Over the weekend there were two relievers that made their big league debuts. Jumbo Diaz debuted on Friday night and Carlos Contreras debuted on Saturday evening. Today I wanted to look at both of them for their debuts as well as taking a look at a third reliever, also recently promoted, Double-A reliever Carlos Gonzalez.
Jumbo Diaz | RHP
The debut for Diaz certainly could have gone better. The end results weren’t good. He allowed three runs and two homers in a ridiculous game where the Reds blew an 8-0 lead to lose by five runs. There were some good things to come from the debut though. Diaz hit 100 MPH four times in the game. When looking at the Pitch F/X data after the game, there was one pitch in particular that jumped out to me that was just jaw dropping. He threw a 99.9 MPH sinker that had an insane amount of movement to it. To put it in perspective, I took the 2014 Cincinnati Reds starting rotation and looked at their 2-seam fastball averages and charted them, while also adding in the pitch from Diaz. Here is how it looked:
While we are talking about just one pitch versus the average of the other guys, Diaz threw a 100 MPH sinker that had the most horizontal movement and easily the most sinking action on it compared to the starters on the Reds. That sinker has more sinking action to it than most change ups in baseball. To be frank, it’s an insane pitch. It has three more inches of sink to it than the sinker of Mike Leake, while being nearly 8 MPH faster. Think about that.
The debut for Diaz wasn’t good. He struggled and he left a lot of pitches up in the zone. But there is something very impressive about some of the things he was able to do. He showed velocity that no one on the team not named Aroldis Chapman can reach. He showed a big time sinker. There is more to pitching than velocity and movement, but he certainly has those two things working on his fastball.
Carlos Contreras | RHP
The debut for Contreras went much better than that of Diaz. He threw a perfect inning on nine pitches and had a strikeout. He sat 94-96 MPH with his cut fastball according to the Pitch F/X data and he mixed in two curveballs in the low 80’s. Only one of his pitches was in the upper part of the strikezone. His cutter also shows some sinking action, with nice movement on two planes. He didn’t get a chance to show off what many believe is his best pitch, his change up.
Carlos Gonzalez | RHP
Gonzalez has to have one of the best relief seasons going in the minor leagues, having a 0.52 ERA through 34.1 innings pitched between Bakersfield and Pensacola. The numbers have been good, but what is the stuff looking like this season? Let’s take a look.
Scouting Report
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Fastball | Gonzlaez has worked with his fastball in the 92-95 MPH range and has touched 96 in the 2014 season, which is up a bit from where he was at in the 2013 campaign.
Breaking Ball | The pitch looks more like a slider, but it can get a little slurvy at times and resemble more of a sweeping curveball. It can be inconsistent still, though when the pitch is right, it’s a good pitch that can put hitters away.
Other | Control has been an issue in his career, and while it has been better from a numbers standpoint this year, a scout I spoke with who saw him earlier this month with Bakersfield said he had 30 command, which is well below-average. His control is a little better, rating as a 40, which is still below-average though.
The stuff is pretty good for Gonzalez, and even with the inconsistent breaking ball he will go as far as his control takes him.
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