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General  | Professional | 12/9/2020

2020 PG Alum Debuts: AL Central

David Rawnsley
Photo: Alex Kirilloff (Perfect Game)

The 2020 Major League season was obviously unique for any number of reasons. One of the side effects of the expanded rosters, the taxi squads, the compacted schedule and the increased doubleheaders is what seemed like an exceptional number of Major League debuts, especially for what was only a 60-game schedule. The lack of a 2020 minor league season also makes it very difficult to predict who might be in position to make their big league debuts in what everyone hopes is a “normal” 2021 season.
 
In this six-part feature, we will look at some prominent Perfect Game Alumni who did make their Major League debuts in 2020 and speculate on which alumni will make the jump during the 2021 season. The schedule will be broken down by division and as follows:
 
Monday, November 30:  National League East
Wednesday, December 2:  National League Central
Friday, December 4:  National League West
Monday, December 7:  American League East
Wednesday, December 9:  American League Central
Friday, December 11:  American League West
 
(* denotes Perfect Game All-American)

 Notable 2020 Debuts
 
*RHP Beau Burrows (Tigers)
 
Burrows was one of the harder throwing members of the 2015 high school class, as the Weatherford, Texas, native routinely worked at 94-96 mph at Perfect Game events and pretty much had that mid-90s heat whenever he wanted it. His best breaking ball was a power downer curveball that would work up to 82 mph and he also had a pretty credible changeup for a young power pitcher. A 2014 PG All-American, Burrows was ranked 16th overall in the final 2015 class rankings and went 22nd overall to the Tigers in the draft. He passed on a Texas A&M scholarship and signed for a $2,154,200 bonus.
 
Burrows' path through the minors has been steady and for the most part healthy. His raw stuff has enabled him to average close to a strikeout per inning. Burrows had worked exclusively as a starter but worked five games in relief in his big league debut for the Tigers, throwing 6-plus innings without getting a decision.



*OF Dazmon Cameron (Tigers)
 
Cameron, the son of Gold Glove centerfielder Mike Cameron, was the most precocious player in the 2015 class, making his debut in Jupiter as a freshman and being ranked No. 1 in the 2015 class rankings for much of his high school career. He had a rare combination of athletic talent and polished skills at a young age to go with an enthusiasm for playing the game. A 2014 PG All-American, Cameron was edged out by future Colorado Rockie Brendan Rodgers for the top spot in the class rankings immediately before the draft.
 
With a scholarship to Florida State and a big bonus number, Cameron slid to the 37th pick in the draft and the Houston Astros, who had earlier in the draft selected Alex Bergman and Kyle Tucker in the top five picks and had an enormous bonus pool to deal from. They signed Cameron to a well over-slot $4M bonus. The Astros later traded Cameron to the Tigers as part of the package for Justin Verlander at the 2017 August trading deadline.
 
Now 23 years old, Cameron appeared in 17 games for the Tigers in 2020, hitting .193-0-3 while playing exclusively in right field defensively.
 
*LHP Foster Griffin (Royals)
 
Griffin was a long and loose 6-foot-5, 190-pound southpaw who worked in the 88-91 mph range for the most part until his senior year at The First Academy in Orlando, Florida, and for the Orlando Scorpions on the travel circuit. His best pitch was often an 80 mph changeup that had outstanding deception and life, while his curveball was still mostly in the development stage. Griffin pitched in the 2013 PG All-American Classic, topping out at 92 mph, but in his senior season saw his velocity tick up a couple of notches, occasionally touching the mid-90s. 
 
Perfect Game had Griffin ranked 13th overall in the final 2014 class rankings and the Royals made him the 11th high school player selected with the 28th overall pick, signing him away from Mississippi with a $1,925,000 bonus.
 
