Future Redbirds

Thinking about Eddie Degerman being that he’s been recently promoted and I found this comment by our friend Carlos Gomez digging around at BTF (#90)

WOW, I mean WOW. Ok, that’s the Chad Bradford of high arm slots. Before I go and look at his stats, this is what I’ll say…. You know me, I like different. I saw some video of him (a quick feature on him on Rice TV) just now, about 5-7 pitches worth. His velocity seems to be oh, 87-89. HE can probably top at 92 or so would be my guess. Other than his arm slot and the deception that comes with that (it helps that he’s 6-4), he is pretty standard up until foot plant. He does have a thing where he “bounces” on the rubber when he lifts his leg which makes him even quirkier. His tempo is pretty good. His arm action isn’t as horrible as some make it. He has to make his arm get up there somehow. He says he has been throwing like this for years, so while I wouldn’t teach it, familiarity with his own motion would ease my worries about control problems.
His fastball was straight, but from that slot, well… His deuce and change will be what makes or breaks him, and they look pretty good. I can see him having gopher ball issues.That said, I would definitely take a chance on someone like this, maybe not early, but yeah, why not. He might not make it as a starter in the bigs, but why not pick up a guy like this to be a 7th-8th inning bridge guy.
My guess is that he’s dominating the lower levels right now, let’s go check….

He also had this shot of him at the top of his delivery, and when you say top regarding Degerman, that’s at high noon…click here for the pic.

Now let’s go check and see if he is dominating the lower minors. He’s struck out 71 batters in 47.2 innings, (38% of the batters he’s faced) with a 2.45 ERA. Yep, that’s pretty dominating. So far he’s had no issues with gopher-itis. If that is to rear it’s ugly head, it will probably happen in Springfield.

As far as his velocity goes, I’ve personally seen Degerman and he does not throw hard. 87 or so is where he lived with his fastball. But oh, what a curve. I’m baffled at what his future could possibly be, 7th or 8th inning reliever sounds about right. But if his arm doesn’t fall off and he has a manager that can appreciate him despite his quirks, then maybe he can be more then that.