- He is a 6-1, 245 pound righty. The 24 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball has a little run in on righties and I believe was down from his typical velocity. His cutter has above average cut with a little sink. His curve is a sharp 12-6 with good depth and bite that can be a strike out pitch, but the White Sox hitters were able to continue to foul the balls off. His slider is a sharp 2-7 with above average bite that was his out pitch to most righties. His cutter flattened out in the 4th. Obviously Jeff Weaver has had an effect on him, as he dropped down sidearm to throw a fastball. He worked with plus command and did a nice job of locating.
1st: FB (89-93), CB (79), Cut (88-90)
2nd: FB (89-91), CB (67-77), Cut (89-90), SL (85)
3rd: FB (89-92), CB (79-80), Cut (87-89), SL (85)
4th: FB (89-92), CB (79-80), Cut (86-87), SL (85)
5th: FB (88-92), CB (69-81), Cut (87-89), SL (84-86)
6th: FB (87-93), CB (80-81), Cut (88-89), SL (83-84)
2) Clayton Richard: 85 Pitches. 5 strikes swinging. Slider (2nd), 3 on changeups (All in 4th) and 1 on a cutter (2nd)
- Richard is a 6-5, 240 pound lefty. The 25 year old has a big frame that can add a little more muscle. He comes from a 3/4 release with a drop and drive delivery, though he is more of a slinger arm action. His 2-seam fastball has some run in on righties and flashes some sink and his 4-seam is straight that he really only used when throwing a high fastball. His cutter has some cut and a little sink. His change has some fade from righties and sink and is his best off-speed offering. His slider is a slurvy 11-4 with solid bite. He got a lot of hype for being in the Jake Peavy deal, but I am undecided on him. He likely isn't going to start throwing any harder and his stuff is just average in my opinion. I think he is a # 4, # 5 type starter.
1st: FB (90-92)
2nd: FB (89-94), Cut (84-89), SL (80-84), CU (82-83)
3rd: FB (87-93), CU (81-84)
4th: FB (89-92), Cut (86), SL (79), CU (79-84)
5th: FB (88-90), CU (81)
3) D.J. Carrasco: 39 Pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 on Sliders (5th, 6th) and a Fastball (6th)
- Carrasco came from an over the top release with a cutter that has some cut, a 2-seam fastball with some run in on righties and sink that he threw more then he usually does. He also showed a 1-7 curve with good bite. He will throw a frisbee (we chart curve, I will call it a slider) when he drops down with 2 strikes to right handers. He will also throw a fastball from the same angle that is usually 86-88. He is very consistent with using this frisbee slider as his out pitch to righties and they must be ready for it. His change has some fade, but is below average.
5th: FB (89-91), Cut (88), CB (80), SL (72)
6th: FB (86-92), Cut (89-90), SL (71)
7th: FB (88-93), Cut (88-90), CB (80), SL (73), CU (80)
4) Ronald Belisario: 18 Pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball (7th)
- He came from a 3/4 release with a fastball that has excellent run in on righties and above average sink. His slider is a 2-7 pitch with solid bite that can flatten out and he needs to improve his consistency with this pitch.
7th: FB (93-96), SL (85-87)
8th: FB (94-96), SL (85)
5) Scott Linebrink: 18 Pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball.
- Linebrink is a 6-2, 210 pound righty. The 32 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball has some late run and sink in on righties. His split has great late downward movement and can be confused with a curve (shockingly), but the one he threw went about 45 feet. His change is a straight change with a litle sink.
8th: FB (93-95), CU (83-84), Split (84)
6) Brent Leach: 16 Pitches. 0 strikes swinging.
- He came from a high 3/4 release and showed a 11-5 curve with good depth that is a little slurvy, a straight 4-seam fastball and has added a 11-5 slider that is sharp with some break. His command is very inconsistent and is what is holding him back from being the # 1 lefty for the Dodgers.
8th: FB (92-93), CB(78)
9th: FB (92), SL (87-88)
7) Matt Thornton: 13 Pitches. 0 strikes swinging.
- Thornton is a massive 6-6, 235 pound lefty. The 32 year old has a big frame that can add a little more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release with a straight 4-seam fastball and a 10-4 slider with some bite. One of the best lefty relievers in the game.
9th: FB (93-96), SL (89)
8) Ramon Troncoso: 27 Pitches, 3 strikes swinging. 2 on Fastballs (Both in 9th) and a curve (10th)
- Troncoso is a 6-1, 220 pound righty. The 26 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release with a high effort delivery where he breaks his hands fairly high. His fastball has excellent run and flashes sink. His curve is a sharp 12-6 with good depth and can be a K pitch. The combination of his excellent movement of his fastball and his mechanics lead me to believe he may struggle to consistently throw strikes.
9th: FB (91-95), CB (77-78)
10th: FB (91-94), CB (77-79)
9) Bobby Jenks: 18 Pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 on Fastballs, Slider
- Jenks is a 6-3, 275 man beast who is maxed out and has some bad weight (there is a gut). The 28 year old righty came from an over the top release. His fastball has above average run and sink in on righties. His slider is a sharp 2-7 with solid bite. Above average closer.
10th: FB (93-96), SL (89-90)
10) Jeff Weaver: 57 Pitches. 4 strikes swinging. 3 on Fastballs (2 in 11th, 13th), Slider (12th)
- Weaver came from a 3/4 release and showed a fastball with some run and sink in on righties, a change with some fade from lefties and some sink, but fairly straight, a 2-8 curve with okay depth and a frisbee 3-8 slider from sidearm or a sharp 2-7 from his normal release with solid bite. He will drop down sidearm to throw sliders and fastballs and appears to do this whenever he feels the need to F with hitters, as there is no distinguishable pattern, though he does like the drop down slider with 2 strikes, but isn't as committed to it as Carrasco. His stuff has regressed and he gets by with deception and command.
11th: FB (88-93), SL (79-82), CU (80), CB (73-76)
12th: FB (88-92), SL (79-84), CU (79), CB (75)
13th: FB (87-92), SL (79-81), CU (82)
11) Octavio Dotel: 23 Pitches. 7 (!) strikes swinging. 6 on Fastballs (11th, 5 in 12th), Slider (12th)
- He came from a 3/4 release and showed a fastball with natural cut and sink and has great late life, a 2-7 curve with solid depth and a sharp 2-7 slider with good bite.
11th: FB (92-94), CB (78-81)
12th: FB (91-93), SL (82-84)
12) Aaron Poreda: 14 Pitches. 5 (!) strikes swinging. 4 on Fastballs, Slider.
- Poreda is a 6-6, 240 pound man child. The # 2 prospect for the White Sox prior to the start of the season, the 22 year old has a big frame that can add a little more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release and generates easy velocity from a clean delivery with good arm action. His fastball (a surprise to me) was not a huge velocity pitch and had quite a bit natural cut and sink, though it does explode out of his hand. His slider is a slurvy 11-5 with good bite. He can be very special as a reliever, though I think it would be as more of a set-up man then a Billy Wagner style closer. Will be interesting to see if he becomes Joba Chamberlain and becomes a starter after this apprenticeship or a Jonathan Papelbon and stay a reliever. Pray he doesn't become Brandon Morrow and is allowed to settle into 1 role. This was his first major league win.
13th: FB (90-94), SL (77)
I never said this before, but if you want to know how someone played that I didn't mention, feel free to ask. Just because I didn't write a report on them doesn't mean I didn't study their at bats.