Griffin has been amazingly healthy since signing, starting 141 games from 2014-2019 and pitching all of 2019 in AAA. His career year came in 2017 when the then 21-year-old Griffin went 15-7, 3.35 in 28 starts and 161 innings between High A and AA. Unfortunately, his ERA for his other four full-season years has always been in the low 5.00s.
 
Griffin made a one-game big league debut in 2020, throwing one and two-thirds scoreless innings on his 25th birthday and picking up the win. 
 
*OF Derek Hill (Tigers)
 
Hill grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, but moved to Northern California early in high school, following the job changes of his father, Orsino Hill, a veteran professional scout who was working with the Dodgers then. He was perhaps the best defensive outfielder, if not player, in the 2014 class, with 6.4 speed to run down balls, outstanding route running ability and a strong throwing arm.  Hill’s catch at the 2013 PG National Showcase at the Metrodome in Minneapolis remains one of the most impressive defensive plays ever at a Perfect Game event. 
 
A 2013 Perfect Game All-American, Hill was ranked 27th overall in the class after hitting .500 with 29 steals at Elk Grove High School as a senior. The Tigers picked him 23rd overall, signing him out of an Oregon scholarship for an even $2M bonus.
 
The worry before scouts prior to the draft was what the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Hill’s offensive ceiling would be and how much strength he could gain. That has proven to be a legitimate worry, as Hill has only posted an OPS over .705 once in six minor league seasons while missing significant time with injuries. He did have his best year in 2019, spending the entire year in AA and hitting .243-14-45 with 21 steals, with the home run total easily eclipsing his five-year career total of nine.
 
Hill was called up to Detroit in early September after Tigers starting centerfielder Jacoby Jones was lost for the year with an injury and was used primary as a defensive replacement, appearing in 15 games and going 1-for-11 at the plate.
 
*OF Alex Kirilloff (Twins)
 
Kirilloff was a primary first baseman and secondary left-handed pitcher as a high school player in Pennsylvania and on the travel circuit with Baseball U but it was obvious at that point that he had the athleticism and tools, including 6.67 speed and a 92 mph throwing arm, to be a very good defensive outfielder, a transition he eventually made. But Kirilloff’s big tool all along was his bat. He had outstanding flow to his swing and the ball came off his bat differently than even other top prospects. He won the Rawlings Home Run Derby at the 2015 PG All-American Classic and was the eighth ranked overall prospect in the 2016 high school class at draft time.
 
The Twins picked Kirilloff with the 15th overall pick and signed him out of a Liberty scholarship with a $2,817,100 bonus. With his offensive polish, Kirilloff went straight to the Appalachian League after signing and excelled against older players as an 18-year old, hitting .306-7-33 in 55 games. Unfortunately, Kirilloff missed 2017 after undergoing TJ surgery but came back stronger than ever in 2018, hitting .348-20-100 with 44 doubles and establishing himself as one of the best young hitters in the game.
 
Kirilloff’s debut with the Twins in 2020 was a surprise, though, as he didn’t appear in a big league game during the shortened regular season. Minnesota trusted him enough to start him in a ALWC playoff game against Houston, where he went 1-4 and made a diving catch in the outfield. With the Twins non-tendering starting left fielder Eddie Rosario this off-season, Kirilloff appears to be a front runner to start the 2021 season in Minnesota.
 
*RHP Triston McKenzie (Indians)
 
McKenzie was somewhat of a unicorn prospect at Royal Palm Beach High School in Florida due to his size and build. He was listed at 6-foot-5, 160 pounds at the 2014 PG National Showcase, which was actually a jump up from the 6-foot-3, 140 pounds he had been listed at a year before when he was barely getting into the low-80s with his fastball. McKenzie’s 2014 PG National Report summed up everything well:
 
"Extremely slender narrow featured build, very long arms and legs, loose and coordinated in all his actions. Well-paced delivery, quick loose arm action, 3/4's arm slot, repeated delivery well and maintained stuff from the stretch. Fastball topped out at 92 mph, no telling how hard he will throw when stronger, has gained 10 mph in the last year, gets good tailing life on his fastball. Good power and spin to curveball, 11/5 shape with hard biting action. Plus life on a quality changeup. Three very good pitches and has an idea how to use them. Almost a unique prospect because of his body type combined with improvement over the last year and present/projectable stuff. High ceiling talent. Good student, verbal commitment to Vanderbilt. Selected for the Perfect Game All-American Classic."
 
