It’s time to open up my notebook once again to share some of what I’ve seen over the last week of baseball across the MiLB! As always you can follow along with the video on my Twitter account @HoothTrevor. This week includes a pro debut, some notable names, and some more fireballers. As usual, it’s important to note that these are notes from single starts, and aren’t enough to build out full profiles.
Carter Baumler, RHP, BAL, Single-A
Game Stats: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Notes: A long-awaited professional debut for the Orioles 2020 5th rounder who had the start to his pro career delayed due to Tommy John surgery. With that, this was a short outing so it’s hard to pull anything too in depth from the outing. That said, it was a very intriguing 3 innings of work to say the least. His fastball sat in the low-90s, mostly in the 92-93 MPH hour range and he coupled it with a low-80s curveball and changeup. His fastball appeared to have nice ride through the zone. What was most impressive about this outing is that even after so much time away, and really no benefit of facing pro hitters prior to this outing, he was not afraid to pump his curveball early and often. I would’ve anticipated mostly fastballs, but that was far from true. It’s a big breaking ball with some tight break and he showed really good feel to command it. Based on the three-inning sample, it might be his best pitch right now. He had the confidence to throw a 3-2 curveball to register his first pro strikeout. Personally, I love seeing that. His changeup was used sparingly, and he really didn’t quite get the release down on it. This was a very fun outing to set the table for his pro career. He has a smooth operation, throwing from a high 3/4 arm slot. More innings will tell the story, but he showed a lot of promise in this debut.
Luis Devers, RHP, CHC, Single-A
Game Stats: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Notes: This is one of the more interesting pitchers I’ve watched this season. I have a two-start sample and both outings were similar in approach. Devers works with a fastball that can get up to the mid-90s, which is nothing to sneeze at, but he really doesn’t like to rely on that pitch very much. Instead, he likes to work primarily with his changeup and curveball. Both of which are solid pitches, at least for the Single-A level. His changeup is his best pitch in my mind. He creates excellent deception in his delivery and arm speed. Beyond that it moves a ton with a lot of armside fade. Generally, a changeup is thought to primarily be a weapon against opposite-handed hitters, but Devers doesn’t care about that. He will throw it to righties, lefties, if someone was just standing square facing him he would use it for whiffs. It’s his go to. His curveball takes on a slurvy shape. He does mostly use this pitch against righties, but even then not in a traditional way. When a pitch breaks away from a hitter it can be very effective on the outside part of the plate and breaking off it. Devers like to front door righties. He does it often to either set up a changeup on the outside corner or because it was set up by a pitch on the outside corner. It’s a sequence he’s very successful with when he’s in rhythm. It’s not just sequencing and heavy offspeed.
Devers delivery is a key part of his success. Starting first with the windup itself, he will vary his leg kick, not use one, and everything in between to disrupt the hitter’s timing. Part of what makes the offspeed pitches so deceptive is his arm speed. He has a fast arm, but he also looks like he’s trying to throw the ball through the backstop on every pitch. It’s a high effort operation. With that being said he appears very flexible and mobile in his shoulders, throwing with plenty of layback. His feel for secondaries and approach is very advanced for the Single-A level. If I had to put a projection on him, I think he’s a multi-inning reliever-type arm because of the effort and because his schtick will be harder and harder to pull off as hitters become more advanced and can sit on the soft stuff.
Emerson Hancock, RHP, SEA, Double-A
Game Stats: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Notes: Before I get into anything Cole Wilcox broke down this start with Emerson Hancock on the Diamonds In The Rough podcast, which is going to be better than anything I tell you. Watch that here. Now, let me jump in with what I saw. This is Hancock’s third start of the year, so he’s still really getting into the swing of things. Although watching this, he looked like he has been pitching all year. His fastball was in the 95-96 MPH range and looked like it was exploding through the zone, especially at the top. The hitters really seemed to have a tough time with it. My favorite pitch he showed off was his changeup. It was primarily a pitch against lefties, and he really seemed to have a feel for it. It was a great pitch with lots of armside fade at the bottom of the zone. He also showed a slider frequently to righties that would break off the plate and out of the zone. To put it plainly, this outing is everything you’d expect out of a high draft pick. He showed off pretty much everything you want to see. There were two pitches in particular that stood out to me. The first was a 3-1 fastball. Hancock fell behind the batter 3-0, then came back with a center cut fastball to pull back to 3-1. The 3-1 fastball he threw was one of the prettiest pitches of the outing. He dotted it on the outside corner to make it 3-2, then struck the batter out on the next pitch. It stands out because after just trying to get back into the count on 3-0, he was able to get back to competitive pitches and threw an absolute beauty to set up a strikeout. The second pitch was in his last inning. On an 0-2 count with a lefty at the plate, he threw what I consider to be the best pitch of the whole outing. It was a changeup that started at the knees then just dove way out of the zone. The hitter fouled it off, good on him, but the pitch couldn’t have been executed any better in my mind.
