Quick Looks at May, de la Rosa, Quintana and Hahn

Trevor May

Why I watched: Highly touted prospect up in the majors.

Game(s) Watched: 9/14/14 vs White Sox

Game Thoughts

• Hawk was announcing. I hope I did not lose too many brain cells.

• May’s fastball was from 90-95 mph, straight with little downward movement. Looking at the values, it is at +10.1 vertical movement. Using some of my recent work, his GB% should be near 35% (actual 37.6%). He should get a good number of infield fly balls, but his home runs may be a problem at times.

• He threw a 75 mph curve at the game’s start and it looked good. Nice downward break.

• Additionally, he threw a slider and change later. The change is weird in that it stays on the same plain as his fastball, but just slower. His change has the least amount of downward break compared to any other change in the league (min 30 IP).

• The slider drops the same amount as the curve, but is at 85 mph. He may be able to generate weak contact consistently because hitter will be able to make contact, just not solid contact.

• He does not have any horizontal break on his pitches; they all operate in the vertical direction:

Fastball: No break and 95 mph
Change: No break and 85 mph
Slider: Vertical break and 85 mph
Curve: Vertical break and 75 mph

• He seems to lose his grip on the ball regularly and other pitches miss widely.

• His pitches don’t always break.

• In the game he got 10 K’s, but most were from the bottom of the Sox lineup and he was help by a larger than normal strike zone.

Final thoughts: I liked the curveball and all his pitches seemed to work together. He needs to be more consistent (pitches near the zone, amount of break). Right now he has the floor of a #4 starter, but could put it together and could move up to a #2.

Rubby de la Rosa

Why I watched: I liked him since he was traded to the Red Sox and wanted to see why he was struggling

Game(s) Watched: 9/13/14 vs Royals

Game Thoughts

• He was horrible to start the game. He threw a straight fastball that was between 90-93 mph. His change was at 87 mph, so not much difference from his fastball.

• In the third and fourth inning, he started to pick up the fastball velocity (seen here).

• The change became more useful as the game went on since there was more of a speed difference between it and the fastball.

• His slider was plus at times, especially when he threw it slower (better under 80 mph than over). Under 80 it acted more like a curve. Over 80 mph it did not have time to break.

• His change and slider need a bit of drop and at times they got none.

• I went back and looked at some of his other starts and found inconsistent throwing also

Final thoughts: That was ugly, but there was some flashes of talent in the 4th inning. He needs to be consistent in his pitches in order to produce like he can. I wonder if he may be injured and is compensating in some way.

Jose Quintana

Why I watched: Five WAR from a fringe starter at the beginning of the season.

Game(s) Watched: 9/6/14

Game Thoughts

• The lefty’s fastball stood at 91-93 mph. He had good control of it and painted the edges of the zone for strikes (57% Zone%). He primarily uses this pitch and it doesn’t have any break. While I didn’t notice it in the game, he gets a 8.2 SwStr% on the pitch which is elite.

• The first breaking pitch he goes to is his curve. It sweeps at an angle from release side to glove side with break late.

• His change is OK at best and that is why he decided use it only late in the game (fourth inning and later).

Final thoughts: I am a little surprised he is able to keep up his production with a 92 mph fastball and only one decent breaking pitch, but he has done it for two seasons. His control of his fastball is some of the best I’ve seen. His release point is consistent and I think if the control goes he will be done in the league.

Jesse Hahn
Why I watched: Another pitcher looking good in San Diego

Game(s) Watched: 8/16/14 vs Cards (last start)

Game Thoughts
• His four-seam fastball is what every other of his pitches works off. It was 89-91 mph and straight. He commanded it and could work the edges for strikes. The pitch is getting grounders at a 53% clip (37% is league average). It doesn’t seem to have the downward break to cause groundballs. Maybe some of his two-seamers are getting classified at four seamers.

• He is in the majors because of his curve. It is at 75 mph and has a good amount of late break. It has a 18% SwStr% which is way above league average. He does throw it almost 30% of the time that is good for fifth in the league (min 60 IP).

• He used his two-seam fastball (89-91 mph also) as a breaking pitch in that he rarely threw it and used it when ahead in the count. The pitch gets an above average amount of swing-and-miss and groundballs compared to other two-seamers.

• His change is below average for the majors (straight with no deception), but at least he has one.

Final thoughts: It will be interesting to see if he can get by on the 2.5 pitch mix. He has enough above average pitches to navigate twice through a lineup and still be effective the third time. I am intrigued by him and may look the pick him up in the later rounds in 2015 especially to use in his starts at home.