4/4/12: There may be no top high school prospect in the country who has come as far over the last year than Florida’s Zach Eflin. In April of 2011, Central Florida head coach Terry Rooney was probably cautiously optimistic that the 6-foot-5, 200-pound right hander would become part of his rapidly improving program in the fall of 2012. What was a 90-percent chance last April has turned into a 10-percent chance in April of 2012. It’s now Florida area scouts with picks from the middle to latter half of the first round who are cautiously optimistic that they will get a shot at the Hagerty High School senior.
Eflin’s improvement has been such that scouts have said that he’s now on par with Olympia High School RHP Walker Weickel, another tall hard throwing right hander from Central Florida thought to be a solid mid-first round possibility.
When Eflin threw at the 2011 Perfect Game National Showcase last June, he topped out at 89 mph with a 73 mph curveball and 75 mph change up, raw stuff that was consistent with how he’d thrown at past PG events. However, he had one notable mechanical flaw; he was opening up with his front side way too early and losing the balance and downhill leverage that his body afforded him from his high three-quarters release point. Not only did that affect his fastball, it left his hand and arm out of position to get over his curveball with any power, leaving him with a flat, soft breaking ball.
Whether it was the work of coach Jared Goodwin, who has the advantage of being Eflin’s coach at both Hagerty and during the summer/fall with FTB Mizuno, or something that just clicked with Eflin, his mechanics had changed considerably by early August. Eflin was staying closed much longer with his front side and even landing somewhat closed with his lead foot. At the East Coast Pro Showcase in Lakeland at the beginning of August, Eflin topped out at 92 mph with excellent life on his fastball and a much better curveball. Here are my notes from that event:
Tall, slow paced delivery, much more directional than at National, H 3/4's, works downhill, loose fast arm, some effort, long arms, big AS running action, same run on Chg, good CB spin, mixes it up well, 3 solid pitches.
A week later at the Area Code Games he showed the same stuff, and a few months later at the WWBA World Championships in Jupiter, it was even better. By then Eflin’s fastball sat steadily in the 92-94 mph area for four innings with a hammer of a 77 mph curveball.
Eflin has continued to build on that this spring. He’s topped out at 95 mph frequently and had a series of dominating double digit strikeout performances against top level competition. Eflin’s fastball has all the elements of being a true plus pitch. Not only does it have the velocity, but it also has excellent downhill angle to the plate plus very good late life both running into right handed hitters and occasionally cutting away. Eflin has also shown the ability to command the pitch to both sides of the plate and work down in the zone.
Both of Eflin’s secondary pitches will flash plus as well. His 77 mph curveball gets hard downer bite from his high three-quarters release point, and he maintains his arm speed very well on his changeup with similar life to his fastball. He has no hesitation in mixing up his pitches and using them in different sequences.
Eflin's rapid improvement is a friendly reminder that there is no one correct set of pitching mechanics (or hitting mechanics for that matter) that works for everyone. There also is no particular cure-all adjustment coaches can implement that will make every pitcher better. However, there are certain fundamentals that virtually all young players should strive to execute. Eflin found his adjustment and it unlocked his physical potential.
| Perfect Game USA's Player Rating System |
10 | Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect |
9 | Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect |
8 | Potential draft pick and/or excellent college prospect |
7 | College prospect, possible future draft pick with development |
6 | Potential college prospect |
5 | Possible College prospect and/or possible HS varsity |
4 | HS JV |
3 | Possible HS JV |
2 | No prospect at this time |
1 | The game is too dangerous |
