- Thread starter
- #1
Check out the bolded statement.
Brady Aiken enters the No. 1 conversation
By Keith Law | ESPN.com
SAN DIEGO -- Cathedral Catholic HS left-hander Brady Aiken was a likely top-10 pick coming into the spring, but I'm not sure anyone saw his recent ascent coming. Aiken threw an inning in a scrimmage against Alex Jackson's team, Rancho Bernardo, on March 8, sitting 94-97 mph with his fastball, and was 92-97 in a short start last Tuesday in front of a lot of scouts. His outing on Tuesday drew five scouting directors and Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd, and Aiken fulfilled expectations, with his first pitch at 95 mph, punching out 12 in 4 2/3 hitless innings before he was pulled due to his pitch count.
Aiken showed four distinct pitches on Tuesday, two of them plus. His fastball was 91-95 for the first few innings, dipping as low as 89 in the fifth right before he exited the game -- normal for a pitcher making just his second start of the spring. His curveball was 76-78 mph with angle and depth; he threw it for strikes, he buried it in the dirt to try to get hitters to chase, and he threw it down and in to punch out a right-handed hitter. Aiken's changeup was also above-average, mostly around 82 mph with good arm speed, and he mixed in a low-80s cutter (up to 85 mph) because, well, why the heck not.
Aiken has some projection left; he's started to fill out his 6-foot-4 frame, with a strong core and hips as you see in most power starters, but he'll add some good muscle as he reaches his early 20s to increase his durability. His delivery is excellent -- he starts tall over the rubber with a high leg kick, then pushes off well with a long stride, turning his pitching elbow over early and finishing mostly over his front side. He doesn't fully pronate his forearm before his front foot lands, but other than that it's a solid delivery that makes very efficient use of his lower half to generate that power.
You could argue that Aiken showed three grade-60 pitches in the fastball, curve, and changeup, maybe a little less than that on the change but a little more on the curveball; no matter what, however, he projects to have three plus pitches and it's reasonable, based on his build and delivery, to project him to end up with a fastball that's closer to a 70, averaging 93-94 and touching 97 as a starter.
Between this spring and last summer I've seen all of the top prospects for this year's draft, including Carlos Rodon, Tyler Beede, Jeff Hoffman, Alex Jackson, Tyler Kolek, and Jacob Gatewood, and I'd take Aiken over all of them.
• Aiken has two teammates of note for this year's draft. Shortstop Sean Bouchard showed a plus arm and good hands, although he may outgrow the position as he's already 6-foot-3 and at least 190 pounds. He's a plus runner and turned on a two-strike fastball up to smoke a double down the left field line, struggling to pick up the spin on curveballs in several of his at-bats. He's a UCLA commit and looks like a second-rounder, especially in a draft that's so light on middle infield prospects.
His Italian-born teammate Giovanni Garbella, who won the MVP award at last year's European Junior U18 Baseball Championship, homered to left and tripled to right-center, showing good hand strength and the ability to turn on a good high school fastball. He played third but probably doesn't have the hands or foot speed to stay there, profiling better as a corner outfielder. Garbella's committed to Valparaiso but I think he'd profile as a seven-to-10th rounder because of the hit tool.
Brady Aiken enters the No. 1 conversation
By Keith Law | ESPN.com
SAN DIEGO -- Cathedral Catholic HS left-hander Brady Aiken was a likely top-10 pick coming into the spring, but I'm not sure anyone saw his recent ascent coming. Aiken threw an inning in a scrimmage against Alex Jackson's team, Rancho Bernardo, on March 8, sitting 94-97 mph with his fastball, and was 92-97 in a short start last Tuesday in front of a lot of scouts. His outing on Tuesday drew five scouting directors and Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd, and Aiken fulfilled expectations, with his first pitch at 95 mph, punching out 12 in 4 2/3 hitless innings before he was pulled due to his pitch count.
Aiken showed four distinct pitches on Tuesday, two of them plus. His fastball was 91-95 for the first few innings, dipping as low as 89 in the fifth right before he exited the game -- normal for a pitcher making just his second start of the spring. His curveball was 76-78 mph with angle and depth; he threw it for strikes, he buried it in the dirt to try to get hitters to chase, and he threw it down and in to punch out a right-handed hitter. Aiken's changeup was also above-average, mostly around 82 mph with good arm speed, and he mixed in a low-80s cutter (up to 85 mph) because, well, why the heck not.
Aiken has some projection left; he's started to fill out his 6-foot-4 frame, with a strong core and hips as you see in most power starters, but he'll add some good muscle as he reaches his early 20s to increase his durability. His delivery is excellent -- he starts tall over the rubber with a high leg kick, then pushes off well with a long stride, turning his pitching elbow over early and finishing mostly over his front side. He doesn't fully pronate his forearm before his front foot lands, but other than that it's a solid delivery that makes very efficient use of his lower half to generate that power.
You could argue that Aiken showed three grade-60 pitches in the fastball, curve, and changeup, maybe a little less than that on the change but a little more on the curveball; no matter what, however, he projects to have three plus pitches and it's reasonable, based on his build and delivery, to project him to end up with a fastball that's closer to a 70, averaging 93-94 and touching 97 as a starter.
Between this spring and last summer I've seen all of the top prospects for this year's draft, including Carlos Rodon, Tyler Beede, Jeff Hoffman, Alex Jackson, Tyler Kolek, and Jacob Gatewood, and I'd take Aiken over all of them.
• Aiken has two teammates of note for this year's draft. Shortstop Sean Bouchard showed a plus arm and good hands, although he may outgrow the position as he's already 6-foot-3 and at least 190 pounds. He's a plus runner and turned on a two-strike fastball up to smoke a double down the left field line, struggling to pick up the spin on curveballs in several of his at-bats. He's a UCLA commit and looks like a second-rounder, especially in a draft that's so light on middle infield prospects.
His Italian-born teammate Giovanni Garbella, who won the MVP award at last year's European Junior U18 Baseball Championship, homered to left and tripled to right-center, showing good hand strength and the ability to turn on a good high school fastball. He played third but probably doesn't have the hands or foot speed to stay there, profiling better as a corner outfielder. Garbella's committed to Valparaiso but I think he'd profile as a seven-to-10th rounder because of the hit tool.
