The All-Pitching One
Two in one day? ZOMG!
Shooter Hunt
Shooter’s an interesting prospect who I kinda like; plus, he has the perfect baseball movie name. I wish my name was Shooter Hunt. Can you imagine growing up with a name like Shooter? Oh well.
Shooter is a righty with solid fastball in the low-mid 90s range, and a decent changeup. However, his main weapon is a plus power breaking ball that will likely lead to the majority of his Ks.
Shooter’s statistical history is what I like about him. His first year was a relative disaster, although he didn’t get much playing time; 33 K, 15 BB, 6 HR and 35 H allowed in 34.1 IP is not very pretty. Since then, he’s shown steady improvement. 2007 saw Shooter put up a line of 104K/30BB/3HR/85H in 99.2 IP.
2008 has probably been better, considering Shooter was named to the All-Conference Team as pitcher of the year, although it would be a lot easier to make sure if you could find current-year college baseball statistics. Just saying. At the time of writing, Shooter had 110 K and a .148 BAA in 85.2 IP; he now has 119 K and a .156 BAA. In short: He’s been pretty darn good.
The knock on Hunt is his inconsistent command; this could be easier illustrated with this year’s stats. Ok, I promise I’ll stop complaining about that, it just pisses me off. A lot.
Christian Friedrich
No promises, but right now Friedrich may be my second favourite pitcher in the draft behind Matusz.
Nietzsche’s repertoire is led by a hard fastball and power curve combo, with both potentially developing into plus pitches. He’ll also flash a hard slider (see a pattern here) and power change (just kidding) that are both to be above-average pitches. As you might expect with this kind of repertoire, the once knock on him is inconsistent command; but that’s not a huge concern.
Friedrich has dominated from the first moment he stepped on campus. His first year looked like what you’d expect from a graduating senior expected to be drafted in the top ten, and he hasn’t slowed down since:
2006: 82 IP, 118 (!) K (that’s a 12.95 K/9), 24 BB, 1 HR, 64 H, 1.98 ERA
2007: 81.2 IP, 101 K (11.13 K - slipping!), 36 BB, 4 HR, 44 H, 2.09 ERA
2008: As of April 14th, 50.2 IP, 71 K, 21 BB
Currently: 1.78 ERA (7th in nation), 1 HR (T-9th), .142 BAA
It`s certainly possible that Nietzsche will turn into David Purcey, but I feel it is far more likely he turns into David Price or Clayton Kershaw. In fact, while writing this, I’ve convinced myself he’s a better prospect than even Brian Matusz.
Tim Melville
I truly have a phobia surrounding high school pitchers, but at least I don’t have to go to the trouble of looking for stats in local online newspapers.
The first sentence I read about Melville, from brewerfan.net, has already biased me towards him, since it is a repetitive high school cliche that drives me crazy: he “makes his craft look so incredibly easy”. Ugh.
The profile is exactly what you’d expect. Low-mid 90s fastball, curveball that gets 18yo kids to swing and miss, spots pitches effortlessly. Really, I don’t care. He’s a high school pitcher. They’re good at finding ways to fail. PASS.
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