December 16, 2015 at 7:00 AM
2015 Top 40 Season in Review: Trey Ball and Logan Allen
This week, we recap the next six players in the season-end Top 40, going from 16 to 11. All entries in this year's Top 40 Season in Review series can be found here.
#14 Trey Ball, LHP
2015 Teams: Salem Red Sox
Final Stats: 129 1/3 IP, 4.73 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 77 K, 60 BB
2015 Peak Ranking: 11 (current)
Links
Season in Review: A season after the 2013 first-round pick split his season between a brutal, 6.52-ERA first half and a redeeming, 2.70 ERA second half, Ball struggled with inconsistency in 2015. After giving up 10 hits and six runs during his debut with Salem, he rebounded to throw six no-hit innings in his second start of the campaign. Those two starts were indicative of how his season would progress. He surrendered 16 earned runs over his next 20 innings, then did not allow a run in three starts from June 4 through June 14, spanning 15 2/3 innings. He allowed just six hits over that stretch. Ball finished on a sour note, giving up 42 runs over his final 66 2/3 innings.
There were some positive signs amid the maddening lack of success for the former seventh-overall pick. Ball's line drive rate dropped from 22 percent to 12.8 percent, leading to a BABIP of just .285. Home runs and walks were two big problems in 2015, however, as Ball gave up 16 home runs, more than one per nine innings, and walked 4.2 batters per nine, both increases from 2015. - Nick Rabasco
Scouting Report and 2016 Season Outlook: Trey Ball is one of the most divisive prospects in the system. Even after his third season, he is still very raw and has rarely shown his potential on the mound. Ball has an ideal pitcher's frame, listed at 6-foot-6, 185 pounds, with some projection still remaining. He is a very good athlete, a two-way prospect in high school who could have been a first-round pick as an outfielder as well.
Ball has an efficient, low-effort delivery, throwing from a three-quarters arm slot with a high leg kick. He will show flashes of potential with all four of his pitches, but is still quite inconsistent with each from outing to outing. Ball’s fastball sits in the 88-92 mph range and has topped out at 95 mph. The pitch is on the straight side and lacks life, not missing many bats. Hitters get a good look at the ball, and he has had problems keeping the ball in the ballpark. Ball's changeup is the best of his secondary offerings and will show swing-and-miss potential. He throws it in the low-80s with the same arm speed as his fastball, and it shows late fade. The pitch has above-average potential with refinement and improved consistency. Ball also throws a curveball and a slider, the latter of which he did not integrate until the 2015 season. Ball throws his curveball in the mid-70s with it showing long break. He is inconsistent with the pitch—at its best, it shows tight rotation and depth through the zone, but too often it is thrown on the loose side and rolls to the plate. Ball’s slider is a new pitch that has shown some promise but is still a work in progress.
Ball is still a project and has the same projectability he did when he drafted, but his ceiling is not as high as what was thought possible when he signed. Ball still has a intriguing arm and workable delivery, but he lacks a major league quality out pitch at this point and does not have the command or movement on his fastball to make up for it. As a result, he projects more now as a back-end starter or long reliever type unless he makes significant progress with his command profile and secondary offerings. Ball will likely head back to Salem to start 2016 with the hope that something will click in his second go-round at the level. - Ian Cundall
#13 Logan Allen, LHP
2015 Teams: GCL Red Sox, Lowell Spinners; IMG Academy
Final Stats: 24 1/3 IP, 1.11 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 26 K, 1 BB (minors); 49 IP, 0.87 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, 73 K, 11 BB (high school)
2015 Peak Ranking: 13 (November)
Traded to San Diego with Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, and Carlos Asuaje on Nov. 13
Links
Season in Review: Allen impressed right off the bat after being drafted out of IMG Academy in the eighth round of June's draft. He made seven appearances in the GCL and struck out 24 batters in 20 innings. His 0.90 ERA and 24-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the GCL, followed by a solid, four-inning start in game one of the GCL Championship Series, earned him a September call-up to Lowell. He made just one start there, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing one earned run on six hits, no walks, and two strikeouts.
In November, Allen became the first player traded from the 2015 Draft and first traded under the recently enacted Trea Turner rule, becoming part of the package for Padres closer Craig Kimbrel. - Nick Rabasco
Scouting Report and 2015 Outlook: Ian Cundall and Chaz Fiorino wrote up detailed scouting reports of the prospects traded to San Diego for Craig Kimbrel in our Trade Analysis feature.
Photo credit: Trey Ball by Kelly O'Connor; Logan Allen by Citizen-Times.com