Before I get into anything here it’s important to mention that Film Study Friday is nothing if not interactive. If there is a player you want to be included, shoot me a tweet (@HoothTrevor) at any time during the week and I’ll see what I can do! Other than Hoothpick of the Week. As the name implies, that’s all me.
It’s been another great week of minor league ball, but then again after no season in 2020, any week is a good week of minor league ball. Promotions, returns, and everything in between, the tape doesn’t lie and it’s time to take a trip to the film room.
Promotion Success
It’s far enough into the season that there are several reasons why some players will have received promotions. Maybe a spot opened, maybe their play was just so good. It’s the former for Detroit INF Wenceel Perez who recently was promoted to High-A. He was hitting well, but there was no room until Andre Lipcius was promoted to Double-A.
Well, to put it mildly, Wenceel said hello to the Midwest League with a bang, hitting a bomb. Power isn’t really his game, though. Defensively he’s really fun, but offensively it’s a hit over contact profile. Obviously, he has some pop. Just not enough to expect it to continue. Still the Tiger fan in me loves it.
St. Louis Cardinals OF Alec Burleson is an example of hitting so well, the promotion is inevitable. In his initial assignment to High-A he slashed .286/.367/.595 with four homers in just 11 games. He was too good. So he found himself in Double-A Springfield where he’s hitting .347 across 12 games.
I’m a noted Burleson fan. I covered him in greater detail prior to his callup. The bat skills are there and he can spray the ball around the yard. He’s even showing off more power than was really expected coming out of the draft. In total he has seven homers, three already in Double A.
Welcome Back, Mr. Mitchell
There isn’t a ton to say about Garrett Mitchell, honestly. He got off to a scorching start before a knee injury sidelined him for a little bit. Coming back and going yard is notable, however. There are some who are higher on Mitchell than others. He was a groundball machine at UCLA. Across five games and one knee injury he’s hitting grounders at a 50 percent clip…but also sample sizes.
I’m a fan of the compact swing and the tools. More lift and I’ll be ready to jump head first into buying into the Mitchell-Mania.
Pecking Orioles
The Orioles prospects are very fun and deserve some attention. Grayson Rodriguez and Gunnar Henderson are two, of probably a lot, that need to be highlighted. If you aren’t bought in by now then I’m not sure what to tell you. Rodriguez might just be the best pitching prospect in the game and Henderson is hitting everything hard right now. It’s a fun pair to be watching.
For Rodriguez, I point you to Geoff Pontes’ Twitter account for relevant info. He just got a live look.
Henderson is coming off back to back games with homers. It’s insane. Just to prove I don’t only watch dingers, here is a double. It’s still absolutely smacked.
Strikeouts Galore
Since the start of the year Roansy Contreras has been racking up strikeouts in every start. He’s slowed down a bit since accumulating 22 strikeouts across his first two outings, but he still carries a 13.66 K/9 paired with a sub-two BB/9. It’s been a good start to his tenure with the Pirates.
The fastball has seen a reported uptick in velocity for Contreras, which might be the big difference in performance. I’ve seen reports as high as 98 MPH at its max. He pairs it with a slider/changeup combo that only gets better with a dominant fastball. Also note the strut after blowing this fastball by the hitter.
Matt Frisbee might be more impressive for walks than strikeouts. And maybe I just have him on here to show you a slider from a dude named Frisbee. His K/9 is just a hair shy of double digits and his BB/9 is 0.31. Look there are other stats but that is just amazing.
When it comes to the arsenal, his fastball generates good armside run, but it seems like he can’t reign it in sometimes. By that I mean it has a tendency to run right over the big part of the plate and into the barrel of the hitter. The strikeout pitch, though is a slider with some insanely good depth. Seriously, his name is Frisbee, this GIF wouldn’t be anything except for a slider.
Hoothpick Of The Week
Originally I was going to be ‘boring’ and just pick Gunnar Henderson since he’s playing out of his mind. Then I remembered I love underrated pitching prospects. So let’s visit the San Francisco organization again for a 6’4” righty from Pepperdine by the name of Wil Jensen. He was a UDFA in 2020 and is currently assigned to Low-A San Jose.
In a start on May 30th he struck out 10 batters over five innings of work. That seems worthy of figuring out what happened. He’s got a 4-pitch mix with decent command, but I liked his sequencing. From the second batter of the game he seemed to be in a zone. Starting with a fastball on the outside corner, probably a little higher than he wanted it, but nothing exceptionally egregious since it was on the corner.
This was followed up with a slider, which in all likelihood is Jensen’s best weapon. But the change of speeds and getting the slider down following the fastball location is a good adjustment to get strike two.
From here on 0-2 he tried to elevate a fastball and missed the zone, then tried to get a chase on an outside fastball. On 2-2 he went back to the breaking ball, this time in the dirt. With the change eye level, there was just no chance for the batter.
Seriously, this slider is pretty wicked.
Jensen likes his changeup as a weapon against lefties, which makes sense. He isn’t afraid to pull it out when one steps to the plate either. These next two GIFs are the first and strikeout pitches of the same at bat against a left-handed hitter.
Final thoughts coming soon, but first the arsenal needs to finish. Jensen has a curveball that he doesn’t throw as much, but still enough. It can also be a good pitch for him. He uses it well here for a strikeout.
Jensen seems just a little too good for these Low-A hitters. As he gets promoted, and 10 strikeout games will make that happen, he may fade off. His fastball isn’t overpowering, so he’ll have to rely on hitting those corners and sequencing. The slider is a legitimate pitch, but everything else seems to be fringe at best. Still super fun to watch Jensen go to work. He’s a guy I will most definitely be keeping an eye on moving forward.