Bryan Smith looks at college arms in his latest edition of Wait ‘Til Next Year . He looks at everything from southpaws to fire-ballers, but what I wanted to highlight was the sinker-ballers. Last year, the first three pitchers they took in the draft had 2:1 ground-out to fly-out ratios or better. (Mortensen, Kopp, Todd). I figure they probably won’t limit themselves to worm killers alone, but that seemed to be the M.O. last year.
Here’s the snippet:
Head of the Class: If Lindblom is not the best pitcher in the Big Ten this season, than that honor should belong to Zach Putnam, the conference’s best player in a long time. Putnam has been essential, as Michigan has rebuilt its program in the past years, and his ability to go toe-to-toe with David Price is part of the reason the Wolverines upset Vanderbilt in last year’s Super Regional. He even drew a mention from Kevin Goldstein in a Monday Ten Pack for his troubles. Like much of the Wolverine staff, Putnam lives and dies by getting hitters to beat the ball on the ground with a hard, low-90s sinker. Match that pitch with a good curveball and absolutely fantastic athleticism, and Putnam will be in the mix to go in the supplemental first round.
Living in Big 10 country, I’ve heard Putnam’s name a lot and he sounds pretty interesting. Brewerfan.net has a scouting report on him from a couple years back when he was in high school:
His picture perfect mechanics and solid repertoire make him more appealing as a high pick on the mound. He throws regularly in the upper 80s to low 90s, and has touched 94 on radar guns. His fastball also shows great, late sinking movement, as does his changeup. He also throws a good curveball, and mixes in all three pitches very well, commanding the strike zone.
He opted to go to Michigan despite being drafted by the Tigers in the 38th round. Brewersfan.net ranked him the 33rd overall amateur heading into that years draft. The Cardinals pick at 37 as their compensation for Troy Percival, if Putnam is on the board still I could definitely see them taking him.
He also makes mention of D.J. Mitchell of Clemson, Dan Hudson of Old Dominion and Kendal Volz of Baylor. Mitchell is an OF who’s probably moving permanently to the mound after a very strong showing in the Cape, where he led the league in strikeouts with 58 in 49 innings. He throws in the high 80’s with that sinker of his, and has a good changeup. Hudson was 2nd in the Cape with 55 K’s in 46 IP. Smith notes “his three-quarters delivery yields very good movement on his fastball and keeps it in the park. He’ll lose his command at times, but when his slow curve and change are both on, he’s an excellent dark-horse selection.” Despite being a small school, the Cardinals have drawn from the Old Dominion well before, taking Donnie Smith back in ‘04.
Volz is going to be a sophomore, but Smith thinks he may be the best pure sinker-baller in the group. He’s 6-4, gets good tilt on his sinker and his curve has the makings of becoming a plus offering. Here’s a video of him at capeprospects.com-
Volz will probably be around later in the draft, if a big league team is willing to pay above slot he possibly could be had.
All of them sound pretty interesting, and I’m sure all of them are on the Card’s radar.
Filed under: 2008 MLB draft
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I stated all the way back in June of 2007 that Zak Putnam was my odds on favorite to be the Cards #1 pick in 2008.
He fits the mold to a T…
Check List
1. 4 year college…….check
2. RH Pitcher…….check
3. Sinkerballer…..check
4. A good summer league………check
5. A high floor, low ceiling talent…check
And most importantly…shouldnt be a tough sign and the promise of taking him at #13 will get him to sign for less the slot
I like Putnam, he reminds me of Jake Peavy in his physical makeup, his motion is similiar with a 3/4th’s drop and drive approach and his bull dog mentality
Putnam is also a draftable hitter, he might end up being #4 innings eater who can help himself in the field and at the plate with his athletism…think Micah Owings
Pfork-funny, i almost mentioned owings on my post. i hope they don’t take him #13, but if he’s there at #37 then that would be a sound pick.
i wouldn’t mind putnam at all in the sandwich round, but if they take him at 13 i will go nuts.
i know the cardinals have a sinker ball philosophy, but you have to have some variation in your rotation. i would like to see some different kinds of pitchers one of these years.
speaking of college pitchers, here is my college pitcher rankings at the moment.
