Today I wanted to take a look at two players I saw in Pensacola last week and add a few notes on some players from around the system. Today we will be looking at Loek Van Mil and Travis Mattair with some notes on Jose Ortiz.
Videos
Scouting Reports
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Loek Van Mil
Fastball: Van Mil fired out the second fastest pitch I have seen all season when he fired one in at 98 MPH last week. The pitch in the video that is “painted” was 98 MPH. During his two stints he sat 93-96 MPH and touched higher a few times.
Slider: His slider came in at 84-88 MPH. The pitch has velocity, but it was inconsistent in the break. At times it lost out on it’s biting action and got a bit loopy.
Other: The raw stuff is there. He has velocity and movement. His breaking ball flashes itself as a solid pitch. Van Mil will really struggle to repeat his release point though that will lead to control problems.
Travis Mattair
Offense: For a guy of his size, he hasn’t really shown as much power as you would expect this season. He has the strength and the bat speed isn’t a problem, but it does appear at times that he is slowing his bat down at times in order to put the ball in play. It has been working as his strikeout rate has drastically decreased from earlier in the season, but it has sacrificed some power. He has 20-25 HR power in his bat, but he will need to swing for power a little more often. He was a tad prone to chasing pitches down and away.
Defense: Reports I had on his defense were strong, but after watching him in person I feel they undersold his abilities. He made numerous highlight reel plays as well as every routine play. He has quick reactions, good range and a strong, accurate arm.
Overall: He has a chance to be a utility player at the Major League level with another step forward due to his defense at the corners and ability to provide some pop off of the bench. To be more than that, he is going to need to improve his offense. Improving on his game power will be needed to be more than a utility player.
Jose Ortiz
I had written about Ortiz a few weeks ago with viewing a few games of his. Defensively he showed off a big arm and solid catching skills, but I have been able to watch him more over the past few days and some things began to show up. While the arm is still very impressive and he was still rather quiet behind the plate, but he showed some issues on balls in the dirt. Improving on his techniques in blocking pitches is going to need improvement.
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