On Tuesday a new pitcher took the mound in Louisville and fired a shutout inning with a strikeout in his first appearance. That pitcher was right hander Kristopher Negron. Ok, so Negron is an infielder/outfielder who made his first career appearance on the mound in a blowout, but he actually had success and I thought it would be fun to write about it. Negron was throwing his fastball in the 82-86 MPH range with good sink to it, it even had some backdoor action to it. The control wasn’t exactly strong, but he is a position player after all. He was throwing an offspeed pitch as well, but I couldn’t tell if it was a change up or a flat breaking ball of some kind.
As for the scouting reports for this week (and last week since it was skipped over), we are going to be looking at Sebastian Elizalde, Pedro Diaz, Juan Silverio and Tim Crabbe.
Pedro Diaz
After spending most of his career starting, Diaz has been moved to the bullpen in 2014. The 21-year-old has a 4.09 ERA in 22 innings with 10 walks and 19 strikeouts this year. He works out of a high 3/4 arm angle and despite a shorter stature, throws downhill because of his high arm angle. His fastball works in the 92-94 MPH range on most nights and has touched 96 MPH this season. His main secondary pitch is a breaking ball that is inconsistent, but flashes itself as an above-average pitch that he can use to put hitters away. Control is hit and miss still, even within the same inning or game. When he is at his best he looks like a potential back of the bullpen type of reliever, but there is still plenty of inconsistency with him.
Tim Crabbe
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Crabbe has taken a bit of a step backwards this season in Triple-A. His strikeout rate is down and his walk rate is up. While neither is up/down a large amount, the two have moved closer to each other so far this season. The stuff hasn’t suffered though. His fastball still works in the 89-91 MPH range, touching a tad higher at times. He will also mix in a cutter at times in the upper 80’s that gives a bit of a different look from the fastball. His main secondary pitch though is his curve, which flashes itself as an above-average pitch at times in the mid-to-upper 70’s and is average most of the time. It’s a good pitch that he goes to in order to put hitters away. His change up is the third pitch and it is clearly the weaker pitch in his arsenal. It is a bit firm, coming in at 85-86 MPH, though he can throw it for strikes. After a strong season in 2013, he still looks like a potential #5 starter or a solid bullpen arm who could get his fastball to play up some and focus on just the fastball and curveball combo.
Sebastian Elizalde
Easily the biggest surprise of the 2014 season so far, Elizalde is among the league leaders in the Midwest League in AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, HR and walks. He is a bit old for the league, but it is his first season playing in the United States after playing in Mexico for the previous four years against much older competition. That he has been good isn’t surprising, but how good he has been is. His bat has been the standout of his game so far this year. He shows good bat speed, though it isn’t elite. His swing is simple and doesn’t have much wasted movement in it. His power has been surprising. Simply looking at his swing, it doesn’t seem to be a powerful swing, but the ball carries off of his bat more than you would think by watching him and I think he probably has average home run power in the future. Scouting reports before the season said he had plus speed, but I have yet to see that speed in action. My best time on him to first shows him as an average runner and I have had several below-average times as well. He has more walks than strikeouts this season, and while he has good plate discipline, I don’t think its as good as his strikeout-to-walk ratio has been this season as he continues to move up the ladder. He should have good plate discipline though, I just don’t see a guy who is going to keep a 1-to-1 ratio either. Defensively he has spent time at first base and the outfield in Dayton. He has played plenty of center field in the past while playing in Mexico, but I don’t see that for his future unless I have simply just missed out on his speed in the times I have watched him. He should be able to handle the corners fine. First base is simply a position he is playing now because the team needs a first baseman, so his ability to play there just helps out the team, but his future is very likely in the outfield.
Juan Silverio
Silverio has a long history of being a toolsy player who has struggled with his production, but he has been productive as a Red since coming off from the White Sox. The 23-year-old is in Double-A Pensacola right now, hitting .272/.309/.456. By looking at his stat line you can probably tell that his biggest issue offensively is that he is an overly aggressive hitter who doesn’t walk much. He has just eight walks this season to go along with 38 strikeouts in 183 plate appearances. The plate approach has long been the issue, as he has drawn more than 15 walks in a season once since coming over to the United States. Where he does stand out though offensively is his ability to square up the baseball. Much like Elizalde, his bat speed is good but doesn’t jump out at you. He does have a bit more power potential though, with above-average power potential to hit 20-25 home runs one day. If he can tighten up his swing zone, he could hit for a good average in the future. Defensively he has a plus arm over at third base, though his range is mostly average. At least early on this season he has done a much better job at avoiding errors. His career fielding percentage at third is just .910, but this season it is at .960. If he has truly overcome his error problems, he should have no issues sticking at third base moving forward.
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