In case you missed it …
- Lance Lynn isn’t really a Future Redbird but given his impressive start yesterday, he is topical. If you want to read a third party’s take, here’s Baseball Instinct‘s writeup on Lynn from last week.
- Kevin Goldstein has been writing a lot recently and dropping some knowledge on Cardinals’ prospects (subscription) whether it be the two prospects that made his opening day Future Shock Column (Adams & Jenkins), a look at some surprising minor league level assignments (Rosenthal), a full preview of each NL Central System or telling the world to keep an eye on Oscar Taveras as a potential Minor League Player of the Year.
- If that wasn’t enough of a reason to re-up your subscription with Baseball Prospectus, check out this extensive article about pitching mechanics. Don’t focus too much on the “good mechanics vs. bad mechanics” part but rather absorb the descriptive terminology.
- John Sickels takes note of the Robert Stock conversion.
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Could someone with a subscription please summarize the contents of the Future Shock column regarding Jenkins and Adams?
Adams:
He is fat and can slug.
Jenkings:
Has raw ability
Didn’t read the article, but summerizing EVERYTHING ever written about these 2. Doubt this one is much different.
You forgot that Adams doesn’t walk.
lol
It was highly flattering for Adams (scouts are beginning to believe), much less so for Jenkins. I won’t quote the whole thing, but the key line was “coming off of spring training in which scouts’ reports were below expectations” and noting that he got knocked around in his first start. I hadn’t heard the “below expectations” part elsewhere; anyone?
my impression was that the stl staff were very pleased with jenkins in camp. it’s hard to imagine how a 19-year-old could “disappoint” in a major league camp.
Reports on Lynn’s fast ball seem to be all over the place. In the pen, according to BI, he is hitting 97-98. Then they say that as a starter he works in the low 90′s. In his first start, according to the announcers, he was regularly hitting 94. It still seems like BI has him pegged as a back of the rotation starter.
To me it seems like Lynn has picked up a couple of miles an hr on his fast ball and tightened his breaking stuff up in the pen last year. IMO this is more than a one start thing and once scouts pick up the fact that his velocity has increased he may start getting credit for having a higher ceiling than we originally thought. Maybe a 3?
I’ve never understood the back of the rotation talk about Lynn. I’ve only seen him in the majors but his stuff is very good and he goes after guys – there is nothing fringe or flukey about his game
When people talk about back of the end rotation, it doesn’t mean he will be that. It just means he lacks dominating stuff that most ace pitchers have.
If he continues to get ahead of hitters and locate that fastball, he can be top of the rotation stuff. But is far more likely he will be a solid, innings eater pitcher. Those guys have lots of value. Not sue why some see that as a slight.
He’s also a legitimately different pitcher than he was in 2009. Back then he pitched in the low 90s and relied heavily on his fastball. Now he’s added a cutter and his breaking balls are vastly improved. All of which is paired with an extra 2mph on his average fastball velocity.
Lynn had a strange development curve.
Joe Magrane gained velocity after colllege. So did Dan Haren. What some regard as strange is common.
No. That’s the whole point. Grabbing a few anecdotals doesn’t change the fact that few pitchers pick up 2mph on their fastball not only “after college” but a full 2 years removed from college. It isn’t common.
But didn’t the uptick start a couple of years ago?
Lynn was drafted in 2008 at age 21. His uptick in velocity began in the second half of his first full season in Memphis in 2010 at age 23.
Lynn made a mechanical adjustment which unlocked some extra velocity. This definitely increases his ceiling.
One thing to watch moving forward is how Lynn mixes his pitches. In his first start, Lynn threw around 65% fastballs. While his fastball is borderline overpowering with the extra velocity and location, Lynn will need more than a plus fastball to survive as a starter.
And he is also durable. The velocity was consistant all night,hitting 94 in his last inning.
If everyone had only one subscription national prospect site to join which would it be and why? Thanks.