Quick Looks: Woodruff & Sims

Note: I was wanting to do Anthony Banda and Reynaldo Lopez but the camera angles for them are horrible so far. I do hope to write about them soon. In the meantime, check out newcomer Nick Pollack’s piece on Lopez. 

• Brandon Woodruff

• The 24-year-old righty started at the back end of several preseason top-100 lists. So far he’s made two starts for the Brewers and I watched the one on August 9th.

• Definite thrower. Everything is coming in at full effort. He just challenges hitters and hopes they miss.

• Fastball: An 89-96 mph four-seamer with nasty release side break. It’s got some weird spin going on with it. He lives up in the zone with it as seen by its 27% GB%.

While a good swing-and-miss pitch, he had problems keeping his velocity up in the 6th inning. He went from averaging 95 mph to 92 mph with one fastball under 90 mph. He may not have the endurance for a full game and/or season.

• Slider: At 83-87 mph, the pitch is nasty with hard curve drop (think Kluber’s curve) when working. Sometimes it doesn’t break. Other times it breaks like a slider.

Good Slider

Hanging Slider

• Change: At 83-85 mph, with almost identical movement as his fastball. He preferred to use it against lefties but would break it out against righties with great results (19% SwStr%).

• While he has some swing-and-miss, his mechanics broke down at times which led to some extended at bats and high pitch counts. Right now, I see him be a 9 K/9 and 4 BB/9 type with average home runs. Maybe in the Mike Clevinger mold. He could take major steps forward if he improves his command. Or he may never control his pitches. I have some reserved optimism about his future.

Luke Sims

• The 23-year-old righty has struggled with the Braves after dominating Triple-A this season (10.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9). I decided to watch his start on August 12th to see what was going on.

• Fastball: His fastball was at 89-94 mph with glove side run. Nothing special at all. In the fifth and sixth innings, his velocity fell by a couple ticks

Preseason reports had his velocity sitting 93-95 with, 91 mph, with him topping out near 99 mph. His fastball speed is down which lowers his prospect status, too.

• Slider: At 86-88 mph with little if any break (cutter). Horrible. BP pitch. I looked through several preseason reports on him and none mention him throwing a slider. And now he’s throwing it about 20% of the time (the most besides his fastball)

This video shows one of his better throws.

• Curve: A 73-78 mph loopy 12-6 curve which he can throw for strikes. It’s probably his best pitch but it’s average at best. Probably a 40 to 45-grade pitch.

• Change: At 82-85 mph with late sink when on. A low-80’s meatball at other times.

• I’m not sure of the difference from the minors when he was striking everyone out. Maybe hitters were laying off his breaking pitches but major league hitters are feasting off of them. Right now, he’s not a major league pitcher. All his pitches are very hittable (2.1 HR/9, .316 BABIP) but at least he isn’t walking anyone (1.6 BB/9).

• With the low strikeout rate (4.5 K/9) and the Braves not racking up any Wins he not rosterable right now. A non-Save reliever will be a better option.