It became obvious over the course of the summer that McKenzie wasn’t just projection, he had a very advanced ability to pitch successfully against even the best hitters in the country without his best stuff. If he did ever get strong, that combination of pitchability and stuff could be special.
 
The Indians agreed, picking McKenzie with the 42nd overall pick in the 2015 draft and signing him away from Vanderbilt for a $2,302,500 bonus. To few people’s surprise who had seen him throw in high school, McKenzie was immediately successful in pro ball even though he was still 17 years old when he signed. He posted rookie ball ERAs of 0.75 and 1.62 in his first two partial seasons and was 12-6, 3.46 with 186 strikeouts in 143 innings as a 19-year-old in 2018 in High A. 
 
McKenzie’s very successful big league debut in 2020 (2-1, 3.24, 42 Ks in 33 innings) was somewhat of a surprise, however, as McKenzie hadn’t pitched in a real game since mid-2018, missing time with forearm and upper back injuries and missing the entire 2019 season while rehabbing but never undergoing surgery.
 
RHP Casey Mize (Tigers)
 
Casual baseball fans probably wonder sometimes how a player can go from being undrafted out of high school to being the first overall pick three years later, as Mize did between 2015 and 2018. Did scouts miss something? What happened? 
 
With Mize, the story is actually pretty simple. He threw in nine Perfect Game tournaments while in high school, mostly with Team Georgia Baseball Academy and generally worked in the upper-80s with a soft slider and a changeup his last two years, topping out at 91-92 mph a couple of times. The biggest he was ever listed on a roster was 6-foot-3, 175 pounds. PG had him ranked 351st in the 2015 class when he graduated.
 
While at Auburn, Mize filled out to 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. His fastball went from 87-91 to 92-96 and higher and his slider and split-finger changeup became mid-80s power pitches. The command he did show in high school as a slender right-hander didn’t leave him with the additional strength, as he walked only 16 hitters, versus 156 strikeouts, in 114 innings as an Auburn junior.
 
Getting stronger and improving as an athlete is often a combination of genetics and work ethic. Mize certainly had both in his favor and he ended up benefiting with a $7.5M bonus and a quick promotion to the big leagues in 2020.
 
RHP Brady Singer (Royals)
 
A long and lean 6-foot-5, 180-pound right-hander from Central Florida, Singer was a regular at PG tournaments in his high school career pitching for Chet Lemon’s Juice. His report from the 2014 PG National Showcase was very prophetic about the path his pitching career would take:
 
"Long and slender prototypical projectable pitcher's build, lots of room to get stronger. Long loose arm, balanced high hand delivery, low to mid 3/4's arm slot, fairly up-tempo delivery, tends to land on a stiff front side. Fastball topped at 91 mph, maintained velocity well, lots of arm side running action, works fastball down in the zone well with life, ground ball pitcher. Sweeping low-70s curveball, tends to get around the pitch, flashes good spin and depth at times. Developing changeup, tends to slow arm on release. Has a feel for the strike zone, may evolve into a sinker/slider pitcher with the development of the slider."
 
Singer consistently worked in the 88-92 mph range until his senior spring, when he saw his fastball go into the low- to mid-90s and scouting interest jump. The Blue Jays gambled on Singer with a mid-second round pick but Singer didn’t sign and moved on to Florida. Using a new slider and plus command, Singer was hugely successful for the Gators, working out of the bullpen as a freshman before going 21-8 as a starter over his last two seasons. Scouts still had questions about his lower arm slot and overall mechanics but they couldn’t argue with the stuff, command or results. Kansas City didn’t, picking him with the 18th overall pick and signing him for a $4,247,500 bonus.
 
