Quick Looks on Rasmus, Pomeranz, Montero, Norris

Cory Rasmus

Why I watched: Outstanding in the bullpen, but transitioning to starting rotation.

Game(s) Watched: 9/28/14 vs Mariners

Game Thoughts

• His fastball was between 90-93 mph and was straight. It had the illusion of a rising fastball and over the course of the season has only generated a 32% GB%. He seems to only throw this pitch at the edges of the strike zone and will throw the slider or change when he needs a called strike.

• His change and slider are a tough to tell apart. They both come in at 85 mph, but the slider drops and runs more than the change. The change has been his bread and butter with a 52% GB% and a 27% SwStr%. The slider’s results have been worse than the change with a 41% GB% and 13% SwStr%. He has used the change more this past month.

• His curve was around 75 mph with a 12 to 6 drop. It is an acceptable 4th pitch and gets a reasonable 14% SwStr% with it.

Final thoughts: He has the potential to be a good fastball-change pitcher with an acceptable curve and slider to use when needed. I like him as a late round pick especially since he wasn’t given the chance to be successful in the post season.

 

Drew Pomeranz

Why I watched: He seemed to be in an out of the rotation for a few teams. Where does he stand now?

Game(s) Watched: 9/20/14

Game Thoughts

• The left-handed pitcher threw his fastball between 91-93 mph with a small amount of rise. Pitchf/x says he has two and four seamer. I am not 100% sure if he has both. If so, they act very similar.

• The nearly 26-year-old’s only other pitch is a knuckle curve. It breaks 10 to 4 and he can throw it for strikes. It is an average to above average offering. It gets groundballs (58%) and swinging strikes (12%) at an above average rate.

• With just the two pitches, it is not a surprise he struggles the 2nd and 3rd time through the batting order. Here are his career K/BB for each time through the order:

1st: 2.7
2nd: 1.6
3rd: .0.8

Final thoughts: I can’t see any reason to use him as a starter except in the deepest of leagues. He would be an ideal long reliever/spot starter, but not a regular starter.

 

Rafael Montero

Why I watched: Highly touted rookie getting some starts in the majors.

Game(s) Watched: 9/27/14

Game Thoughts

• He has two fastballs which are between 91 -94 mph. The four-seamer is straight with a bit of glove side run. The two-seamer had a nice bit of downward break. They are at best league average fastballs.

• His best pitch in the game was an 82 mph slider which broke 12-6 late. It acts more like a curve since it is quite a bit slower than his fastball.

• Additionally, he shows a change up, kind of. It is around 87 mph with a late break. I would not be surprised if it was actually a split finger fastball.

• He had no command or control of his pitches so it was tough to evaluate him. The game log had him at 43% of pitches in the zone, which is up from his previous starts. His one trait everyone bragged about coming into this season was his ability to keep his walks down. They were way up this season. In A+ in 2012 his BB/9 was 1.9, it was 2.3 in 2014. In AAA, his walks were at 2.5 in 2013 and 3.8 in 2014. In the majors his BB/9 was 4.7  … over a walk every other inning.

Final thoughts: For a pitcher who’s main strength is control, it is not a good sign when he loses it. I don’t know what his issue is, but he doesn’t have good enough stuff to have no control. I have a weird feeling he may be hurt, but not sure.

 

Daniel Norris

Why I watched: A rookie flying up the rankings and made a start for the Blue Jays at the end of the season.

Game(s) Watched: 9/25/14

Game Thoughts
• This is the first pitcher I planned on examining with future scouting report available for him and I disagree on some of his rankings.

• The left-hander’s fastball was between 91-94 mph with some release side run. He works up in the zone with it and I could see home runs being an issue. Overall, it is a nice pitch, especially for a left hander.

• He has a 75 mph 10-4 curve with a sweeping motion. It was OK, but he could not constantly command it.

• Additionally, he had an 81 change with late drop.

• Like Montero above, he had not command or control of his pitches. He threw one beautiful change, but that was it. The rest were a mess. Only 41% of his pitches were in the strike zone and this has led to a 17% walk rate in the majors.

 

Note: After watching the game and doing the write up, this information became available:

The surgery could help explain why Norris experienced a drop in velocity once he arrived in the big leagues. He threw a lot of fastballs in the mid-90s while in the Minors, but he was mostly in the low 90s in Toronto. Norris had a successful first stint with the Blue Jays, but he wasn’t particularly happy with the way things went.

“It’s obvious that my stuff isn’t there,” Norris said after his first career big league start on Sept. 25. “It’s tough to try to pitch without your stuff, but sometimes that’s the competitor that has to come out and I think that’s what I tried to do … go out and compete without your big guns.”

He moves up to the top of my spring training watch list to see if he shows any improvement because of the surgery.

 

Final thoughts: I am not sure what the hype was about, but this MLB perform was disappointing. He will need to be able to command and control his pitches for strikes to be  a successful MLB pitcher.