1. Brian Matusz LHP San Diego
2. Aaron Crow RHP Missouri
3. Christian Friedrich LHP Eastern Kentucky
4. Jacob Thompson RHP Virginia
5. Brett Hunter RHP Pepperdine
6. Tyson Ross RHP California
7. Cole St. Clair LHP Rice
8. Ryan Perry RHP Arizona
9. Scott Green RHP Kentucky
10. Luke Burnett RHP Louisiana Tech
I too think #13 is too high, Thompson out of UVA is a more likely candidate and better value at #13…but this is all subjective..Putnam can go out and be lights out and we could be hoping he is still around when we pick…unlikely but things change.
I still of the belief you dont take a RHP college pitcher with a sub 9 K’s per 9 stat line…if you cant make college hitters swing in miss how is that going to translate to the Pro’s…even if your an extreme GB pitcher.
This is why I am still not sold on A.Crow yet.
A couple of random thoughts.
Those with a Dish will probably see a bunch of Putnam this Spring on the Big Ten Network….so keep an eye out for that.
Another thought is, some JUCO schools have already started their seasons….Cards fav JUCO to pluck players from Palm Beach CC has began its season.
Another pitcher who I like last year and doesnt get talked about much is Stephen Porlier from Oklahoma. I caught him on his best day of the 2007 season and he was lights out. A big RHP with a easy motion, consistently sitting in the low to mid 90’s with an avg slider and an above avg change..was drafted last year as a soph eligible….a name to keep an eye on as he fits the Cards profile.
One local name who also fits the mold is Aaron Schafer from Wichita State…if he is healthy is looks like an A.J. Burnett clone…but like Burnett his talent is almost always overshadowed by his lack of health.
Just a couple of weeks away from the start of the season….dont forget to earmark
http://www.cstv.com/xxl/
Allows to you watch free baseball games and even more if you subscribe.
ugh, don’t even start talking to me about he big 10 network…i have cable, and they don’t have it here in cedar rapids. can you imagine?!? the Hawkeyes are 35 minutes away and they are never on tv for basketball, and football is on less then half the time… and i wanted to watch the baseball, but can i…nooooooooooooo. and i live in an apartment, i have no other choice but cable.
i live in central illinois and we don’t get big ten network either. they don’t even get it in champaign.
as for shafer, he is another guy i would like to get in the sandwich round. i think it is a group of shafer, putnam, and lance lynn from mississippi.
We get the Big Ten Network with cable in Marshalltown, erik. Granted, it means you have to deal with the communist bastard Mediacom.
i have the commie pink-o’s right now. they won’t put the BTN on there. i truly hate mediacom. they jack up their rates and don’t have half the channels i really want. not to mention, they annoy me to no end with their insanely poorly written tv commercials.
“Save big money and take home the grand prize with the MVP pack from Mediacom! Call 1-800-CABLETV!”
How bout we take a high school pitcher for once. If Mellville is still there and the cards don’t pick him I’m gonna freak. They said they were gonna start drafting more Missouri kids anyway. They can’t let anymore Ryan Howards and Mark Buerlle’s slip threw their hands.
I did some half-arsed research before the draft last year and it was something like 20 years since the Cards took a HS SS in round 1 and its been something like 32 years since they took a HS LHP in the 1st round and that guy was none other then Leon Durham…who never pitched.
So you would think that 2 of the most premium positions in baseball LH pitching and SS would have been more of a priority
Balance is all I want, I dont care if they take a HS’er or a College player, a hitter or a pitcher…just dont take 4 or 5 of the same type of guys in the first 10 rounds.
Just follow the upside driven, balanced approach of 2005.
Funny about that draft, the supposed more polished easier to project College players (Greene/McCormick) are behind the raw, less polished HS’er (Rasmus, Anderson, Herron) on the same draft class.
When the Cards select a HS’er, they usually do a good job….that just frustrates me more on why they dont do it more often.
well they took a high school shortstop, so maybe they will take a high school lefty this year.
let’s take a look at the high school first round picks vs. college first round picks for the cardinals this decade.
high school
shaun boyd
daric barton
colby rasmus
tyler herron
pete kozma
college
blake williams
justin pope
chris lambert
tyler greene
mark mccormick
adam ottavino
chris perez
clayton mortensen
the only one of those guys to have played in the big leagues so far is daric barton. the best prospect among that group is colby rasmus.