As expected with a very experienced, older pitcher with Singer’s track record, his minor league training was short and efficient, as Singer went 12-5, 2.85 between High A and AA in 2019 with basically the same ratios he showed in college. The Royals gave him 12 starts in the shortened 60-game season and he went 4-5, 4.06 in 64 innings and finished eighth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.
 
 
Potential 2021 Debuts
 
*SS Tyler Freeman (Indians)
 
Although he had solid physical tools in high school, including 6.77 speed and a 91 mph arm across the diamond, Freeman was a consummate performance-over-tools prospect, a type very common to Freeman’s native Southern California. He made nine All-Tournament teams playing for CBA Marucci, including being named the MVP of the 2015 PG Evoshield National Championship (Underclass) and was also a four-year starter at Etiwanda High School. Freeman played in the 2016 All-American Classic as well.
 
When Freeman hit .526-4-36 as a senior with only six strikeouts in 30 games, the scouts definitely noticed. The Indians especially like players with Freeman’s profile and they picked him with the 71st overall pick late in the first round and signed him out from a Texas Christian scholarship for a $816,500 bonus. 
 
Freeman, not surprisingly, has performed since he first walked on a professional field. He hit .352 as a 19-year old in the college age New York-Penn League in 2018 and hit .306-3-44 with 32 doubles and 19 steals evenly distributed between A levels in 2019 while playing solid defense at shortstop.
 
Freeman’s short-term future regarding a promotion to play shortstop for the Indians obviously depends on what the team does, if anything, with All-Star incumbent Francisco Lindor. But Freeman is clearly their top and most experienced shortstop prospect and it is almost a given at this point that he’s going to perform to start the 2021 season regardless of what level he starts at.
 
*3B Nolan Jones (Indians)
 
A native of Pennsylvania, Jones was on the prospect map early in his high school career as a two-way prospect with an extremely projectable build and the added advantage of being a left-handed hitting infielder.  His report from the 2015 PG National Showcase pretty much summarized everything:
 
"Long and lean athletic frame, very projectable physically. 6.91 runner, is very smooth and fluid in his athletic actions defensively, light on his feet, works through the ball well at shortstop, arm works very well, gets on top of his throws and the ball comes out of his hand easily, has the tools and skills to stay at shortstop even as he matures physically. Left handed hitter, spread stance with a simple and short shift into contact, keeps his hands in and has a short and direct swing, works the middle of the field but showed the hand quickness and bat speed to turn on the ball and pull it with authority when needed. Potential two-way prospect if he concentrated on pitching, multi-part delivery with a long, loose 3/4s arm action, fastball to 90 mph with good sink down in the zone, flashes hard spin on his curveball, have heard reports of mid-90s velocity and don't doubt it is in there. High level athlete who will continue to improve. Verbal commitment to Virginia. Named to the Perfect Game All-American Classic team."
 
Jones was ranked 16th in the final 2016 high school class rankings and slid a bit due to his strong commitment to Virginia. The Indians paid up, however, picking Jones in the middle of the second round and signing him to a well above slot $2,250,000 bonus.
 
Cleveland moved the 6-foot-4 Jones almost immediately to third base, figuring it was inevitable he eventually move there as he filled out and that they had more-than-ample shortstop talent in the organization. Jones advanced to AA as a 21-year-old in 2019 and has proven to be one of the most patient hitters in minor league baseball, walking 96 times in 2019 to go with a .272-15-62 baseline.  With potential plus defensive ability and plenty of left-handed power still to come, Jones is a very high ceiling prospect.
 
