After a long offseason, it was great to get back out there and see some minor league ball again. I got to see three games of the Albuquerque Isotopes (COL) and Sugar Land Space Cowboys (HOU) in a series that had quite a bit of talent. Despite Chase Dollander and Zac Veen being called up two days before the series started, the Isotopes lineup had some fun names and I got more of a limited view of Sugar Land’s duo of Jacob Melton and Brice Matthews. Here are some of my takeaways from the series and some guys who really stood out. 

Carson Palmquist, LHP COL (Triple-A)

Carson Palmquist was terrific in his start on Thursday night, going five strong innings and allowing just three hits and one run and punching out seven. The lefty comes from a low three-quarters arm slot, making him particularly deceptive against left-handed hitters. The fastball only sat 90-92, but don’t let that fool you. Palmquist’s heater has carry and life at the top of the zone due to his low arm slot to make it play up, causing hitters to consistently swing underneath and it was by far his best weapon against righties.

His best secondary is his sweeper that comes in slower than any sweeper I’ve seen at the big league level, clocking in at 73-75 MPH. Despite the pitch’s lack of velocity, it has tons of horizontal movement and is a nightmare for lefties and is a plus pitch. Think of Tanner Houck’s sweeper as a similar comparison, just slower and from the left side. Palmquist also features a cutter that was just average in my view. If it was in the mid 80s I would be more of a fan, but it’s usually 79-82 and didn’t have a lot of movement early in the outing but it got sharper as the outing went along. It doesn’t miss a ton of bats though and I worry about it against righties at the big league level, especially ones that he has to face two to three times to stick as a starter and he’s really going to have to spot it well. The lefty also mixes in a changeup that’s decent as a show me pitch to righties, but he much prefers to use the cutter to try and jam hitters inside. The command was plus in this outing, he did a nice job hitting spots but he’s going to need elite command to spot his cutter to righties to get by as that in-between pitch between the fastball and sweeper. 

I love Palmquist’s fastball and sweeper, but I’d like to see a plus third pitch develop in order to be a successful big league starter, especially in Colorado. I do think there’s potential for a pretty dominant multi-inning reliever here, but I worry that there’s not a consistent out pitch in between the fastball and sweeper to get through a lineup multiple times. While I’d prefer Palmquist to be a reliever, the Rockies are going to give him every chance to start. Overall, I think he would be perfect as a bulk reliever that comes in after an opener or a multi-inning reliever because of his deception, but I’m not sold on his ability to be a traditional starter and get through the order two or three times.