Today I am going to look at Tanner Rahier, who has undergone some swing changes throughout the season (which you can see in the video below) as well as reliever Abel De Los Santos.
Tanner Rahier
Rahier is just 19-years-old and has spent almost all of the season with the Dayton Dragons after beginning the year in extended spring training. Coming into the season it seemed there were more questions about his defense than his offense. At this point in the season it seems that the script has flipped.
Video
Scouting Report
[private_subscriber]
If you watch the video above, in the upper right hand corner I made a note of the month that each video clip is from. There are clips from April, June and July. If you notice in April he is utilizing a leg lift and step timing mechanism, while in the later months he goes to a toe-tap and rotate timing mechanism. With the leg lift and step, Rahier began to load his weight back a little bit sooner than he has with the toe-tap but the rest of his swing mechanics seem to be very similar. He has a very aggressive approach at the plate, which has a lot to do with his offensive numbers this season. He is vulnerable to pitches from the letters to the ankles and will swing at them often. He will occasionally connect with one way up or way down and when he does, he can hit it out of the ballpark. He has a long swing, which helps generate good power at times, but it also means he is going to struggle with such an aggressive approach to anything offspeed and to fastballs up in the zone. Rahier is still young enough to make strides in his plate discipline, but it is something that he will need to do if he wants to take that next step forward as a hitter.
Defensively Rahier has spent almost all of his time at third base where for the most part, he has been fantastic. He has been able to make both the regular plays and the outstanding plays. While I don’t have a ton of video of him defensively, you can see two plays showing off his range and arm in the video above.
Abel De Los Santos
The right hander is off to a good start of his season with the Billings Mustangs where he has an ERA of 1.54 in 11.2 innings with 4 walks and 18 strikeouts out of the bullpen. Last season he had a bunch of strikeouts as well (37), but he really struggled to throw strikes as he also walked 14 batters in 22.1 innings. This season the control has been much better, though there have been two games where he really struggled at times to throw strikes.
Scouting Report
De Los Santos has a fastball/curveball mix. He has clean mechanics and a high three-quarters delivery which helps him really get on top of his breaking ball. His curveball is the main culprit for so many strikeouts. The pitch has good 12-6 action with tight break when he throws it correctly that he has been able to throw to both sides of the plate this season. The pitch will come in from 72-76 MPH. His fastball has worked in the 88-91 MPH range this season and has a little bit of armside run at times but will also come in with more of a downward plane other times.
[/private_subscriber]