*SS Royce Lewis (Twins)
 
Lewis didn’t stray far from Southern California as a prep player, only attending the 2015 PG Underclass All-American Games, the 2016 PG National Showcase and the 2016 PG All-American Classic, the first and last of those held in San Diego, about two hours from his home. His reputation as a potential five-tool athlete was well established, though, as was the impression of Lewis as having an exemplary work ethic.
 
There was another SoCal high school player who did get more hype than Lewis, however, and that was two-way standout Hunter Greene. Greene entered the 2017 draft as the No. 1 player on the PG HS list, with Kentucky outfielder Jordan “Jo” Adell No. 2 and Lewis third. The Twins saw things differently, picking Lewis first overall and signing him out of his scholarship to nearby Cal-Irvine with a $6,725,000 bonus.
 
Young for his class, Lewis played 2018 as a 19-year-old and hit .292-14-74 with 28 stolen bases between the two A levels. He struggled with the bat more while reaching AA in 2019 but made adjustments and came back to hit .353-3-20 in 22 Arizona Fall League games following the regular season while playing positions aside from shortstop, third base and centerfield, for the first time professionally. There has long been talk of Lewis eventually moving off shortstop, with centerfield being the primary potential landing spot, but having additional defensive versatility certainly can help in moving forward his big league debut.
 
*RHP Matt Manning (Tigers)
 
Like Lewis above, Manning stayed close to his Sacramento, California, home for much of high school but unlike Lewis, had no place on the national baseball prospect map coming out of his junior year. Part of this was simply due to Manning being a primary basketball player at that age. His father, Rich, played in the NBA and the 6-foot-6 Manning already had a two-way scholarship to Loyola Marymount in hand for both sports.
 
Perfect Game caught up to Manning at the 2015 17U PG World Series in mid-July in Arizona well after the rosters for the 2015 PG All-American Classic had been chosen. It was obvious, however, that Manning and his 91-95 mph fastball and extreme athleticism belonged in the game and he was a late addition. He came back in the fall for the Evoshield Canes and was named the Most Valuable Pitcher at the 2015 WWBA World Championships for his role in helping the Canes to the championship.
 
Manning struck out 77 hitters in 40 innings as a senior at Sheldon High School, along with hitting .493, and was occasionally touching 98-99 mph while continuing to throw plenty of strikes and also improving his curveball. Perfect Game had him ninth in the 2016 high school class rankings and he was actually the fifth high schooler picked, going ninth overall to the Tigers, who gave him a $3,963,045 bonus.
 
He has been outstanding as a professional and established himself as one of the top young pitching prospects in baseball. Manning went 11-5, 2.56 with 148 strikeouts in 133 innings versus only 93 hits allowed as a 21-year-old in AA in 2019 and would have likely made his big league debut in 2020 under normal circumstances.
 
1B Spencer Torkelson (Tigers)
 
While Torkelson was the obvious first overall pick in the 2020 draft and should make his debut sooner rather than later as a very polished college slugger joining one of the weakest offenses in Major League baseball, he was anything but a projected future first round pick out of Casa Grande High School in California.
 
A big and strong athlete at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds back in high school, Torkelson was a two-sport standout who also rushed for nearly 2,000 yards in his career as a running back. He started all four years in high school, even hitting .429 as a freshman, but his power didn’t develop until his senior year, when he hit .481-7-43.  He played in the 2016 PG National Showcase as a primary third baseman, although his arm strength was marginal for that position moving forward. He was an offense first player and the report on his bat from that even read, "Strong and well-proportioned athletic build. Right-handed hitter, very spread stance, keeps his hands tight to his body during his swing, good shift and lower half torque, quick hands and generates bat speed with strength at contact, pull approach with solid power."
 
Torkelson went to Arizona State and quickly became the most feared power hitter in the college game, hitting 25 bombs as a freshman and 23 as a sophomore while standing out for the USA Collegiate Team. His pandemic-shortened junior year was shaping up to be more the same, although pitchers had basically decided to stop pitching to Torkelson, as he walked 31 times in 17 games.
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Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 66
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