Sam McWilliams (RHP) - Scouting Report

Rank History

Year	Team	Position	Team Rank	OFP
2021	NYM	RHP	16	40

Grades Update: Feb 2021

OFP	Role	FB	SL	CH	Cnt/Cmd
40	40	60	55	45	50/40

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Feb 2021 Report

Evaluator: Danny Brackman

Age: 25 yr
Height: 6-7
Weight: 230 lbs
Hits/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2014 Round 8 (PHI)
RuleV: On 40-Man Roster

Physical Description: Massive frame with long limbs. Built like an NBA small forward. High waist with strong legs and core. Maxed out body a while ago but strength and shape have remained intact. Good mobility for size.

Delivery & Mechanics: Stretch only. Comes set with his back leg sunk deep and chest leaning slightly forward as a sort of pre-coil mechanism. Waist-high leg lift to activate hips further and good trunk rotation into medium effort 3/4 arm-slot that whips through and generates really good arm speed. Rather short extension relative to height but a strong lead-leg block and efficient energy transfer help repeatability for someone of his size.

Fastball: Utilized both 2-seam and 4-seam previously but appears he is pushing forward with just the 4-seam. Usually sat around 92-95 as a starter but is able to reach back for more in shorter stints. Was reportedly up to 98 at the ATS. Not much swing and miss and lots of contact throughout his MiLB career so moving to 4-seam only is very promising. Velo, spin axis, release height, and arm angle already make the fastball a plus offering with room for more. Cuts the 4-seam at times, but scrapping the 2-seam has helped him stay behind the baseball and keep the spin efficiency up. Grade: 60

Slider: Hard gyro in the mid-80s. Tunnels very well with the fastball from his arm-slot. Spin and movement profiles aren't anything overwhelming though a good gyro degree and high velo negate the need for much more, especially when it's working off the fastball. Does flatten out at times and leak back over the plate, leading to some hard contact. Grade: 55

Changeup: Mid-80s with lots of fade, often too much to control. Arm action and delivery likely both the reasons why the pitch moves a ton and why he has trouble controlling it. Lack of extension appears to hurt his feel for the release, though he does still drop in some beauties against LHHs on occasion. Grade: 45

Control and Command: Does a solid job staying around the zone, especially with the fastball and slider. Regaining feel after scrapping the 2-seam which was his primary offering will be essential. Flashes of a legit FB SL combo from a deceptive angle provides a tough AB, though hitters are practically guaranteed to see a pitch they can hit. Control: 50 | Command: 40

Overall: McWilliams is working to optimize his 4-seam and slider in anticipation of becoming a pen arm going forward. His willingness to adapt this late in his career is encouraging, especially for an individual with his track record. He projects in a low-leverage role for now, but if these adjustments click, he could become a decent late inning option.

OFP: 40
Role: 40 - Spot Starter, Long Reliever or Low-Leverage Reliever
Risk: Moderate

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Sam McWilliams (2B) - Scouting Report

Rank History

Year	Team	Position	Team Rank	OFP
2021	LAD	2B	48	30

Grades Update: Dec 2020

OFP	Role	Hit	Power	Field	Arm	Run
30	30	30	50	40	40	40

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Dec 2020 Report

Evaluator: Rhys White

Age: 23 yr
Height: 6-0
Weight: 175 lbs
Hits/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2018 Draft - Round 19
RuleV: 2021

Physical Description: Slender with decent height. There is plenty of room to fill out in both the upper body and lower body. Built like an NFL slot receiver.

Hit: He has a quiet set-up pre-pitch with his bat over his shoulder. When the pitch is on its way he makes a stride towards the mound and looks to take aggressive hacks at anything in the zone. He generates plenty of torque with his violent swing. His bat path has loft but he has a slight hitch in his swing which leads to an unconventional "v" bat path. This leads to him hitting balls on the ground when not optimally timed up. He does an average job of laying off of pitches out of the zone but in the zone, McWilliams gets swing happy leading to bad contact that won't result in hits the higher up he goes in the minors. I have serious concerns about how more advanced pitchers will attack him because of his aggressive approach at the plate. He can hit the ball to all fields Grade: 30

Power: He generates plenty of torque with above-average bat-speed. He can hit for power to all fields, showing the ability to go the other way and still hit for power. He shows average raw-strength and with the torque and bat-speed, he is able to generate average game power, which could go up if he adds more strength to his frame. Grade: 50

Field: He shows okay hands, he will get eaten up by hard grounders hit towards his side and that will throw off his rhythm. He has average range for a second-baseman and tends to play farther back to makeup for struggles handing hard ground-balls. He does have a nonstop motor that will make up for any sort of physical shortcomings because he's not a great athlete. He covers second base well on double play situations but will make inaccurate throws towards first because he struggles to throw on the move. Grade: 40

Arm: He makes accurate throws and has enough arm strength to play second, the arm doesn't profile anywhere else. There is some zip missing on throws deep in the hole and he doesn't throw well on the run especially on throws when he is trying to complete the double play. Grade: 40

Run: Underway McWilliams is a below average runner with a decent stride-length but he can be choppy. At times he will settle as a heel striker which results in him not being efficient with his gaiete, hampering his speed. He is not a stolen-base threat because he has below average foot speed with below average jumps. He isn't one to push the envelope and push for the additional base when on the run. Grade: 40

Overall: As things stand the only average tool for McWilliams is his power, he's too aggressive of a hitter and lacks the defensive versatility to play anywhere other than second.

OFP: 30
Role: 30 - Up/Down Emergency Depth
Risk: High

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