Notes from the Field: Scouting the Pitchers in the Spring Showcase Games

The Spring Breakout event is one of the best ideas to showcase the game's next wave of stars MLB has done in years. This spring, the Red Sox roster was seen as one of the best in the league with the Big Three of Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer anchoring the lineup, with a strong group of arms including Hunter Dobbins, David Sandlin, Connelly Early adding intrigue. Making things even more interesting, after traveling to Port Charlotte to play the Rays in MLB's event on Thursday evening, the Red Sox arranged to play a second prospect showcase game, the "Futures at Fenway South," with the majority of the Spring Breakout roster on Friday at home against the Twins. This allowed for an even better look at many of the hitters and a chance to see even more of the talented arms in the Red Sox system. Here are my thoughts on some pitchers from the two-game look and for more thoughts on some hitters check out yesterday's piece.

- Of all the pitchers the Red Sox used across the two showcase games, the most impressive was 18-year-old Juan Valera. Valera burst onto the scene last year showing mid-90s velocity, but was on the raw side. Based on this look, while he is currently ranked 19th in our prospect rankings, when we do our preseason update, he will definitely be rising. Valera showdd a four-pitch arsenal, with his velocity up across the board. His fastball sat 97-99 mph and hit 100 multiple times. He mixed in two breaking balls: a slider at 89-92 mph and sweeper at 86-88 mph. He also showed in a changeup at 91-94 mph. The 94 mph changeup was perfectly captured by Baseball America's Josh Norris and, as you can see, it has a ridiculous amount of horizontal movement for a pitch thrown so hard. Valera's arm is so quick it can get a bit out of sync and cause him to lose the zone, as was the case in his third inning, but for the first two he was absolutely dominant. 

- While Valera is getting a lot of the headlines from Friday's game, David Sandlin got the start and also was very impressive. Sandlin came out sitting 96-98 mph and touched 99 multiple times. His velocity did decrease in his third inning of work, when he ran into trouble, to mostly 94-96 mph, which is something that happened last year as well. He complimented his fastball with a 90-93 mph slider, 85-88 mph sweeper and 90 mph splitter. His sweeper flashed plus-to-better and his slider also flashed above-average at least. He did not throw many splitters, as it was an extremely right-handed lineup that featured only one lefty, but that pitch has shown potential in the past as well. Sandlin's delivery does have some effort, and it remains to be seen whether he can stick in the rotation long-term, but either way it's a premium arsenal that gives him a chance to be a major weapon in whatever role he ends up in. 

- Left-hander Connelly Early got the start in the Spring Breakout Game on Thursday and showed increased velocity to go along with his usual advanced secondary offerings. Early's fastball sat 93-96 mph, a noticeable increase from the 91-94 mph he was last year. He threw his changeup at 81-85 mph with solid separation from his fastball and with deceptive arm speed. He has the ability to pull the string with it and at its best it showed late drop and fade. Early's sweeper was inconsistent, but he did get a pair of strikeouts with it. He threw it 80-83 mph and also mixed in a shorter slider at 84-87 mph. Last year, the biggest critique of Early was his arsenal beyond his changeup was on the fringy side. That is no longer the case and when you combine that improved stuff with his pitchibility, you have the makings of a very intriguing starting pitching prospect.

- Before minor league games even got started, there were whispers coming out of Fort Myers that 2024 fifth-round pick Brandon Clarke's stuff had taken a major leap forward. The Spring Breakout was his first action against another team since he signed, and he lived up to the hype, especially in his second inning. Clarke's first inning was a bit of a struggle, which was understandable given the spotlight of the showcase. He only retired one hitter, on a line out to first, and gave up two hits and walked a hitter on a pitch-clock violation before being removed. He came back out next inning, however, and looked much more comfortable, striking out three and allowing one two-out single. His stuff was as advertised, with a power arsenal featuring a 97-99 mph fastball that topped out at 99.8 mph. He featured two breaking balls, a slider at 87-89 mph and a sweeper at 81-85 mph. He struggled to land them in the first, but had much better feel for them in his second inning. He also threw a few changeups at 88-89 mph, but that pitch looks to be a work in progress.

- Right-hander Hunter Dobbins gave a preview of what his arsenal would look like in a bullpen role over his two innings of relief on Thursday in Port Charlotte, as he sat 94-99 mph, maxing out at 99.5 mph. He was 96-99 in the first, but saw a slight drop off to 94-96, topping out at 97 mph in his second inning of action. He mixed in a hard slider at 86-91 mph (which may have been two pitches, a cutter and a slider), a splinker at 90-93 mph and a vertical curveball at 77-79 mph. He got all four of his whiffs with his slider with the pitch flashing plus potential. 

- 2023 ninth-round pick Blake Wehunt was one of the biggest risers in the system last year, starting in Salem and making it all the way to Portland in his first full season. He got the ninth inning in Thursday's Spring Breakout game and, save for one pitch, was very impressive. He struck out two in the ninth, but that one mistake pitch, a hanging a cutter to Carson Williams, the Rays' top prospect, was absolutely crushed out to left-field. That was a bad pitch, but outside of that, Wehunt cruised, showing off an advanced arsenal with multiple pitches capable of missing bats. He sat 94-96 mph and showed a curveball at 83-85 mph, cutter at 89-90 mph and splitter at 84-86 mph. He got whiffs with his curveball and fastball and a strikeout swinging with curveball and looking with his splitter.

- Left-hander Jojo Ingrassia closed out the final three innings of Friday's Futures at Fenway South game, showing off an intriguing three-pitch arsenal. He had some issues with control, but did not give up any hits and showed bat-missing ability with all his pitches, especially his secondary offerings. Ingrassia's fastball sat 93-95 mph, up from last year's 91-94 mph. The pitch has sneaky life and seemed to jump, especially on right-handed hitters. Ingrassia's changeup played well off his fastball even though it was on the harder side at 86-89 mph. He showed solid feel for it with it showing late drop after looking like a fastball all the way in. He also mixed in what looked like two breaking balls, a cutter/hard slider at 87-89 mph and a sweeper at 84-86 mph. The two pitches seemed to run into each other early on in his outing, but became more distinct and effective as he went on, with his sweeper especially impressing in his third inning. In that inning, he was landing it both in and out of the zone and got multiple whiffs with it. 

- Right-hander Cooper Adams came in when Brandon Clarke reached his pitch count in his first inning of the Spring Breakout game and showed off four pitches, a fastball at 94-95 mph, cutter at 89 mph, slider at 84-85 mph and changeup at 87 mph. 

Photo Credit: Juan Valera, Connelly Early and Jojo Ingrassia by Kelly O'Connor

Ian Cundall is Director of Scouting for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter/X @IanCundall and on Bluesky @iancundall.bsky.social.

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