Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyJM
Mark,
None of these guys appear to be top prospects at this point, but I wanted to get your thoughts on some of the Tigers recent high school pitching draft picks.
-Jade Tade posted an impressive ERA for an 18 year old in rookie ball.
-Brandon Hamilton and Matt Hoffman both got roughed up at West Michigan, but rebounded well in rookie ball.
-Aaron Fuhrman is fairly small and given up a fair amount of runs the past two seasons - but has also been victimized by a particularly high BABIP and maintained a pretty impressive K/9 rate.
What are the long term projections for these guys?
Tony
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1 - Todd's an intersting guy, but I'm not a fan of the body; it's a bit soft. He works hard on the mound, but he's got some work to do on cleaning up his mechanics for consistency, and I'm not sure there's a ton of projection here. If he gets in better shape, that projection could change some. The jury is still out in a major way.
2 - Hamilton still has reliever written all over him. Honestly, I'd like to them move him there right now; and just let him develop in that role. The fastball is electric, but he's got to keep it down and let the explosiveness do the work instead of trying to blow it by people. Hoffman's similar to Todd in terms of body and stuff. His command has to come around, or he's going to continue to struggle against even marginally more advanced hitters.
3 - Fuhrman's a tough guy to read. Reports are typically pretty good about his raw stuff, despite the small frame, but he can't quite get the results. He's generally pretty hittable, and works too much in the middle of the zone. If he can get to the corners and knees with more regularity, his numbers will improve dramatically, but that's not going to be an easy feat.