch up under right-handed hitters' hands. There was a lack of execution, however, especially in the third inning of the outing. It was compounded by Rodriguez losing his rhythm, and what seemed to be some focus in slowing the game down. The pitcher went into an ultra-attack mode, where he was trying to hard to force the execution of his pitches and it lead to a loss of control over the outing. Rodriguez's fastball is the type that is best served being thrown in the lower tier of the strike zone and on the corners. The pitcher needs work improving the consistency of his fastball command to limit hard contact and continue to progress through the upper minors. There's a fine line with the pitch. Presently, neither of his secondary offerings are of the bat-missing variety. I saw his slider as having the best potential to progress to this level. Rodriguez feels the pitch well and shows the ability to throw it for strikes. The lack of hard bite is a hurdle now for getting opposing batters to commit early to the pitch and swing over the top of it. The way he threw the pitch led me to believe it can tighten up a bit more with further repetition over the next year or so. The changeup can be a serviceable offering for him in the long run, but I didn't see the feel for it getting past an average offering. Overall, this isn't a flashy arm or one with top-shelf stuff. I did like the way Rodriguez went about trying to execute his craft. The lefty had an idea of who he is as a pitcher. But there are rough edges here and limitations when laying in the present stuff against major-league hitters. His body language and overall demeanor left me with the impression that the mind is in the right place to make progress, and more repetition will drive future growth to reach the projection.
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| Born: 11/30/1992 (Age: 21) | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Height: 6' 2" | Weight: 220 |
| Mechanics |
| Body could be high maintenance; wide hips; broad shoulders; thick legs; build appears to be soft; arm is lightning quick; standard 3/4 slot; showed ability to create good angle; arm action was fine; high leg lift with chest-high frontside arm swing; good stride length; struggled to finish delivery and stay over the ball; would fly open and spin off to first base side in follow through; tendency to miss in the same spot (arm side and up) throughout the start; quick release; 1.1-1.3 with runners on; strong competitor; battled even when command was poor. |
| Evaluator | Jason Parks |
| Report Date | 06/08/2014 |
| Affiliate | Richmond Flying Squirrels (Double-A, Giants) |
| Dates Seen | 06/07/2014 |
| OFP/Risk | 60/Moderate |
| Realistic | 50; setup reliever |
| MLB ETA | 2015 |
| Video | No |
| Pitch Type | Present Grade | Future Grade | Sitting Velocity | Peak Velocity | Report |
| FB | 60 | 70 | 93-97 | 98 | Raw velo suggests potential plus-plus offering; sat comfortably in the 94-97 range through entire start; worked 96-98 in final inning of work; velo is legit; command is well below average; struggles to finish delivery and releases high and arm side; struggled to work down with the fastball; pitch lacked movement; firm and flat above the belt; plus pitch at present on the merits of the near elite velocity but overall grade is pulled down by 30 grade command and fringe movement. Should be dominating pitch but it plays down. |
| SL | 45 | 55 | 82-84 | 84 | Snapped off his first sexy slider in the fifth; preceding offerings missed glove side and lacked bite; at its best, showed power curve movement with good vertical snap; lacked big tilt but showed above-average potential because of the late vertical drop and ability to play off fastball; inconsistent in this start and was not a true wipeout pitch. |
| CH | 40 | 55 | 88-89 | 89 | Small sample; too firm and flat in the upper 80s; wasn't turning it over; worked up and lost action; more deliberate in the delivery on CH; more 1B-side fall off; didn't show much feel for the pitch in the start; dropped one that flashed above average; hard to project plus pitch given his struggles to finish in the delivery and encourage arm-side/sinking action. |
| CT | 40 | 50 | 88-91 | 91 | Short cutter; small sample; one finished over the plate at 88 resulting in a single; the rest missed glove side; was hard to tell if cutting action was deliberately induced or if extension was cut in the delivery; could be effective pitch given velocity and glove-side wiggle. |
| Overall |
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Crick lacks the consistency to profile as a frontline starter or frontline closer; could develop into high-octane setup type; fastball is velocity monster in the plus-plus range and could reach elite levels in bursts; pitch plays down because of well below-average command and minimal movement; tendency to miss up and arm side which limits angle and movement; dropped a few quality sliders that flashed above average; did not show a wipeout slider in the start; changeup was too firm and flat; deliberate in the delivery with more 1B-side fall off; was a very fastball heavy outing; unusual to witness a pitcher holding 95-98 velocity and come away unimpressed and not confident putting an impact projection on the profile. Crick is a reliever for me; closer profile is possible with improved command and development of a wipeout breaking ball; more comfortable with eighth inning projection based on look. |
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| Born: 04/27/1994 (Age: 20) | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Height: 6' 4" | Weight: 215 |
| Primary Position: SS | |
| Secondary Position: 3B | |
| Physical/Health |
| Great size; solid build; 6-4/215 is accurate; wide shoulders; almost maxed out, could add a couple pounds of muscle; plus athleticism; tons of strength already. |
| Evaluator | Chris Rodriguez |
| Report Date | 05/12/2014 |
| Dates Seen | 4/6, 4/7, 4/14, 5/6, 5/9 |
| Affiliate | Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (High A, Dodgers) |
| MLB ETA | Risk Factor | OFP | Realistic Role | Video |
