Over the past few years, the state of North Carolina has produced some quality left-handed prep pitching. Two years ago, Whiteville's prodigious MacKenzie Gore catapulted himself to the third overall selection. Just last year, New Hanover star southpaw Blake Walston went in the first round as well. Enter 2021 and another potentially massive name hovering around that rare air. Josh Hartle is here and he's for real.
Hailing from Ronald W. Reagan High School, Hartle has some of the best characteristics that project potential first round talent. At 6'5, 200 pounds, his lanky frame has tons of projection to it and he has an advanced feel for pitching, with three potential plus pitches in-hand. He's long been a mainstay in draft circles, showing well beyond his years from a very young age.
"Hartle has been on our radar ever since his 14U days", said Brian Sakowski, the National Scouting Supervisor at Perfect Game. "The pitchability and feel stood out even when he was barely clipping 80 MPH. He's the top prep lefty on our draft board right now, with the stuff having developed well and the chance to project at least 2, maybe 3 plus pitches long term."
Indeed, there’s a lot to like.
"His body, athleticism, mechanical operation, and command are all big pluses to his profile as well, and we believe his upside long term is enormous,” Sakowski said.
High praise for a prep.
I’ve been able to see Hartle a few times this summer and he has proven to live up to his hype. For a kid of his size and stature, repeating mechanics is key and that is something that Hartle does well. He’s a low-slot lefty that brings a lot of deception to the table, creating a lot of uncomfortable at-bats, particularly for left-handed hitters. Although he is tall, he manipulates his arm slot while sitting deep into his glutes during his delivery. The result is an extremely low release height.
However, with any good delivery comes some hitches. Hartle has the tendency to periodically fly open. It can hurt his overall command, but it’s not so prevalent as to label it a problem just yet. He lacks stability in his lead leg at times creating leakage in energy through his delivery. These inefficiencies are fixable.
Hartle’s arsenal is robust consisting of a fastball that sits 88-91 MPH, touching 92 MPH. He also offers a change-up in the mid-80’s, and a breaking ball that has ranged from 77-82 MPH. His fastball has late arm-side life and should play well up in the zone thanks to his low release and good extension. The combination of his low release fastball and added velocity is pretty enticing in a southpaw profile. The heater has good spin, showcasing spin rates between 2,300 and 2,400 RPM’s during his outing in Hoover.
The breaking ball is a hard pitch to figure out. It has morphed between a curveball and a slider throughout the summer, but did show more of a slider motion with 1-to-7 movement during his outing at the Area Code Games. There was added velocity to the pitch as well, as it sat 80-82 MPH as the summer progressed. At the beginning of the summer, he was showcasing more of a curveball in the 73-75 MPH range with a spin rate around the same as his fastball.
The last pitch in Hartle’s pocket is a quality change-up that has late arm-side run, much like his fastball. It’s a high spin change-up, reaching as high as 1,900 RPM at Perfect Game National in June. Certainly room for improvement, but it has the makings of a potential above-average to plus pitch when all is said and done.
It’s important to note Hartle’s arm slot and horizontal approach angle creates an unorthodox tunnel for his pitches, leading to his deception.
The expectation is Hartle’s command and velo will continue to tick up in 2020 and into 2021. If the command persists and his stuff continues to mature, Hartle is exactly the type of arm teams may covet coming next July.