A somewhat forgotten prospect
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:41 pm
Jeremy Jeffress, our 1st round HS flame thrower is pitching pretty well this year. He's only in low A ball, but he's also only 19.
Last year he really struggled in rookie ball:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/ ... ress.shtml
He didn't give up an HRs and he had a solid K9, but he walked 25 guys in only 33 IP; yikes!
This year his ERA is way down, his K9 is down only slightly, and his BB9 has been reduced from 6.68 to 5.1.
http://tinyurl.com/3253sh
Given the fact that he was such a major project coming out of HS, I'm very encouraged by the fact that he seems to be getting a much better handle on his control, which was the main concern when he was drafted. His HR9 is a little high as well, but that should also come down as he (hopefully) increases his control and makes less mistake pitches.
He'll likely be on a similar track as Gallardo, who pitched mainly in rookie ball at 18 and then got 7 IP in A ball at the end of the year in which he got rocked (10 ER in his lone game).
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this season goes and how he handles high A ball next year and AA (most likely) as a 20 year old. Getting another #1 starter type to come through the system would be great.
Hopefully, unlike Inman, he doesn't struggle in AA, where a lot of pitching prospects have a hard time. From the looks of it, HRs have been Inman's main problem in AA. Hopefully he can get that worked out. His BA against is also quite high considering his very solid K9. Maybe he's just giving up too many long balls and overall has had some bad luck with balls in play finding an open spot. A high BABIP and a HR9 that is way too high will kill a pitchers ERA.
http://tinyurl.com/2tpaae
Last year he really struggled in rookie ball:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/ ... ress.shtml
He didn't give up an HRs and he had a solid K9, but he walked 25 guys in only 33 IP; yikes!
This year his ERA is way down, his K9 is down only slightly, and his BB9 has been reduced from 6.68 to 5.1.
http://tinyurl.com/3253sh
Given the fact that he was such a major project coming out of HS, I'm very encouraged by the fact that he seems to be getting a much better handle on his control, which was the main concern when he was drafted. His HR9 is a little high as well, but that should also come down as he (hopefully) increases his control and makes less mistake pitches.
He'll likely be on a similar track as Gallardo, who pitched mainly in rookie ball at 18 and then got 7 IP in A ball at the end of the year in which he got rocked (10 ER in his lone game).
It will be interesting to see how the rest of this season goes and how he handles high A ball next year and AA (most likely) as a 20 year old. Getting another #1 starter type to come through the system would be great.
Hopefully, unlike Inman, he doesn't struggle in AA, where a lot of pitching prospects have a hard time. From the looks of it, HRs have been Inman's main problem in AA. Hopefully he can get that worked out. His BA against is also quite high considering his very solid K9. Maybe he's just giving up too many long balls and overall has had some bad luck with balls in play finding an open spot. A high BABIP and a HR9 that is way too high will kill a pitchers ERA.
http://tinyurl.com/2tpaae
