May 12, 2014 at 9:00 AM
The Write-Up: Early Reports from Pawtucket
In this
edition of The Write-Up, Chaz Fiorino provides detailed scouting notes from McCoy
Stadium based on games scouted on May 2-4.
Line: 5 2/3 IP,
4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; 96P-59S
Workman put
together his best start of the year to that point on May 2 in his fourth outing
with Pawtucket. Workman likes to pound the zone and challenge hitters with his fastball,
which sat 90-92 mph. Although he throws it with average velocity, the pitch plays
up due to his ability to command it. He struggled with his release point early,
walking a hitter in each of the first three innings, all left-handed hitters.
Workman has yet to walk a right-handed hitter in his now five starts with
Pawtucket this year.
Workman eventually
settled in, getting through 5 2/3 innings on 96 pitches. In addition to the
fastball, Workman mixed in his curveball at 78-79 mph, a cutter at 84-85, and a
changeup at 83-85. The curveball is Workman’s best secondary pitch. It has true
12-to-6 action when he is able to effectively get on top of it. As Workman
worked through the order the second time around, he began mixing in more curveballs
and cutters. The changeup is his fourth offering and grades below average. He
seemed to yank the changeup, making it hard to distinguish from the cutter at
similar velocities.
Workman did a
great job at changing speeds and establishing the curveball in innings four
through six. Five of his eight strikeouts came on the curveball. Workman really
began to look comfortable and was coasting through the last couple innings, striking
out five of the last eight batters he faced and retiring eight of the last nine.
He would have been able to work a lot deeper into the game had he not run his
pitch count up early while settling in and trying to find his release point. I
didn’t have any official times on Workman’s time to the plate, but it’s also
worth noting that he is fairly slow, which resulted in two stolen bases
against.
Date scouted:
May 3
Line: 5 IP, 4 H,
2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K; 90P-51S
While the
fastball mainly sat 91-93, De La Rosa showed the ability to dial up to 96 when
needed. In the third inning, with runners on second and third and two outs, De
La Rosa faced Pirates top prospect Gregory Polanco, one of the hottest hitters
in the minors in April. Ahead in the count 0-2, De La Rosa spotted a well-located
fastball down in the zone at 96 mph to strike out Polanco swinging.
Overall, De La
Rosa had his traditional pure stuff. The issue was mainly with his overall
command and delivery. De La Rosa’s command came and went all outing as a result
of getting too quick with his delivery and rushing at times. There was a little
added effort in the delivery where he did not look as free and easy as previous
outings in early April. De La Rosa also began throwing a heavy dose of sliders
early and often in counts, and actually doubled up on the slider on at least
three occasions to begin an at-bat. He also showed a willingness to try and
backdoor the slider to left-handed hitters on the outside corner. The pure
stuff has not taken a step back for De La Rosa from previous starts this year, but
getting back to slowing things down from an effort standpoint in the delivery
will be the key going forward.
Date scouted:
May 4
Line: 6 2/3 IP,
7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; 98P-63S
Webster put
together his third straight quality start last Sunday. He featured his fastball
topping out at 95 mph, sitting 91-94 with his usual quality sink. His slider
came in at 85-87 mph in the outing with long, three-quarters shape and late
break. His changeup grades as his best off-speed offering, an above-average
pitch he can throw with great arm speed, making it hard for hitters to pick up.
It sat 83-85 mph with more fade to left-handed hitters than sink. Webster also
threw a loopy, below-average curveball at 76-79 mph. He did not really throw
the curveball until the sixth inning, at which point he threw five of them in
that inning alone. This usage fooled hitters, suddenly giving them a fourth pitch
to think about that they didn’t see the first time through the order.
I felt that
Webster was pitching with a bit more confidence this outing, particularly with
his secondary pitches. Most notably, in the sixth inning, with the go-ahead run
on second and two outs, Webster faced former Red Sox prospect Chris McGuiness.
Webster fell behind in the count 3-1, but rather than giving in and giving the hitter a fastball to
hit, he went to his changeup for strike two. With the count full, he threw the
curveball, getting McGuiness to pop out and end the inning. Webster seemed to
have feel for all his pitches on Sunday, giving him the ability to pitch with
confidence and throw his secondary pitches in any count.
Dates scouted: May
2-4
Line: 0 for 8, 3
BB, 1 HBP, 4 K
Some examples
from this series show his issues. In Brentz’s second at-bat on Friday, he came
to the plate with runners on first and third with no outs. He came out first-pitch
swinging at a curveball in the dirt. After getting the count even at 1-1,
Brentz got his pitch, a fastball middle-away that he could drive to right field,
but he took this pitch for strike two. With the count at 2-2, he struck out
swinging on a curveball down out of the zone.
On Saturday, his
night included an 0-2 strikeout on a slider down and away, out of the zone. His
next at-bat was a strikeout on a 1-2 slider in the dirt. He finally made an
adjustment in his fourth at-bat of the night. With the count 2-1, he finally passed
on a slider out of the zone. With a 3-1 count, hunting fastball, he did not get
a pitch to hit and let it pass for a walk, resulting in what really was the only
quality at-bat of the weekend that he had to work for.
Defensively,
Brentz has an easy plus arm that profiles best for right field. However, he has
below-average range and gets fringe-average reads in the outfield, which may
limit him to playing left field—or at least prevent him from playing right
field regularly—in the majors. Although it was not on display this weekend,
Brentz’s calling card is his well-known, above-average right-handed power,
which could project for 30 home runs at the big level. However, his below-average
hit tool may never play up enough for the power to play at the next level and
make him an everyday option. These two plus tools make him interesting and will
keep him around for a long time, but his other tools hold him back and keep him
from taking the next step forward. He may be a short-term solution in Boston if
a need arose, but I personally
would feel uncomfortable with him as an everyday outfielder in the near future.
Photo credit: Brandon Workman, Ruby De La Rosa, Allen Webster and Bryce Brentz by Kelly O'Connor
Chaz Fiorino is a Northeast Scout for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @cbfiorino.