Today we are going to be looking at Cincinnati Reds right hander Ben Lively and left hander Amir Garrett.
Amir Garrett
Amir Garrett spent his first year in spring training in the 2014 season and through his first two starts of the season he had performed well. Then last night happened where he retired the first two batters of the game on a strikeout and groundout. Then the next nine batters reached base, though one was thrown out to end the 1st inning trying to score. The lefty faced six batters to start the 2nd inning and didn’t retire one of them.
There were two balls hit hard against Garrett in the game, both doubles in the first inning. There were several hits that were bloops and a few just one foot away from an infielders glove. His fastball was working 91-93 and topped out at 94 MPH. That was up from the first start of the year when I saw him. He controlled the pitch well during his short outing. His curveball actually looked good too.
The problem? Well, Todd Benzinger was the color analyst during the game and very early on he noted that Garrett was tipping his offspeed pitches. When he would throw his fastball, he wasn’t adjusting his hand/grip in the glove. When something offspeed was coming, he would adjust the hand/grip in the glove and the glove would move slightly. Once he mentioned it, you could tell what was coming the rest of the night. While Kane County certainly won’t tell you that they picked up on it, it certainly seemed like they were waiting back on the curveball like they knew it was coming every time.
Ben Lively
On June 7th, 2013 the Cincinnati Reds called the name Ben Lively, right handed pitcher from Central Florida in the 4th round. I didn’t write much about him at the time other than a quick scouting report:
He has a fastball in the low 90’s. He mixes in a slider as his main secondary pitch, though he also has a curveball and a change up he uses too. I have slight concerns about his mechanics.
He was coming off of a season at Central Florida where he posted a 2.04 ERA in 106 innings with 28 walks and 101 strikeouts. It seemed like a good pick. He looked like a pitcher with solid enough stuff and good numbers coming out of college. What has happened since then has been nothing short of incredible.
Lively has made 16 starts that have gone for 58 innings (he was limited to 2-4 innings in his debut season to keep his innings down after throwing 106 innings in college that year) since being drafted. His ERA is a mind boggling 0.78 where he has allowed just one home run. The right hander has walked just 13 hitters and has struck out 79. During the 2014 season he has allowed just one run in 17 innings, on a solo home run, without walking a batter and striking out 23 hitters.
What is behind the dominant numbers for Lively? Let’s take a look at the scouting report.
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In the second and third starts of the season Lively worked with his fastball in the 89-92 MPH range and was touching 94 from time to time. He was able to locate the pitch well, throwing it to all parts of the strikezone. Where he really stands out though is with the offspeed stuff. He throws an above-average slider, solid curveball and solid change up. And he can throw them all for strikes.
He gets solid deception on his pitches which allows them to play up some. When you have four average or better pitches and you can throw them all for strikes, it makes things really tough on hitters. As I wrote on draft day, I was a little concerned about his mechanics. After watching him last year and this year, he has been able to clean things up a little bit. He still hides the ball very well due to his mechanics, which as stated earlier, lets everything play up some. The mechanics still aren’t the smoothest ever and. Between hiding the ball, good stuff and control of four pitches, Lively has been able to dominate the minor leagues so far.
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