Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | SEA | RHP | 32 | 35 |
Grades Update: Nov 2020
| OFP | Role | FB | SL | Cnt/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 30 | 50 | 55 | 50/50 |
Nov 2020 Report
Evaluator: Isaiah Burrows
Age: 26 yr
Height: 6-4
Weight: 190 lbs
Hits/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2017 Draft - 3rd Round
RuleV: 2021
Physical Description: Tall and solid build throughout. Upper and lower half fills out for the most part with strong legs and broad shoulders. Does hunch over at times on the mound, may be more due to his delivery. May not show aggression or intensity, but has good poise. Doesn't seem rattled with runners on base. Fights back in the count.
Delivery & Mechanics: Low arm action, throws low to the waist with a long arm slinging slot. Ball releases quick, but not consistent and repeatable. Some effort in overall arm action with how much tork goes into his whole body after every pitch. Hooks his arm behind his body at times, just cocks it back and sling it. Funky three-quarter "submarine" delivery. Elbow gets low to the ground and bends over after each sequence. Not very smooth, repeatable or consistent, but still effective. Ball comes out quick and keeps batters off guard. May see some effort concerns with his delivery, nothing "violent" just something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Fastball: Solid low-90s fastball with good sink that runs off the plate. May dip to the high-80s in velocity at times, but the sinking action makes it effective. Good pitch to jam lefties and righties inside, force ground balls to the infield. Good pitch from the stretch with runners on, but nothing special in terms of movement or velocity. Grade: 50
Slider: Good low-80s off-speed pitch that forces whiffs, makes a nice pairing with his fastball. Often throws it in two-strike counts with solid break at the hands against righties. His funky delivery may hide this pitch until it breaks at the plate. May tail outside the zone, as well. Solid spin rate and good offering as a whole. Grade: 55
Changeup: Very early in development, rarely thrown. Primarily a two-pitch mix with slider/fastball. Could offer a dip in velocity, but stays flat in the zone and not thrown with confidence. Still could become a third offering in his repertoire, but nothing stands out at the moment. Grade:
Control and Command: Struggles to consistently find the zone and hit his spot. Has trouble locating fastball on the outside corner to righties. Slider may break way inside the plate for an easily called ball. When falling behind in the count, he battles back with a few good placed fastballs or sliders. When his control is good, he gets out of jams with RISP with a softly hit ground ball, possible double play. Still struggles to hit his target consistently, and it leads to several walks in an outing. Control: 50 | Command: 50
Overall: Mills is a typical low three-quarter slot submarine reliever out of the bullpen. He has a good fastball/slider combination that has good spin rates to force swings and misses or ground balls. His changeup is nothing special at the moment and is rarely thrown, but it could develop into a third pitch with time. His command and control keeps him from getting consistent outs as he goes up in level, as shown by his high BB/9 rate in Double-A last season. Regardless, he faced tough competition last year and held his own for the most part. Doesn't have much of a ceiling, but could become a MLB contributor out of the bullpen.
OFP: 35
Role: 30 - Up/Down Emergency Depth
Risk: Low
