You probably have heard Riley Pint's name by now even if you don't follow the MLB draft; he's the very rare high-school arm who can legitimately reach 100 mph with in-game pitches, and he's one of the subjects of the new book "The Arm" by Jeff Passan, which discusses how gently Pint has been handled by coaches in an attempt to keep him healthy. Pint's arm is indeed special -- he's the hardest-throwing high-school pitcher I've ever personally evaluated -- but he's still more of a thrower than a pitcher, a long-term project for a team with patience and belief in its player development.
Pint pitched at 96-100 mph on Tuesday afternoon in front of a woggle of scouts, including at least 10 scouting directors, several more vice presidents and the Brewers and Rockies GMs. He had a good changeup at 90-91, but no breaking ball to speak of, throwing two bad sliders in the three innings I was behind the plate. He showed poor command and control, walking four and striking out eight in six shutout innings.
Pint's arm is ridiculously fast, even though his stride isn't long and he doesn't have a ton of hip rotation; he's just unusually gifted. His arm path is clean, but at release he has a hard head-snap that could be related to the lack of command, as it's hard for a pitcher to locate when he's unable to keep a steady eye on the plate. It's as good an arm as I've ever seen on a teenager, with velocity you can't teach, but I'm also unsure what you can do here to get him to throw more and better strikes or to develop at least an average slider. It's the type of challenge any pitching coach would love to tackle, because it's like the Justin Verlander starter kit between the arm speed and the tall and athletic body, but I think there's also a significant risk here that Pint ends up a reliever or something less.
More draft scouting notes
• The teeming multitude of scouts were in town because two high-school coaches worked together to create a dream day (a "double-up") where evaluators could come see two first-round arms, Pint and lefty Joey Wentz, in one evening. Wentz did what he's been doing all season, throwing a seven-inning no-hitter to extend his season line to 21 innings pitched without a hit allowed. While he doesn't have the power of Pint, he has better present command and a plus curveball that helped him carve up opposing hitters Tuesday.
Wentz appeared at showcases last summer as a power-hitting first baseman with a questionable hit tool, but when he hit 95 at his first start of the year with that breaking ball, it became clear he was a first-round talent on the mound. Wentz touched 93 mph but pitched at 89-91 most of the game Tuesday, dominating with the curveball at 69-74 and throwing both pitches for strikes. He starts on the third base side of the rubber, so he's coming right at the plate, and gets on top of the ball well to get a good plane on the fastball and depth on the breaking ball. He's going to throw more consistent strikes than Pint, without the latter's big velocity, and I think the two pitchers will appeal to different teams. If you want to dream on a No. 1 starter, hoping to grab the next Stephen Strasburg, you take Pint. If you want a pitcher who's more advanced right now, with projection to end up with a plus fastball, you take Wentz.
• As good as Wentz is, I'd rank him third among prep lefties in this class, behind Jason Groome of Barnegat, New Jersey -- whom I scouted earlier this spring -- and Braxton Garrett of Florence, Alabama. Garrett, a Vanderbilt commit, struck out 15 batters last Thursday at Athens (Alabama) High School, at least ten of them on his plus breaking ball, with outstanding control that night and a super-aggressive approach.
Garrett touched 93 early but was 89-92 the rest of the way, with some plane on his four-seamer and a very slight dip in velocity in the bottom of the seventh inning after a long layoff while his team's offense was putting up five runs in the top half. The curveball was ridiculous, showing very tight rotation and hard downward break at 76-80, harder than Groome's breaking ball but with less apparent break to it. Garrett also showed an above-average changeup at 82-83, throwing only a handful but with enough confidence to use it as a first pitch to right-handed batters, boasting good arm speed and some late fade.
Garrett repeats his delivery extremely well thanks to a short arm swing in back and very simple mechanics throughout. He threw just a handful of pitches called balls in that entire outing and needed just 88 pitches to complete the game, facing 26 batters total. He doesn't have Groome's size or potential ceiling but I think he has a higher probability of being a big league starter, and there's no question in my mind that he's a top-10 talent.
• I headed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to see shortstop Gavin Lux at Indian Trail Academy, as he has been getting some more attention now that the snow has melted and teams have realized that he's one of the only pure shortstops in this draft class.
Lux has very good hands and a plus arm at short, with a really quick transfer that should help him become an above-average fielder at the position. He's a tick above average as a runner, not plus but plenty fast to stay at short as well. At the plate, he has good bat speed and hand-eye coordination, but tends to wrap his bat slightly when he loads, and I think he needs a little more strength in his forearms for louder contact. The bat wrap would be a quick fix and allow him to get the bat head to the zone a little faster, while the latter may just take time for him to physically mature. He's definitely a shortstop, with a chance to hit albeit probably not with much power, making him a sandwich/second-round candidate in this class.
• Last Friday I caught a matchup at Atlanta's Westminster Schools -- a campus so nice I had to show two years of W-2s before they'd even let me through the gate -- between their center fielder Will Benson and Pope High School (Marietta, Georgia) third baseman/right-hander Josh Lowe. Neither played up to expectations, unfortunately.
Benson's tools are some of the best in the class, with a body that's comparable to Jason Heyward's today, but his swing, which has already changed since last fall, does not work for him. He gets to his set position late, and the swing itself ends up long, almost as if he can't figure out how to keep from overextending on balls inside, and getting his hands through the zone too late relative to his hips. He's about as appealing an upside play as you'll see in the class, however, and the kind of player the Rangers love to take and develop as a hitter.
Lowe is a power-hitting third baseman with a plus arm, in the low 90s on the mound but being drafted as a hitter. I don't love his swing either; he's very strong with legit power, but loads deep and has a huge stride, resulting in a swing that's long and too rotational. When he squares one up, it's going to go a long way, but his swing comes up through the ball too much and he's going to swing and miss at or pop up a lot of pitches. The arm is legit and he'll stay at third base, so the bet here is on a solid third baseman who hits for enough average to get to the power.