Comments on: Scouting Report: Adam Ottavino

By: Pitchers and The Rule-V Draft « Far From Port

Pitchers and The Rule-V Draft « Far From Port — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:30:43 +0000

[...] is above average and his slider is a legit strike out pitch according to a scouting report from Future Redbird a year and a half [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:05:53 +0000

I just got Milb.tv and I’m watching a few of Ottativo’s games, he’s a very interesting prospect, he definately has MLB stuff. His lack of command seems to stem from not having his mechanics down pat. Once he does I think his command will improve.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:18:41 +0000

@BJM: “Ott with Duncan game plan” is a phrase that scares me. Is he the kind of pitcher who can be Duncanized? Or is he another Reyes waiting to happen? I don’t know enough about him to have an informed opinion, but the mere existence of A-Rey out there worries me when the notion of Dunc “fixing” young pitchers comes up.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:31:35 +0000

Few–”i said it after the WBC start, and i will say it again. ottavino can be what wellemeyer is now”. Perhaps but Col. Welly has a very good circle change he throws for strikes. Otto can only throw strikes with his four seamer. Unless Otto improves his command of secondary pitches substantially, I don’t think he is a major leaguer. He can’t even be counted on as a long reliever unless he throws strikes.

By: southeast redbird

southeast redbird — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:31:36 +0000

In defense of Ottavino, sounds like to me, right now throughout the system pitchers might be throwing 2 seamers, 4 seam cut fastball and sliders and not breaking balls as often.

milb is about practice, you throw what you are told to throw. I understand that the video was reviewed, however, we don’t know what the pitcher needed to practice on, (especially the first outing) whether that becomes a win or loss for the team, my understanding is that is how the system works. You throw what you are told to, whether it’s working that day or not.

By: Double A

Double A — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:43:10 +0000

While this is nowhere on par w/ AZ’s thorough assessment above, we saw Ottavino pitch in Memphis April 4 against the Cardinals and he looked really good after Boggs got absolutely pounded. We were in the 1st row right behind home plate and his pitches had nice movement, tight rotation on the off speed offerings, consistently hit his locations, and was popping the mit at 93 (stadium gun). I say all of this with the acknowledgement that the kid walked Oquendo in a bit of Cardinal spoofery, but who wouldn’t be a bit nervous with one of your bosses at the plate. ;) Anyway, this was the second time I’ve seen Ottavino pitch and he completely changed my evaluation of him and, for what it is worth, I believe he can be a middle of the rotation starter. His mechanics seemed much cleaner then I remember and his arm slot wasn’t all over the damn place like we observed early in his minor league efforts. As clearly stated in AZ’s writeup, consistently maintaining a semblance of pitch-to-pitch/game-to-game control will make or break the kid, as he does have the weapons to deploy. Chalk me up in the “hopeful and on board” Ottavino bandwagon, which was far better then where I was 6 months to a year ago where I had pretty much written him off.

By: BigJawnMize

BigJawnMize — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:14:29 +0000

Few I wouldn’t disagree with you at all. I think that Ott with Duncan game plan could definitely pitch a season of league average ball for min salary. I wonder though if the wrong pitcher is being made into a reliever. Should Ott have been transferred to the pen over Todd. This could be a size discrimnation thing in that Ott looks like a starter and Todd looks like a utility infielder.

By: fewgoodcards

fewgoodcards — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:24:30 +0000

i said it after the WBC start, and i will say it again. ottavino can be what wellemeyer is now, and that is actually a pretty darn useful pitcher. especially if you are paying him the minimum. both are 90-94 with the fastball with a good slider that they leave fat too often and a change that can be useful every once in a while, but lack the command to dominate consistently.