| Late 2016 | Moderate | 60 | 50; Major-league regular | No |
| Makeup |
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Cool, calm, and collected. Overall game has an ease to it; can look like he lacks a sense of urgency but that's just the way he plays. |
| Tool | Future Grade | Report |
| Hit | 55 | Wide stance; weight shifts to the back leg early; hands are in good hitting position; plus bat speed; arms can get extended a little early; barred arm; slight uppercut; back leg can collapse on him; struggled with velocity inside; can't seem to get the barrel to the inner-half unless he's looking hard and in; passive approach can get him behind in the count and force him to expand the zone; has made some adjustments game to game; better approach; spits on breaking balls in the dirt; more aggressive (in the zone) in the last couple of games; lots of hard contact; tough out; could have a high OBP with high strikeouts as well. |
| Power | 60 | Good present strength; could be well-above-average raw power down the line; swing has plenty of loft and leverage; good carry in batting practice; present gap power; hit some opposite-field warning track fly balls during game action; power will come with time due to a fluid swing and raw strength. |
| Baserunning/Speed | 40 | Present speed is fringy; clocked 4.28 on a dig; moves well, but size and weight will limit his speed on the base paths; future below-average run. |
| Glove | 50 | Very soft hands; gobbles up easy opportunities; glove is above average; moves with grace and athleticism; no wasted movements in any direction; very good balance; range dependent on first step; average range at the moment; could be a very good third baseman in a few years; fits at shortstop for the foreseeable future. |
| Arm | 60 | Strong arm; can make the throw from the hole and up the middle; thrown with ease and has good carry; rarely needed to unleash it; left-side arm. |
| Overall |
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The first two looks at Seager last year left me unimpressed, but this year he has made improvements at the plate and has shown the ability to make adjustments. Last year and early this year he expanded the zone and looked uncomfortable, especially with runners on base. After a brief DL stint, he came back with a more selectively aggressive approach and showed more frequent hard contact vs. quality stuff. The bat could be above average long term. His glove and arm are plus at present, which alone will keep him at shortstop for the time being. Overall, Seager is a smooth operator with a decent chance to produce solid offensive production and good defense from the left side of the infield. Above-average stuff and more advanced arms may highlight his problems with inside velocity, so Double-A will be a big test. |
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| Born: 08/22/1991 (Age: 22) | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Height: 6' 4" | Weight: 220 |
| Primary Position: 3B | |
| Secondary Position: | |
| Physical/Health |
| Great body; big, broad and tall; powerful legs; built; muscular top; probably maxed out at this point; hard to imagine he ever played SS. |
| Evaluator | Tucker Blair |
| Report Date | 06/03/2014 |
| Dates Seen | 4/26/2014, 5/30/2014, 6/2/2014 |
| Affiliate | Wilmington Blue Rocks (High A, Royals) |
| MLB ETA | Risk Factor | OFP | Realistic Role | Video |
| 2016 | Medium | 60 | 50: Second Division Player | No |
| Makeup |
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Good makeup; takes his strikeouts and learns from them; keeps it on the bench and does not bring bad plays/AB with him to the other side of the game. |
| Tool | Future Grade | Report |
| Hit | 60 | Natural bat-to-ball skills; swing is exquisite; barrel control is evident; shows length and extension with hands; ability to pull them in on the hard stuff inside; strength is evident in swing; hands are a tad higher for my liking but he is able to get away with it due to plus bat speed; load is moderate; approach is plus; shows ability to understand a pitcher's arsenal and adapt in-game; lays off CH away and looks for a more suitable pitch to hit. |
| Power | 60 | Plus bat speed; brute strength; slight lift; hips provide above-average torque; ball jumps off the bat in BP and in games; hitting more liners currently than flies; more doubles power right now; the homers are going to come soon; pure bat-to-ball skills with the brute strength are huge indicators. |
| Baserunning/Speed | 50 | Clocked 4.24, 4.27 home to first; speed is simply average all around; athletic player, but speed is not a true weapon here; good speed for how large he is. |
| Glove | 50 | Defense is currently fringe-average; footwork can become choppy; does not always set them; needs work on positioning his body defensively; hips are not fluid enough for my liking at the corner; struggles at times to rotate and will have to backhand some plays that another plus defender might field in a proper throwing position; range is average; has instincts but needs more reps; defense will be fine, just needs more reps at 3B. |
| Arm | 60 | Arm is plus; can handle most throws; occasionally will struggle when does not set his feet; accuracy is solid when he does not rush. |
| Overall |
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Dozier has three future plus tools, but they are slumbering some at the current time. The most important part of Dozier's game is his approach at the plate and how he is able to conduct his at-bats. The barrel skills are tremendous and he will hit at the higher levels. While he is honing these skills, the home-run power might slumber more, but it should arise shortly. The defense is not an issue to me, as he still looks to be learning the craft of third base. It might take some time, but the bat should allow him to stick at the hot corner either way. |
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Plus hit and plus power potential with good defense and arm at the hot corner sounds pretty nice. Is the question essentially WILL he reach those grades? Seems like the hit tool is already there.