"He’s the kind of player I wouldn’t mind leaving in Bradenton next year to see if he could handle a starter workload, and then just toss in the bullpen if not and watch him fly through the system (control pending)."
The scouting report on Reilly: "electric stuff but struggles to keep his mechanics in sink with a high effort delivery" seems dead-on accurate. The question about whether he can start or not will depend upon whether he can learn to pitch while keeping his delivery in sync repeatedly. He is mostly a sinker/slider guy, which again would tend to push him to the bullpen. According the reports, his changeup is mediocre at best, which means he will have to rely largely on a cutter/fastball combo against LHB. So... the second variable in whether he can start, to my mind, is whether he can develop either his cutter or his changeup into plus pitches in order to deal effectively with left-handed batters.
I agree completely that he should be given a chance in A-ball for a full season to see if he can sync up his body in his delivery and work on his cutter and/or changeup. The Pirates pitching coaches seem to have learned a lot from Mitch Keller (if their plan for Priester is any indication). After 3 years of having Keller bang his head against a wall trying to throw his garbage changeup to lefties and rely exclusively on a 4-seamer curve, he finally gave up on the changeup, developed a cutter to use in its place, and starting using a 2-seamer/slider to pitch to contact on occasion, which opened up his ability to use his 4-seamer and curve. Hopefully they will not try to railroad Reilly into any particular style or pitch selection and try to discover what works best for him as a starter, rather than taking the easy and obvious road of making him a fastball/slider bullpen guy right away.
Hit tool like Frank Thomas? Dream on. That would be unique in today’s game.
How about being able to hit .265 with the power and some walks thrown into the mix. I know he’s only 18 and still in the DSL, but right now he’s profiling more like Brad Eldred than someone who’s actually going to have an impact.
Yep, got to remember Frank's favorite sport was baseball but he only had a football scholarship to Auburn and walked on the baseball team. After getting injured in football he only focused on baseball around age 20.
Not saying Blanco will develop the hitting ability Thomas had but he has the size and the power. Already comparing him to Brad Eldred is a compliment and an insult, the kid is huge, he probably needs time to figure his strengths, weaknesses and coordination out. If he was in the States he'd be going into his senior year of high school probably playing football with his size instead of focusing on baseball.
-Al Mojica is the quintessential risk case of a physically-advanced kid beating up on the DSL. Blanco at least comes with a better pedigree.
-Xander Meuth is the mirror image of Jackson Wolf.
"He’s the kind of player I wouldn’t mind leaving in Bradenton next year to see if he could handle a starter workload, and then just toss in the bullpen if not and watch him fly through the system (control pending)."
The scouting report on Reilly: "electric stuff but struggles to keep his mechanics in sink with a high effort delivery" seems dead-on accurate. The question about whether he can start or not will depend upon whether he can learn to pitch while keeping his delivery in sync repeatedly. He is mostly a sinker/slider guy, which again would tend to push him to the bullpen. According the reports, his changeup is mediocre at best, which means he will have to rely largely on a cutter/fastball combo against LHB. So... the second variable in whether he can start, to my mind, is whether he can develop either his cutter or his changeup into plus pitches in order to deal effectively with left-handed batters.
I agree completely that he should be given a chance in A-ball for a full season to see if he can sync up his body in his delivery and work on his cutter and/or changeup. The Pirates pitching coaches seem to have learned a lot from Mitch Keller (if their plan for Priester is any indication). After 3 years of having Keller bang his head against a wall trying to throw his garbage changeup to lefties and rely exclusively on a 4-seamer curve, he finally gave up on the changeup, developed a cutter to use in its place, and starting using a 2-seamer/slider to pitch to contact on occasion, which opened up his ability to use his 4-seamer and curve. Hopefully they will not try to railroad Reilly into any particular style or pitch selection and try to discover what works best for him as a starter, rather than taking the easy and obvious road of making him a fastball/slider bullpen guy right away.
Blanco Jr. reminds me of Frank Thomas size wise, absolutely huge with so much raw power. Please develop the hit tool Frank had.
Hit tool like Frank Thomas? Dream on. That would be unique in today’s game.
How about being able to hit .265 with the power and some walks thrown into the mix. I know he’s only 18 and still in the DSL, but right now he’s profiling more like Brad Eldred than someone who’s actually going to have an impact.
Yep, got to remember Frank's favorite sport was baseball but he only had a football scholarship to Auburn and walked on the baseball team. After getting injured in football he only focused on baseball around age 20.
Not saying Blanco will develop the hitting ability Thomas had but he has the size and the power. Already comparing him to Brad Eldred is a compliment and an insult, the kid is huge, he probably needs time to figure his strengths, weaknesses and coordination out. If he was in the States he'd be going into his senior year of high school probably playing football with his size instead of focusing on baseball.