It’s time to open up my notebook once again to share some of what I’ve seen over the last week of baseball across the MiLB! As always you can follow along with the video on my Twitter account @HoothTrevor. It was a very fun week of games. Included in this week’s notes are some hard throwing pitchers, some crazy performances, and for the first time ever I use the term ‘potential ace’ to describe a pitcher!
Daniel Palencia, RHP, CHC, High-A
Game Stats: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Notes: Palencia throws hard. His fastball touches triple digits regularly with excellent data to support it. It’s a true 70-grade pitch. The issue is that he rarely uses his offspeed because his poor command generally prohibits him from doing so. This outing was different. He was leading with his changeup and breaking ball, and supplementing them with his big fastball. The changeup is his best offspeed, it generates lots of armside fade. It has the potential to be an average or better pitch. His breaking ball can be effective running away from right handed hitters, but it’s generally less effective. In any case, this was a fun outing to watch because it was all on display. His command was good for these three innings. The only location he struggled to hit consistently was when he attempted to elevate fastballs. They had a tendency to sail on him, which isn’t abnormal. Easy delivery that doesn’t have much effort to it. His delivery is more efficient than last year and his arm slot appears to be lower.
Yosver Zulueta, RHP, TOR, High-A
Game Stats: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Notes: Health has been an issue. Zulueta was signed as an IFA in 2019 and got Tommy John surgery almost immediately. Then the 2020 season was cancelled and in 2021 he tore his ACL 3 pitches into the season. He’s healthy now and after three rehab starts in Single-A he made his High-A debut. I’m not going to mask anything, this is one of the most impressive arms I’ve ever watched. To be frank, this is the stuff that potential aces are made of. And I hate throwing that term around. His fastball has plenty of life and is 97-100 MPH. His slider is sharp, has depth, and he can get whiffs to both righties and lefties. He also has great feel for a changeup and curveball. Of those two the changeup is the better pitch. There’s 10 MPH velo separation off the fastball and it mimics the movement well. His curveball is more of a show pitch. It has short break, but can be effective stealing strikes early in the count, which is how he uses it.
He doesn’t walk too many, but his command is still spotty at times. He doesn’t miss the plate by much, but he can have the tendency to miss the side of the plate he’s going for. It’s by no means a foregone conclusion that he reaches the ace status, but the potential is there. His changeup still needs to take a step forward and so does his command. This was really just his fourth professional start though and he is noticeably better in each. These are lofty expectations, even admittedly ridiculous expectations, but to me, he looks that legit. This being his first start in High-A he was giving up contact early trying to blow fastballs by hitters like he did in Single-A. What I liked most about him was as the game went on he was more purposeful with his pitches both in location and sequencing. The delivery is low effort, it’s smooth, and there’s some deception.
Reese Olson, RHP, DET, Double-A
Game Stats: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Notes: Since being acquired from the Brewers for Daniel Norris at the trade deadline last year, Olson has made some tremendous strides. His fastball and slider have always been solid pitches, but now he has 4 pitches he can use when command allows. It allowed in this outing. His fastball is a mid-90s pitch that he works to all quadrants. His slider is a sharp biting pitch that generates two-plane break in the zone. He does have a distinct curveball as well that has plenty of depth. His changeup when located at the knees was absolutely dropping off the table. While not his best pitch, it was the star of the show in this outing. All of these offerings were going for strikes and he used that to his advantage with excellent sequencing varying both speeds and location. Early in the game, he was pitching backward, offspeed first and fastballs late, and he was working primarily to his armside. As the game went on he started working more to his gloveside and locating it decently well. His command wasn’t perfect, he was deep in a lot of counts and at times seemed to lose the zone, mostly later in the outing as he got tired. More specifically on many of the 3-ball counts it seemed he would throw two or more straight non-competitive pitches. Most of the time he found his way back, though. There is some effort at release and some reliever risk, however, if he can continue to show feel to command all of his pitches, he should be able to stick in the rotation long term.
