Jon Moscot was the Reds 4th round draft pick in 2012 out of Pepperdine. He was used cautiously in 2012 with Billings after a long college season. This year the Reds have taken off the reigns and he is being used like the other starting pitchers in the system. Overall his numbers are scattered in the good and bad areas depending on which number you are looking at. His ERA sits at 5.17 and his record is 1-7. Those aren’t good. He has 18 walks and 54 strikeouts in 54.2 innings and those are pretty good rates.
He has really made adjustments to his game though and has basically had two very different months so far. In April, the right hander posted an ERA of 7.15 while walking 11 and striking out 21 batters. In May he has a 3.82 ERA with 7 walks and 33 strikeouts. The control has been much better in May and it has made a big difference in the ERA and WHIP columns.
I was able to watch his most recent start for the Blaze as they took on San Jose.
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In the first inning of the game Moscot was commanding the strikezone with his fastball very well. He mixed in a few sliders and his change up showed up once as well. During the second inning though his control was getting away from him as it looked like he was perhaps trying to overthrow his fastball which led to several really getting away from him. He also struggled locating his slider as he had a few get away as well and he hung a 79 MPH slider that was taken out of the ballpark for a solo home run. The third inning was rather quick with three weakly hit fly balls to the outfield.
The fourth inning started out well with two weak groundballs to begin the inning before Angel Villalona crushed a 92 MPH fastball for his second home run of the day. The next pitch that Moscot threw was a weak fly ball to center that ended the inning. In the fifth inning Moscot gave up a leadoff single that was followed by a sac bunt that almost went for a hit as Moscot and the catcher nearly collided as they both went after the ball. He would get a strike out and a nice sliding catch by Juan Silva in shallow right field to end the inning though. The sixth inning started with a weak grounder to first and then a walk on a full count on a fastball just off the inside corner. He broke the next hitters bat, but the ball was an infield single as third baseman had to field the ball and avoid the bat flying at him. The next hitter was the same one who had hit two home runs in the game against Moscot. Moscot won this time as he shattered his bat as well on a grounder to third that went for out number two after getting ahead with a fastball and slider both for swinging strikes. The next hitter took a fastball on the inside corner for strike one before lining out on a fastball to third to end the inning.
Scouting Report
Moscot showed good control at times of all of his pitches, but every now and again he seemed to struggle for spurts with repeating his mechanics as he looked like he was over throwing. His fastball ranged from 89-94 MPH, sitting 89-92. The ball doesn’t have much movement on the horizontal plane, but he throws across his body which leaves the ball coming across the zone and has a small amount of run in on right handers and away from lefties. His main secondary pitch is his slider that he throws in the 79-84 MPH range. It is an above-average pitch and he showed an ability to throw it in the strikezone for both swinging and taken strikes. He hung one that was crushed by Angel Villalona for a solo shot, but most of the night he was able to keep it down in the zone. He used his change up sparingly throughout the game but looked like an average pitch that runs in on a right hander and away from lefties that he throws in the low 80’s.
While nothing jumped out mechanically as something to be concerned about for immediate injury concerns, he isn’t the smoothest pitcher around and you can watch him and see that there will be times in which he struggles to repeat his mechanics moving forward which will lead to struggles with command at times.
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