Post by klaiggeb on Aug 5, 2015 22:42:20 GMT -5
Mooco sent this too me. Very interesting comments about Mella.
For those of you who remember him, who go as far back as I do, he is a very, very bright baseball man.
boly
Truth be told, I didn't know who he was until he was traded to the Reds. I found this article from early this year which might help explain why he was traded. Seems like there are concerns about his mechanics and durability. I highlighted some things that stood out for me. High pitch counts and violent shoulder movement don't bode well. I'm not sure where Randy read that Mella was such a highly rated prospect but to me, he sounds like a pitcher with very high upside but also very high risk and probably should be converted to a reliever.
Keury Mella, RHP San Jose Giants
The 21-year old Dominican fireballer made his High-A debut this weekend as well. His listed 200 pounds is condensed into a thick lower half and backside, and everything about his movement is loose. He starts from almost a half-stretch position, body pointed halfway between home and third, and takes a very small step back to begin his wind; he doesn’t generate much momentum at all at this stage, instead saving that work for the leg kick. His shoulders tuck in at takeaway with his hands at the letters, and he uses an exaggerated, rhythmic sweep of his leg where he pigeons his knee in before drawing it back to generate his forward momentum.
There’s some cross-body action that ensues as a result, with his plant foot not quite making it all the way back to perpendicular at foot strike. The arm action is exceedingly loose, with a long, deliberate drag behind his body before his plus arm speed saves the day to get him reasonably positioned at release. It’s a much less than ideal progression in that regard, and there’s ample opportunity for him to lose his arm slot and timing along the way.
His balance and cadence is good enough to where he largely kept it together in this start, but in addition to the requisite command concerns there’s also some undue stress on the shoulder in his motion. Given that he missed a chunk of time with a sore rotator cuff last summer it’s a flag well worth noting.
Stuff-wise, it’s all about the fastball with Mella right now. His four-seamer sat comfortably at 93-95 all day, topping out frequently at 96, and the pitch is explosive. His arm slot is a high-ish three-quarter, and between his coil and the late arrival of his arm at release the ball really jumps out of his hand. It’s a difficult pitch to track, generating ample swing-and-miss and weak foul contact consistently. With the velocity bordering on double-plus and some natural tail the pitch can play to a true 70-grade with even modest tightening of his command.
Mella’s curveball was much less consistent in this start, especially early on. The velocity wandered between 76 and 81, with a rolling shape at the lower end and very inconsistent release out of his hand. He lost what felt like every other offering high to the arm side over the first couple innings before settling in and snapping the pitch more consistently in the 79-81 band later on. At the higher velocity the pitch finished well, with two-plane movement and late break. Command concerns limit the projection of this pitch to the 50/55 range for me, and it plays a bit below average at present.
His change worked in the 83-86 range and showed decent tumbling action. He’s certainly got the arm angle to develop a good one, but the length of his arm action makes me question if he’ll be able to get consistently on top of the pitch to make it play to an average offering.
Overall Mella has a no-doubt Major League fastball wrapped up in some significant concerns about durability, mechanical repetition, and secondary development. I’m not sure the delivery is geared to hold up over the course of 180-plus innings, though he physically looks the part of a starter. The secondaries lag significantly behind the fastball at this point, but the heater is good enough for him to dominate High-A hitters for the time being while he works on them.
For those of you who remember him, who go as far back as I do, he is a very, very bright baseball man.
boly
Truth be told, I didn't know who he was until he was traded to the Reds. I found this article from early this year which might help explain why he was traded. Seems like there are concerns about his mechanics and durability. I highlighted some things that stood out for me. High pitch counts and violent shoulder movement don't bode well. I'm not sure where Randy read that Mella was such a highly rated prospect but to me, he sounds like a pitcher with very high upside but also very high risk and probably should be converted to a reliever.
Keury Mella, RHP San Jose Giants
The 21-year old Dominican fireballer made his High-A debut this weekend as well. His listed 200 pounds is condensed into a thick lower half and backside, and everything about his movement is loose. He starts from almost a half-stretch position, body pointed halfway between home and third, and takes a very small step back to begin his wind; he doesn’t generate much momentum at all at this stage, instead saving that work for the leg kick. His shoulders tuck in at takeaway with his hands at the letters, and he uses an exaggerated, rhythmic sweep of his leg where he pigeons his knee in before drawing it back to generate his forward momentum.
There’s some cross-body action that ensues as a result, with his plant foot not quite making it all the way back to perpendicular at foot strike. The arm action is exceedingly loose, with a long, deliberate drag behind his body before his plus arm speed saves the day to get him reasonably positioned at release. It’s a much less than ideal progression in that regard, and there’s ample opportunity for him to lose his arm slot and timing along the way.
His balance and cadence is good enough to where he largely kept it together in this start, but in addition to the requisite command concerns there’s also some undue stress on the shoulder in his motion. Given that he missed a chunk of time with a sore rotator cuff last summer it’s a flag well worth noting.
Stuff-wise, it’s all about the fastball with Mella right now. His four-seamer sat comfortably at 93-95 all day, topping out frequently at 96, and the pitch is explosive. His arm slot is a high-ish three-quarter, and between his coil and the late arrival of his arm at release the ball really jumps out of his hand. It’s a difficult pitch to track, generating ample swing-and-miss and weak foul contact consistently. With the velocity bordering on double-plus and some natural tail the pitch can play to a true 70-grade with even modest tightening of his command.
Mella’s curveball was much less consistent in this start, especially early on. The velocity wandered between 76 and 81, with a rolling shape at the lower end and very inconsistent release out of his hand. He lost what felt like every other offering high to the arm side over the first couple innings before settling in and snapping the pitch more consistently in the 79-81 band later on. At the higher velocity the pitch finished well, with two-plane movement and late break. Command concerns limit the projection of this pitch to the 50/55 range for me, and it plays a bit below average at present.
His change worked in the 83-86 range and showed decent tumbling action. He’s certainly got the arm angle to develop a good one, but the length of his arm action makes me question if he’ll be able to get consistently on top of the pitch to make it play to an average offering.
Overall Mella has a no-doubt Major League fastball wrapped up in some significant concerns about durability, mechanical repetition, and secondary development. I’m not sure the delivery is geared to hold up over the course of 180-plus innings, though he physically looks the part of a starter. The secondaries lag significantly behind the fastball at this point, but the heater is good enough for him to dominate High-A hitters for the time being while he works on them.
