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The "Spec-Tom-Eter" is in the sidebar where it rightfully belongs. Today's delightful installment -- CLICK THIS LINK RAT CHEER -- calls to our attention two pitching prospects who leaped plateaus.
As Spec notes, there are two basic ways that a drafting sports organization can spend its low-cost draft picks and contracts:
- On "respectable" players "with org value" who make the drafters look like they know a ballplayer from a kumquat
- On lottery tickets
The current regime likes the lottery tickets, as do Spec and I. Why on earth would an org draft a player it knows for a fact will never rise above AA? Well, they do, and all the time. There are reasons to do so. Your system needs professionalism, "thickness," competition, a winning culture, a Yankee Way Of Doing Things, all that stuff.
But McNamara and Zduiriencik have stones are smart and decisive, and aren't afraid to look goofy on a pick. They aren't afraid of picks who look goofy, either. (Googled Kohlscheen's eight-by-ten?!)
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Charles M. Schulz didn't think of the name "Stephen Kohlscheen," when he was commenting on a 6-year-old's love for unremarkable baseball favorites, so Schulz settled for "Joe Shlabotnik." Kohlscheen, as viewed by other sources (even today), is old, was no good at Auburn U, and is therefore no prospect. Kohlscheen, as viewed by Jim, is a talented-but-flawed pitcher who may be overcoming his flaws. (Spec points out the quickly-dropping BB rate.)
Amazingly, Brooks has F/X data on Kohlscheen. Here's the money plot, the movement:
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Note that the fastball cuts in on LHB's, by about the width of 1-2 baseballs. It rises vertically, the width of 2 baseballs. (We are comparing to an "average" four-seam "fast, rising" fastball.)
So, in this game, anyway -- March 13th, spring training -- Kohlscheen could throw a 92-95 fastball with movement similar to Mariano Rivera's. There isn't anybody in the game, anywhere, who doesn't tell you that a hard cutting fastball is a great pitch. There is NO downside to such a pitch.
The Mariners have a dominating reliever who does this even better, with another 1-2 MPH and another baseball's width of cutting and rising action. I can't wait to get him back in 2014.
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Big Finish: Spec points out that Kohlscheen especially detonated RIGHT hand batters. But the above arsenal is one tailored against LEFT hand hitters. Relieving prospects come and relieving prospects go, but in the March 13th game, Kohlscheen was throwing MLB(TM) pitches.
11.7 strikeouts per game, on the year.
Plateau Leap Alert, indeed.
Comments
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Keep the links comin' wouldja :- )
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What do you MAKE of this reliever situation in the minors? Like, how unusual is it, and what are the implications for Seattle, realistically? I remember Anaheim had a collection like this about 10-12 years ago, that Inside Pitch was raving about, and they turned out to be K-Rod and Bobby Jenks and stuff... well, some turned out to be Chris Bootcheck and Dustin Moseley.
Stephen Pryor is the real deal and Carter Capps just has to figure out the game of baseball. The arms are causing quite a traffic jam here.
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Me and my roommates used to call him Jeff, fuel to the fire, Nelson when he first came up. He had that whiffle ball slider that would break brilliantly right into right handers bats. He just kept getting better and better until he became one of the top late relievers in the game. He did not have the mentality of a closer but his stuff that he could shut down an offense once he harnessed his control.