Last week Prospects Live hit the road to sit on the final four games of the Dodgers and Tigers High-A matchup in Comstock Park, MI. Both rosters were pretty stacked: the Loons featured six pitchers and five position players from our Dodgers board while West Michigan’s roster boasted seven position players and four pitchers from our Tigers board.
In the first breakdown, Jake Boes and James Chipman offered their thoughts on some of West Michigan’s position players. Rogelio Castillo joins Jake and James to discuss some of West Michigan’s pitchers in this latest installment of Live Looks.
RHP KEIDER MONTERO
The Tigers inked Keider Montero out of Venezuela for just $40k during the 2016 J2 international signing period. Listed at a paltry 6’1” 145 pounds, Montero easily appears closer to 200 pounds. He’s filled out nicely since my last observation in ‘19 GCL, adding much needed strength in his upper body and lower half.
The box score wasn’t pretty: 3 ⅔ IP 4R 8H 6K. His stats this season aren’t great either. Montero’s development over the last 12-18 months is rather encouraging though.
After sitting mostly 90-92 during ‘19 GCL, he’s now currently sitting 93-95, bumping 96. The heater features heavy bore inside on RHB and decent riding life when he elevates for chase. The 20-year-old right-hander works from a semi-windup, drop and drive operation. Montero’s high-3/4 arm slot generates some natural downward plane. His above-average arm speed and letter-high leg kick yield moderate deception. His long arm action and effort in the delivery will likely never yield much command.
Montero primarily works north to south, but has a solid amount of pitchability showing the willingness to attack inside and move the ball around the zone to avoid predictable location and sequencing. He worked quickly and showed the ability to get ahead early in the count. Montero primarily eliminates batters with his fastball up in the zone or breaking ball buried away as a chaser. There also was a good deal of weak contact.
Montero’s best secondary offering is without question his breaking ball. The high spin breaker (~3060 rpm) sat 78-82 with tight rotation, 11/5 shape and sharp late bite. There were a few hangers around 72-74 that found barrels, but far less than in previous viewings. The curveball flashes plus and sits average with the occasional well below-average floater. If he can eliminate the sporadic cement mixers I’m confident more reps and continued pro instruction yield a more consistent above-average put-away offering.
An encouraging sign developmentally was his change-up usage. The Dodgers stacked their lineup with five LHB and Montero didn’t shy away from CH usage early in counts; even doubling up on it a handful of times. The change is a firm tumbler around 85-88. While it lacks significant fade, Montero’s feel has greatly improved; he’s maintaining his arm speed better and locating the pitch more frequently than previous observation. The continued development of the pitch will be paramount if he wishes to stick in the rotation and survive against more advanced LHB. If/when he’s likely moved to the bullpen it’ll play fine enough even around its modest fringe-average projection to simply keep LHB honest.
Overall there’s a lot to like about the profile. Montero has a calm demeanor and commanding mound presence. The fastball is gaining velo and better movement; the curveball is starting to gain some consistency. Montero has a track record of missing bats (8.9K/9) and keeping the ball in the yard 0.3HR/9). His biggest blemish is his inability to limit walks (3.9BB/9) over 149 1/3 career innings.
Montero is Rule 5 eligible this December. Ignore the crooked numbers this season, Montero is raw but headed in the right direction developmentally. There’s still a good deal of projection remaining and this latest progress is encouraging. While there’s legitimate back of the rotation potential, I still believe a role 40 bulk relief or low-leverage role out of the bullpen is the more likely potential future outcome for Montero. —James Chipman
RHP BEAU BRIESKE
Beau Brieske was a 27th rounder in the 2019 draft out of Colorado St U Pueblo. He pitched the vast majority of his debut season in the Gulf Coast League, throwing 20 ⅓ innings across 11 appearances and no starts.
He posted strong numbers—a 3.10 ERA while striking out 31 in those limited innings and averaging just north of a base runner per inning. His performance earned him a steep assignment to High-A in 2021; this time to start for West Michigan.
The 23 year-old Brieske has had mixed results thus far in 2021 but he has all the makings of a solid organizational arm for the club to fill in the cracks on their rosters throughout the minors.
Mainly, I was impressed with Brieske’s changeup, which was 81-83while maintaining arm slot and arm speed. His feel for the offering at this level is uncommon and the fade in the lower third got swings and misses all night in my live look.
His fastball was fringy; showing 91-94 with modest run in the upper third. His command with the offering was inconsistent; mostly missing arm side with misfires. Nevertheless, he fills the zone enough to start throughout the minors.
He does have a curveball 75-77 that shows below-average attributes; lacking the necessary teeth to be a weapon at the highest levels.
The most likely role for him remains an organizational arm, but an up/down emergency ceiling remains a possibility due to his possible fastball/change mix out of a bullpen. I envision Spenser Watkins-like production from Brieske long-term as his most likely outcome. —Jake Boes
RHP BRENDAN WHITE
The Tigers have done well picking up talent in the upper Northeast area of the country, specifically in the New York area with the likes of Jason Foley and Zack Short, who both went to Sacred Heart in New York. Brendan White, the 26th round draft pick in 2019 out of Siena, NY, is no different.