Brandon Knarr, LHP, MIL, High-A
Game Stats: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Notes: Knarr is among the leaders in several stats in the Midwest League. He’s third in strikeouts, his 1.17 ERA is absolutely fantastic. He’s been a menace. This outing was no different. He works with a low-90s fastball with high IVB. He can use it well up in the zone, but he was spreading it around the zone in this outing. His offspeed pitches are a loopy curveball and a changeup with some nice tumble. His curveball was seldom used in strikeout situations, opting for the fastball or changeup most of the time. The curveball was more of an early count offering. What he did well was show his pitchability. Sequencing and moving his pitches to both sides of the plate really kept the hitters guessing. That is his biggest strength right now. He would hit corners, but not as often as the stats may lead you to believe. When he missed, he missed by a lot. However usually he would come right back with a good pitch. My favorite part of the start was the confidence to throw a 3-2 changeup for a strikeout. He showed a lot of confidence in the pitch by doing so. He hides the ball really well through his delivery and has a quick arm. I feel more advanced hitters will be able to solve Knarr more frequently. The pitchability is great, but the arsenal itself needs a little something more. His curveball might be the key, or potentially adding another pitch. There needs to be something or he may run into trouble at the next level.
Beck Way, RHP, NYY, High-A
Game Stats: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Notes: Slider mania. That’s it, that’s the note. Way was throwing sliders early and often and there was nothing the opposition could do with them. His fastball registered as high as 97 MPH. His slider was in the low-80s, generally around 83 MPH. He worked exclusively with those two pitches. His slider was getting whiffs to both lefties and righties. Whether intentional or not there were a few variations to the movement. Some appeared sweepier, some had more depth, and some were more cutter-ish. He liked to front-door righties on 0-0 with the slider, then have it break way out of the zone with two strikes. He also wasn’t afraid to throw the breaking behind in the count. In terms of command, this was an effectively wild situation. He had a tendency to yank both pitches to miss badly on the glove side. A few times he overcorrected and spiked the pitch. From what he showed in just this one outing, he could be a very effective reliever. Maxing out on the fastball with a nasty slider. Nonetheless, an overall impressive showing.
Alejandro Hidalgo, RHP, LAA, Single-A
Game Stats: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
Notes: He turned 19 a day after this outing. The age is even more impressive because there’s no doubt in my mind that he already boasts a plus pitch with his changeup. His fastball is generally 92-93 MPH and can be effective when he finds the corners with it. His changeup has tons of deception and movement. He really pitches off of it and hitters are forced to think about it lest they look foolish when he throws it. Hidalgo can double, even triple up on the pitch and get a whiff every time. Granted that may not work at higher levels, this is a legitimate out pitch at any level. The issue is what goes around it. He has the fastball, which was the culprit of each of his hits. Almost a carbon copy, all of the hits came when he left the fastball in the middle of the plate. It’s a hittable pitch at the moment. His third pitch is a curveball that looks very early in its development stages. It does have some nice break on the few occasions he threw it well. Through the screen, I could feel how uncomfortable he was each time he threw it. His mechanics and arm all seemed to slow down each time the catcher called for it. His release was very inconsistent, too. That will be a key part of his development as a starter. Overall his command is pretty solid. He’s prone to mistake pitches more than non-competitive ones. He looks right at home against older competition.
Noah Cameron, LHP, KC, High-A
Game Stats: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 K
Notes: Every out recorded was by strikeouts in Cameron’s High-A debut. He kept hitters very off balanced, and for the most part guessing at what was coming. The hitters who were composed were able to make solid contact; all three hits were for extra bases. The lefty works with a low-90s fastball that was 91-93 MPH during this start. He threw also threw a low-80s curveball with slurvy shape. His crown jewel in these four innings, however, was a deceptive low-80s changeup. It has great velo separation off the fastball. When thrown to the arm side he will move that way, but when located elsewhere it generates excellent tumble down in the zone. It didn’t matter what side the batter swung from, his entire arsenal was open for use and thrown for strikes. He relied on good command of the zone for success in this outing. Both sides of the plate were used successfully. As shown by the two doubles and home run he gave up, when he made it mistake it was prone to hard contact. Good pitchers build, and he showed an arsenal that can play in a starter’s role long term.
