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WATCHABILITY

Grade 65 on the scouting scale, plus to plus-plus.  Man, I really ENJOYED!! watching this guy.  Had never really focused in on him for 6 innings.  (Wait.  Has he ever thrown 6 innings on any TV set?)

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FASTBALL

Grade 40, minus.  Looked slow to me, and command only okay by Hisashi Iwakuma (MLB) standards, and you could see him hump up and jerk the head to throw average speed.   

:- ) But we just want you to know we're paying attention, 'cause the rest of it was pretty fun to watch.

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CHANGEUP

Grade 60 by reputation.  He threw a couple of drop-dead gorgeous floppers on the low-away corner to righties.  Oooh la la, Jamie Moyer changeups.  But on balance he wasn't able to throw many in this game.

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CHANGE CURVE

65-70 in this game.  Loved it.  He would grab ahold of those seams, aim for the mezzanine, and you could hear the crack.  Know what else?  He located a 75 curve ball.  Back door to RH, back foot to RH.  Sweeping away from LH.  Nice nice nice.

TWO OFFSPEED PITCHES.  Separated from each other, and thrown on 3-2 counts.  If any pitcher does that on a given day, it's a quality start, end of story.

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MOTION - grade 60 at least

Anybody else notice the Mini Randy Johnson action?  HEH!  No!  Not the hair!  Real high knee tuck into the chin, yet leaning forward.  Yoga-limber.  Weird, deceptive angle with 12-6 ish spin.  Excellent loose decleration.  Could not tell the pitch until it was halfway there; no telegraphing.

Unit was more sidearm, naturally, and he would peer over his glove to take the sign.  Except for that ... man.  Echoes.

We got off track.  The big thing for lefties is grace and balance.  He's got it.  Explains the low walk rates in the minors, apparently.

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CHANGE SPEED GAME

60 again!  Wonderful feel for mixing speeds.  Can't say enough about the guts to throw offspeed when the count is 3-2.

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90th PERCENTILE UPSIDE

Overton used to throw hard.  Supposing he came back from his injury to throw hard, now that he's gotten on top of two nice lefty breaking pitches ... it would be kinda like Cecil Fielder going to Japan to learn to hit offspeed stuff.  (Do the kids here know who Prince Fielder's dad was?!)

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DR'S PROGNOSIS

Why would Beane get rid of him?  Probably a close call, just an injury case and somebody else was a shade better for Beane, like a Chris Heston type.

Don't know how representative the game was.  Let's not go overboard about the upside:  Jamie Moyer had a minus fastball, and a great change, and a curve that looked very much like Overton's ... when Moyer did not hit his spots, he was subject to getting beaten about the head and shoulders.  Even a couple of misses over the plate can really cost this kinda guy.  Lot of muscular righties out there who are only too happy to say hello to an 89 lefty fastball that misses out-and-over.

Still.  Off one start you can't say too much, but ... THAT pitcher, the one on March 25 would do just fine in the bigs.  

It gets old saying it, doesn't it?  Another Dipoto add that looks like a pretty bountiful roll of the dice.

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Enjoy,

Dr D