Adon

[klaiggeb]

On NBC Sports, Bay area, there is some video of Adon.

according to reports, he sits at 98-99, and hits 100.

He has good movement on his fastball, and a decent, but could be better, slider.

As to his mechanics, I REALLY liked his easy motion.

Great drive off the back leg and good arm action.

But that "loose" motion needs to be tightened up.

His left leg, like so many young pitchers, just sort of flies and flops out. He needs to be more compact, and in so doing, will gain even more velocity and better movement.

He's currently our #19 prospect, but to say that in the limited video I saw, that I liked him a lot, would be an understatement.

boly

[rog]

Here is what SFGiants.com says about Melvin Adon, who is 24 but very inexperienced. His fastball scouting grade may be the highest I've seen for a Giants pitcher:


Scouting grades: Fastball: 75 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45
Adon was nearly 21, ancient by international amateur standards, when he signed for $50,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. Despite his advanced age, the Giants have had to bring him along slowly, and he didn't reach full-season ball until last year. He's still very raw but made some progress in transitioning from thrower to pitcher.

Adon has an electric fastball that parks at 95-98 mph when he starts, touches 102 when he relieves and features quality running life. His upper-80s slider has more velocity than bite but operated as a solid second pitch more often in 2017. His changeup has a chance to become an average offering.

Though the Giants have deployed Adon as a starter to give him innings and make him develop his secondary pitches, he'll almost certainly be a reliever in the long run. He's still learning to repeat his mechanics and may never have average control or command. It would be easier to keep his delivery in sync in shorter stints and he'd likely sit in the upper 90s with his heater.

[rog]

I'll look at Adon more, but as might be expected, I saw things I liked and didn't like.

He paid attention to a runner on second base, but looked like he'd be easy to steal on with a long motion.

His fastball doesn't seem to generate a lot of swing and miss, which leads me to believe at least on this day he didn't have the quality running life mentioned in the scouting report.

I liked his slider.

His release point didn't seem overly consistent.

He hides the ball well and with his long arm back-sweep almost appears to have a hesitation. I would think he's be hard to pick up than the average pitcher.

As the scouting report indicated, he appears to be a two-pitch pitcher whose ceiling might be as a closer.

Per the scouting report he is very old for his level, which one would have hoped would yield better results in 2018. He did skip two levels and jump midseason from Rookie Ball to High A San Jose.

Randy, he started 15 games for San Jose. Did you get a chance to see him?

[klaiggeb]

As I said, his wind up needs to be tightened up.

He appears to have a lot of upside, but he IS a work in progress

[rog]

I'm hoping he can tighten up his legwork while still maintaining his long, deceptive arm load and whip. Does that seem desireable and practical?

Closers are often easy to steal against, and that looks to me to be the case with Adon, although in the video I saw of him with a runner on second base, he at least turned and faked a throw to second, indicating he is aware of the runners. Looks like an easy motion to steal on though.

If he is successful in tightening up his legwork as you would like to see, Boly, how much will that speed up his release from the stretch? Or is the release speed limited by the load and whip I find to make him hard to pick up?

Or am I simply just all wet here?

Did you have a chance to compare Adon and Gregory Santos, Boly? They appear to have similar body types. Adon throws harder, but Santos seems to have more downward tilt.

[klaiggeb]

From experience, I can tell you that leg work is the EASIEST mechanic to tighten up.

Look at early Matt Cain, and then look at big time Matt Cain.

He compacted his motion and made it all very repeatable.