Antoine Kelly, LHP, MIL, High-A
Game Stats: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
Notes: This was an impressive outing. I mean, 30 whiffs is no joke. When 13 of the 17 outs recorded are by strikeout, the pitcher is certainly in the driver’s seat. What’s more impressive is that Kelly was really only using two pitches to do it. He works with a low-90s fastball and a big sweeping slider. It’s very clear that the South Bend lineup was on their heels, they were swinging through some hittable fastballs. Once they did that, Kelly was able to come with his big sweeper and put them away. Command with him is the biggest question, and while there were pitches that got away, he was really excelling at working north to south with his fastball and east to west with the slider. He’s a very tall pitcher, standing 6’5”, with a commanding presence on the mound. Over the years it seems Kelly has made an effort to shorten his arm path, which allows him to hide the ball longer. It’s a slower delivery until his arm explodes through from a nearly sidearm slot. He adds more deception through a crossfire delivery. There was talk of a changeup before injury struck prior to last season, but for now it seems he’s working with just the fastball/slider combination. Without a third pitch, he’s a candidate for a multi-inning bullpen role.
JJ Goss, RHP, TB, Single-A
Game Stats: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Notes: Goss is a former 36th overall pick who has turned in a string of solid performances this season. He worked in this game with a fastball in the low-90s, and would throw both a changeup and slider. His slider was the main out pitch with 3 of the 4 strikeouts coming via the breaking ball. He sequenced it well off his fastball to keep hitters off balance. A good example of that came in the 3rd inning with a righty at the plate where he started the hitter with a fastball that missed above the zone, then followed it up with a slider that broke low and out of the zone. The batter swung through it and was way out in front. His changeup was more of an early count weapon, with tumble at the bottom of the zone. Both secondaries played well off his fastball. His command looked excellent in this short 4 inning outing, really seeming to attack the hitters without throwing too many hittable pitches. One of my favorite things about Goss is that his arm seems like it’s basically elastic. By that I mean a couple things. The first is that his arm whips through when delivering the ball to the plate. The second is that he has a lot of flexibility with his upper half, as demonstrated by the layback he creates with his arm. From top to bottom, it’s a very smooth operation.
Kobe Robinson, RHP, SD, Single-A
Game Stats: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
Notes: In three of the four innings thrown in this start, Robinson struck out the side. That included striking out the first six batters he faced. He did it by using two pitches, a fastball and a slider. His fastball has two-seam movement and a lot of it. When thrown to his armside it will run way off the plate, but he also liked to front door lefties with it late in counts. He worked it all around the zone. There were no velocity readings on the fastball, but it’s been reported in the 97-99 MPH range in the past. If that’s true, then it’s got the potential to be a legitimate double plus offering in the future, especially with the movement it generates. His slider is no slouch either. It’s slurve in shape, moving with a lot of depth and sweep. It two could potentially enter the above average-to-plus conversation at some point. What holds it all back is command. That is both of the corners and of the strike zone in general. He had to fight in a lot of these at bats because hitters were able to foul off two-strike pitches that caught too much of the zone. Beyond that he had a tendency to throw non-competitive pitches to the arm side frequently. Some of that may be attributed to all the run on his fastball, but other times it looked like the timing of his mechanics were off. It visibly appeared that his top half was a step behind his lower half, causing his arm to be late and the ball to sail into the right handed batters box. He has a crossfire delivery for deception and his low-3/4 arm slot, which helps him generate that run on the fastball. The skills are apparent, but he looked raw in this outing. With more seasoning, he has the tools to be a very effective reliever, potentially in high leverage situations.