Earlier today Baseball America released their Top 20 prospects (not ranked in any order) in the Venezuelan and Dominican Summer Leagues. Ben Badler was in charge of the list and he ranked Jacob Constante among the 20 players. Here is part of the report on Constante that is probably the most important.
Constante’s changeup, which he had little need for in the DSL, is the pitch that needs the most work. He also needs to repeat his release point to be able to throw more strikes. The changeup and control concerns lead some scouts to wonder if Constante may end up in the bullpen. He’s already fluent in English, which will help his transition to the U.S. this year.
His fastball works in the 90-94 MPH range and from the video I have seen it shows good movement. The ball comes out of his hand nice and easy and his mechanics are clean. His walk rate was a real concern for me though given the level that he was at where the league is full of guys who are overly aggressive and he still walked a bunch of hitters. While there have been studies that show performance in the DSL/VSL doesn’t tell us much about a players future, struggling to throw strikes does seem to be something that a lot of guys don’t just overcome quickly either.
As noted last week, Constante is in the United States this spring and should be making his debut this year. He will certainly be one of the guys to keep an eye on when his season begins. Left handers with good velocity don’t come around too often, though as Reds fans we are a bit spoiled with Chapman and Cingrani. The Reds paid $730,000 to sign Constante last winter, so he isn’t someone that is coming out of nowhere, but he will be 20-years-old and has yet to throw a pitch in the States in a game.