Jackson Wolf, LHP, SD, High-A
Game Stats: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
Notes: I feel as though I should acknowledge right off the bat that Wolf is a big dude. He’s listed at 6’7”, 200 pounds and throws from the left side. That said, his fastball doesn’t have the velocity that you’d immediately associate with size; he sits at 89-91 MPH, mostly. He was really focused on elevating the pitch in this particular outing, especially in two-strike situations. It was moderately successful throughout the outing. When it didn’t work, especially earlier in the outing, he turned to his changeup. There’s plenty of tumble to the pitch when he throws it well. Both his fastball and changeup benefit from his sidearm delivery with armside run. He also deploys what appeared to be two breaking pitches, or what is for sure a slider. It’s possible he was varying the look of the slider to be sweepier or more slurvy in shape. Either way, he really started to rely on that pitch towards the middle of the outing, at least more than his changeup. It was landing for strikes, but not as often. Overall his command was good, but as can be expected with long levers there were times when it seemed he struggled to repeat his mechanics. While he lacks premium velocity, he did show the ability to sequence his pitches. And his stuff moves a lot. I think this is a rotation arm long term, but the ceiling is still up in the air. It'd be tough to see this arsenal playing in leverage situations late in games. I also think there’s more velocity in the tank here, which makes everything more interesting. The Padres spent a 4th round pick on Wolf, so they believe in the potential too.
Ben Brown, RHP, PHI, High-A
Game Stats: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
Notes: In the month of May Ben Brown threw 18.1 innings with a 0.98 ERA with 30 strikeouts. That’ll get your attention. In this start alone he collected 11 strikeouts. Brown was on point in this one. He was 92-95 MPH with his fastball he threw at a very high percentage. He did a good job moving it around the zone, however, so he was able to get away with it even when the hitters were sitting fastball. It played well up in the zone in strikeout situations. When he did go to his secondary he showed off a big curveball that say in the 82-85 MPH range. It had sharp bite to when he snapped it off well and fell off the table. More than a few whiffs on breaking balls in the dirt. He mostly turned to it in advantage counts. He did snap off some sliders that registered at 88 MPH and had less depth, but that was a rare occurrence. Right now, Brown looks like a future bullpen arm. He should be able to succeed with his fastball and curveball combination. There are a few reasons I feel confident projecting him to the bullpen. The first is the effort in his delivery. It’s somewhat violent and he has some intense head whack that made my neck hurt a little bit watching it. The effort is needed to achieve the velocity because he is a short strider, so by the time his foot lands, his arm still has a long way to go, putting a lot of emphasis on his upper half to generate velo. It’s working now, but long term, I personally question the sustainability of that effort in a starter’s role. That being said, Brown’s command of his fastball and curveball are no joke. He’s certainly talented.
Keaton Winn, RHP, SF, Single-A
Game Stats: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Notes: Another arm this week who is returning from injuries that have slowed his career getting off the ground. Winn throws very hard. His fastball in this start was 96-97 MPH, but it’s approached triple digits before. It’s easy velocity too, which is even more interesting. At times it felt like didn’t have much of a plan with his fastball and he would just rear back and throw it, especially early on when his command was struggling. He was spotting the pitch better to his glove side than his armside throughout the outing. It’s a great pitch when it’s around the zone. He also showed a slider with depth as a main secondary to righties. His lefty weapon is a splitter with lots of tumble with it at the bottom of the zone. He threw a lot of pitches in a short amount of time in this outing because his command was all over the place to start the day. He reigned it in a little bit as the start went on. His stuff was so good, however, that he really didn’t lose many hitters to walks and such. He very much feels raw. Because of that it would be easy to project reliever and trust this was as reliever-ish of a start as I’ve ever seen, but that’s also an unfair assessment. His operation is very easy and sustainable, he has three pitches that could play, and frankly, I’ve watched a little over three innings. Gut feeling is that he’s a viable bullpen arm, but really he has the makings of a potential rotation piece.
Jeff Criswell, RHP, OAK, High-A
Game Stats: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K
Notes: Amazingly Criswell only gave up one run in this outing, and amazingly it was on a home run. This was the least clean 11 strikeout game I’ve watched in a long time. He walked three, he hit two batters. He tried his best to shoot himself in the foot, but then realized that might hurt so he just struck everybody out instead. He has a four-pitch arsenal, and he used it well in this one. His fastball got up to 95 MPH and played well up in the zone. Through the first few innings he lived off of his fastball paired with a slider and changeup. Those two secondaries were playing just okay. They got swings and misses, but they really didn’t look to be anything special. Then he got his curveball involved. Once the curveball was there, everything got sharper. That’s his best pitch in my mind, not only because it moved the best, but also because it made the rest of his stuff better. You can even see in the strikeout reel below how much better things look once you see the first curveball. That said, the command was unimpressive all throughout. Sadly, the home run he gave up was on one of the best pitches he threw. Anthony Prato was able to go with a fastball dotted on the outside corner. It was a great pitch. But he was yanking breaking balls, sailing fastballs. And of course, he hit Aaron Sabato in the hand which eventually forced him out of the game, and the next inning he hit Jeferson Morales in the helmet. That command is going to have to reign in. He won’t get away with it like this at higher levels. He works at a slow pace with a fairly easy operation. He throws from a high arm slot that isn’t quite over the top.