I had the chance to follow left-handed pitcher Chris Sale in the Northwoods League last summer, who is currently enjoying a very fine summer pitching in the Cape Cod League. He was recently named the most valuable player for the East squad during the league’s all-star game at Fenway Park, and is first in the circuit in strikeouts (53) and innings pitched (52), is tied for first in wins (four) and is fifth in ERA (1.56).
The tall lefty oozes of projectability, built rail-thin at 6’6” and listed at 172 pounds. His draft stock for the 2010 draft continues to improve as he continues to impress on the big stage of college baseball, and it doesn’t hurt that he has improved his mechanics, which has improved his consistency, while throwing in the low-90s, touching 95, and also showcasing a wipeout slider as part of his power arsenal.
Despite finishing last summer second in the Northwoods League in strikeouts with 74, he didn’t receive a lot of support as one of the league’s top prospects. He was throwing in the 89-91 range for most of the summer, including his appearance during that circuit’s all-star contest, with the same killer breaking ball. Coaches and scouts didn’t get as good of a chance to see him pitch, since of his 15 appearances, only six of those came in a starting role. His velocity did peak in the 92-93 range, although it also dipped to the 86-89 range on occasion.
He began his college career at Florida Gulf Coast University used primarily as a reliever during his freshman year before being moved to a starting role during the 2009 season. His ankles and wrists are so thin it looks as though a stiff breeze could knock him over, and as mentioned above, his mechanics haven’t always been clean as he continues to hone his pitching craft.
The fact that he’s a tall, athletic lefty that continues to improve is putting his name in the mix as a legitimate first-round pick for next June’s draft. You don’t see too many lefties from the college ranks that consistently throw in the 90s that don’t get drafted in the first round.
Physically he is somewhat similar to the Space Needle, Ryan Anderson, and like Anderson he will need to work hard to put on weight and added strength while maintaining his mechanics since he has a lot of extra limbs to control.
His low, three-quarters delivery offers a fair amount of deception as well, and he has an aggressive approach on the mound, challenging hitters early in the count as evidenced by his six-pitch third inning, leading him to taking all-star honors for his squad. Sale recorded two groundouts and a punchout in his inning of work, proving that his fastball was hard to drive and his slider was nearly impossible to hit.
Arguably the biggest improvement to Sale’s game this summer has been his command, as he has only issued nine walks in his 52 innings of work after walking 30 in 53 innings last summer. The overall improvement of his game has him poised to not only finish this summer strong, but enter the 2010 season poised to have one of the best years of any college pitcher.
Other all-star impressions
Allan Simpson did a fine job covering the rain-shortened all-star contest played at Fenway Park, as well as providing other observations during his time spent on the Cape. Be sure to read those entires if you haven’t already, and I’m going to chime in with a few thoughts of my own on a few of the players that stood out to me, albeit in limited action.
Todd Cunningham needs to be mentioned first, a great looking athlete that looks as though he still has plenty of room to add more strength as he continues to mature. He’s a potential five-tool, switch-hitting outfielder from Jacksonville State that is currently leading the league in batting (.405), hits (53), on-base percentage (.477) and is second in slugging (.519) and runs scored (27). I was impressed by his patient approach at the plate and his quick swing from both sides. He’s more of a gap hitter than a pure bopper, and doesn’t have blinding speed, but he does have 20-20 potential with the ability to hit 30-40 doubles with his fair share of triples hitting towards the top of a lineup.
Arkansas third baseman Zach Cox is the league’s best hitter, with a great approach at the plate as a left-handed hitter and easy power potential. The RBI triple he hit in the first inning of the all-star game against UCLA lefty Rob Rasmussen took off of his bat and sailed over centerfielder Gary Brown’s head. A draft-eligible sophomore next year, it will be interesting to see if he is indeed drafted early in next June’s draft. I’m not as convinced about his defensive future having seen him play this spring and during the Razorbacks run at Omaha, but his bat is going to earn him his paycheck.
Like Cunningham, Georgia outfielder Zach Cone was also an impressive looking athlete, and showed off some really nice speed both down the line, nearly beating out what appeared to be a routine grounder to the shortstop, while also legging out a hustling double on a base hit to shallow right-centerfield. Cone has the ability to play the infield as well, although he really needs to work on cutting down his strikeouts, currently with 37 for Cotuit after racking up 25 playing in a part-time role for the Bulldogs this spring.
Similar to last year, a pair of first basemen offered a nice surprise for me having never seen them play before. The West squad’s Ryan Cuneo of Delaware showed a really balanced swing and a stance that reminded me of former big-leaguer John Olerud. Cuneo also resembles former Long Beach State first baseman Shane Peterson, who starred in the Cape just a couple of short years ago. With a smooth left-handed swing and patient approach, I will certainly be watching Cuneo between now and next June to see how his game progresses.
The East’s starting first baseman, local favorite Mickey Wiswall of Boston College showed promise in the batter’s box with a short, compact yet powerful swing and a pretty slick glove around the first base bag. Wiswall led the Golden Eagles in RBI this past spring, and finished tied for first on the club in home runs with 14 with the fourth overall pick in this past year’s draft, catcher Tony Sanchez.
Wake Forest catcher Mike Murray looks like a seasoned MLB veteran, not a 20-something year old coming off of his sophomore year in college. With a big, hulking frame, you can tell he takes pride in his craft behind the dish, and was a few feet shy of a towering home run to right field before taking a wicked breaking ball for a called third strike from Dallas Vallant.
I didn’t get a chance to see Brandon Workman pitch since the game started earlier than scheduled due to the rain, but it was nice to hear that he was just as impressive this year as he was during the same contest a year ago.
San Diego righty and former Aflac All-American Kyle Blair continues to perplex me. He recently was named the Cape’s pitcher of the week with an impressive complete game effort over Bourne the week leading up to the all-star break. And he looked good early, quickly recording two outs before losing his control and giving up a run. Consistency continues to be his biggest problem, as he can be really good when he’s on, and he could be one of the nation’s best pitchers heading into his junior year if he can maintain his focus better from pitch-to-pitch.
In addition to Sale and Workman, Jack Armstrong was the third pitcher that looked the most impressive during the all-star contest. I remember being impressed with him in high school, when he picked up the win in the 2007 Aflac All-American Classic by pitching the final two innings of the game for the East Squad. I even <a href=”http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/Articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=379”>noted in my impressions at the time</a> that he was my favorite player from that event just for the way he pitched, even if he wasn’t throwing pure gas.
Now he is.
He was clocked as high as 97, touched 95 and 96 a few others times, and showed the same nasty curveball that he did at the Aflac game two years ago. Built super-tall with long legs and a high waist, it’s easy to see where he generates his velocity from. He even mixed in a nice looking, fading changeup, giving him a very good three-pitch mix.
Vanderbilt once again is going to have some promising young power arms to turn to next spring, thanks to Armstrong’s newfound velocity and Sonny Gray’s power arm, as the Commodores will continue to be one of the programs that I keep a closer eye on.
The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.