White jumped up from the GCL to High-A so this was an aggressive assignment by the Tigers but there was a reason why and that was his ability to command his fastball and slider. He is a quick worker on the mound and it showed in the inning I saw him in when he struck out Carson Taylor within four pitches.
Over the inning that I observed, his control was missing, drawing a pair of walks. He was able to generate a few swing and misses though, primarily on his fastball while looking like he also threw a changeup a few times. The slider did look good but he did not throw it enough for strikes. Overall, he should take advantage of any over aggressive swinger looking for a fastball but needs to throw his secondaries with better command. —Rogelio Castillo
RHP YAYA CHENTOUF
Surprisingly it was the above-average sweepy breaking ball, not his 80-grade name that impressed me most when I first watched Yaya Chentouf carve during 2018 GCL. A Central Florida native and 36th rounder from the 2018 draft, Chentouf was a 5’ 9” rail thin 21-year-old right-hander with a fastball that barely sat 90-91 back then. Undersized; minimal projection; not enough FB: “just a guy.”
Well, fast-forward almost three years and Chentouf has added a good 30+ pounds. His fastball also now sits 95-96 with good arm-side life. The arm action and drop and drive deployment yield good deception. His sweepy breaking ball has also tightened up with a more traditional 11/5 shape. The curveball flashed above-average, with enough late bite and awkward swing and miss to garner a follow tag from Jake and I. He was one of the more interesting under-the-radar arms we’ve seen so far this season and worthy of circling back to.
Chentouf allowed three hits, struck out one and allowed an unearned run Friday night — hardly a majestic outing. That being said, he’s striking out over a batter an inning, the velo is up and secondary has stepped forward. Chentouf could very well be evolving from an org soldier into role 30 status. —James Chipman
LHP JARED TOBEY
It feels like an eternity ago that Jared Tobey was pitching against Southeastern University to open Detroit Tigers’ spring training in 2020. 15 months later, we have baseball back as we know it and Tobey back in the bullpen for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Tigers’ High-A affiliate.
Tobey is a Michigan native who was drafted in the 30th round in 2018 out of Detroit’s Wayne State University. Throughout his brief pro career, Tobey gained intrigue as a deceptive hard thrower from the left side.
More recently, Tobey’s fastball velocity was sitting more in the 90-92 range in my live looks out of the bullpen rather than the mid-90’s he had showcased earlier in his career. While maintaining his deception, it’s probably more of a fringe-average pitch than average as we have it currently save a velo bump.
His slider remains fringe at 81-83 with slurvy action, which makes sense considering the velocity band he throws it in. While it is a usable offering capable of yielding weak contact, the movement profile and command with the offering prevents it from being a legitimate put away pitch.
If Tobey can regain some of his velocity as the season moves along and the weather gets warmer, he has potential to be a fast riser through the system. Based on my looks, an org soldier seems more likely. —Jake Boes
RHP ZACH HESS
A product of LSU, Detroit selected Zach Hess in the 7th round of the 2019 draft. Hess gained helium after his pro debut yielded a productive 2.60 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 27 ⅔ innings. The 24-year-old’s arsenal is led by an electric mid-90s fastball that reportedly scraped 97-98 at the Alternate Training Site last year. His slider is inconsistent but potentially above-average. Hess also has an amateur and pro track record of missing bats at a high clip. The walks have always been a thorn in his side, but the ingredients of a potential big league low-leverage relief profile are present.
Hess made headlines this off-season, publicly betting his agent that he’d hit 100mph on the radar gun at some point this season. Unfortunately the velocity was down a tick during my observation in MiLB ST, as his fastball sat mostly 92-94. And oddly enough Hess’ fastball sat even lower in last Sunday’s FB heavy outing, where it hovered around 91-92. Hess struggled mightily with command, recording just two outs before being pulled. He allowed two runs off two hits and two walks; he did strike out one batter. The few sliders he threw looked slurvy; lacking the tilt and nasty darting action the offering usually shows. I’m not reading too much into his slow start, or this rough outing but the lack of velocity and control issues should be monitored moving forward. —James Chipman
RHP RUBEN GARCIA
James had previously told Jake and I that Ruben Garcia is quite animated to watch. When he said that, I merely thought he was animated but after seeing him on the mound, there is much more than that.
The Tigers selected Garcia in the minor league portion of the Rule V Draft in 2019 from Baltimore, after pitching in short-season ball and Low-A. It was his last season in 2019 at Delmarva that stands out with 42 strikeouts over 29 ⅓ innings. The lanky 6’4 right-hander stands on the first-base side of the rubber, with his hand dangling before he raises them to his head and throws from a 3⁄4 slot. As he throws, he has a slight head wack but a fastball that was hitting around 95MPH and a decent slider when his command is on. For being 24-years-old, he is doing what he should be doing at High-A and that is being efficient when he appears. If he can get his command under control and limit his head wack, the Tigers could have another good org arm that could be used in a pinch. —Rogelio Castillo