Editor’s Note: I asked my friend, Matt Dallas, who used to run Covering the Corner and has certified pitching evaluation chops, to give me some quick reaction thoughts on a few MLB draft pitching prospects the Guardians may consider in Sunday’s MLB draft – Quincy:
Here is information and scouting reports for the pitcher’s evaluated below:
Jared Grindlinger, LHP/OF, 6’3, 190 lbs, Huntington Beach HS CA 17 years old
Logan Schmidt, LHP, 6’4, 210 lbs, Ganesha HS CA 17 y.o.
Cole Carlon, LHP, 6’5, 230 lbs – Arizona State 21 y.o.
Tegan Kuhns, RHP, 6’3, 189 lbs – Tennessee 21 y.o.
Logan Reddeman, RHP, 6’2, 185 lbs – UCLA 21 y.o.
Cameron Flukey, RHP, 6’6, 210 lbs – Coastal Carolina 21 y.o.
Matt Dallas offers these first blush/immediate evaluations of these players after viewing some game footage:
–Grindlinger, I would draft in a heartbeat. I don’t know where he’s mocked but that’s a kid with a clean operation and a ton of room to fill out. Frame is super projectable and doesn’t look like a Triston McKenzie-type where he’ll never bulk up. That change up is for real, too.
–Schmidt, I don’t see it. That’s a body that lacks mobility. He’s “quad dominant” which means as he’s dropping into that back leg he’s loading into his quads and not his hammys/glutes. That can work, but I see a super unathletic, big kid with a live arm. That means there’s lots of projection in there but he needs a TON of work. Basically needs to transform his body.
–Carlon, that’s a reliever but there’s a darn good one in there. That slider could get big leaguers out right now. I’m noticing a pattern and I’m loving the “lefties with size” theme. He’d need to both clean up the control and ax the curveball and try and split the slider into a cutter/sweeper before I’d wanna see him as a starter, and even then you’re still looking at a guy without a viable changeup. But, boy, is that a guy I’d like seeing coming out of the pen.
–Kuhns, that’s a DUDE. He’s exactly the profile I trust Cleveland with. Super athletic, big energy, unique arm slot. That fastball is gonna play, especially if they can get a couple ticks on it (or at least get him to sit closer to his max out). Curveball is legit, the feel he shows for it is more encouraging than the pitch itself, tells me he can tinker with it (from what I can see).
–Reddemann I see reasons for encouragement. He throws a lot of pitches, has command. Probably a little maxxed out already in terms of velo and spin, but you can optimize the movement profiles and whatnot to polish him. He probably fits pretty well in cleveland. I’d take Kuhns first (off of 10 minutes of research) but I like what I’m seeing.
–Flukey looks like the most talented of the bunch, that fastball will eat at the top of the zone, and he looks like he’s got command and a good feel for how he moves. There’s some injury markers in his delivery that I can see. I’d ideally want his entire arm below that red line in his takeaway but that can be cleaned up. Injury risk aside that’s the best current product of the group.
Most to least polished:
Reddeman
Flukey
Kuhns
Grindlinger
Carlon
Schmidt
My personal ranking:
Flukey
Kuhns
Grindlinger
Reddemann
Carlon
-wide gap-
Schmidt
Editor’s Note: Thank you for being willing to share your insights, Matt!
