Scouting Cam Schlittler, Konnor Griffin, Justin Crawford, Vance Honeycutt and more
New York Times6 days ago
The Yankees are calling up Cam Schlittler to make his major-league debut on Tuesday night against Seattle, replacing Clarke Schmidt in their rotation. They're doing so after one of the worst outings of Schlittler's professional career, which came for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 2 at Lehigh Valley. He gave up seven runs in the third inning before departing with one out, and looked like he gave up before he even left the game.
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Schlittler was 95-98 in his outing at Lehigh Valley, throwing his 89-93 mph cutter as often as he did the four-seamer, mixing in a handful of sweepers and curveballs as well. Beyond the fastball's velocity, he didn't have anything that was even above-average, and the second time through the order he got hit around, without much help behind him — the inning started with a groundball single and a runner reaching on an error by the shortstop, after which Schlittler gave up a bunt single, a non-competitive walk, and then a first-pitch grand slam to Payton Henry on a hanging sweeper that didn't sweep. The homer was loud, but it was the only hard contact of the inning. After the grand slam, Schlittler started looking into the dugout repeatedly, which I interpreted as him hoping the manager was going to come to the mound and take him out of the game.
Schlittler's tall and lean with an arm slot a little above three-quarters and a slight cutoff in his landing, all of which contributes to his tendency to pitch much more to his arm side. He barely threw anything at all inside to lefties and he doesn't have a changeup or splitter to keep them off the heater. He's had no platoon split at all this year, however, so he's getting it done some other way — just not in this start. I can see the starter profile here, but without an out-pitch he looks more like a back-end guy, and I worry he'll be homer-prone or at least prone to hard contact in the majors.
Phillies outfield prospect Justin Crawford had a couple of hits for Lehigh Valley in the July 2 game and showed some real judgment at the plate, but man, I don't know why or how he is still hitting with his hands starting out so high. It's why he's still rocking a 61 percent groundball rate, despite plenty of strength to hit for some real in-game power. He's currently hitting .343/.416/.451, so I suppose it seems odd to complain about his swing, but you can see there's no power in there — and that his slugging percentage is inflated by his speed grabbing some extra bases.
Yankees outfield prospect Spencer Jones homered on a hanging curveball, with an EV of 108 mph, and walked a couple of times, while whiffing on several better breaking balls in the July 2 game.
He's changed his stance to try to mimic Aaron Judge, which, OK, but I don't think that addresses the giant holes in his approach. He's struck out 12 times in 40 PA since his promotion to Triple A, for a 30 percent K-rate, with the benefit of the ABS challenge system (which has produced higher walk rates and lower strikeout rates at that level compared to Double A).
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He's still got elite power and is a great athlete, but it's a 40 hit tool (on the 20-80 scouting scale).
I've gotten a lot of questions about Yankees infielder/catcher Jesus Rodriguez, as he's hit .315/.412/.407 for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, splitting time between the backstop and third base. He was at the hot corner in this game and played it well, with really good hands, even though he's got a catcher's body with a thicker lower half and doesn't look that quick off his feet.
He's got a flat swing that's geared towards contact of any sort; he had two hits in this game, neither hard-hit, and he struck out twice. He doesn't have much power and the swing isn't going to put the ball in the air much at all. If he can catch, he's at least a little bit interesting, but his bat isn't going to play at third base, even if his body allows it.
Yankees outfield prospect Everson Pereira is pretty much stuck in neutral at this point. He's got power and is a plus defender, but breaking stuff has killed him this year. I did see him get a pair of hits on sliders in this game, including a 'double' off the top of the center field wall — I think it was out — that he hit off a slider down and away, but on the year he's whiffed 47 percent of the time he's swung at breaking pitches of all types. Maybe a change of scenery helps him; there's a decent extra outfielder in here if he can reduce that very clear weakness.
The Phillies picked up right-hander Ryan Cusick, a first-rounder back in 2021, off waivers at the end of June, and I caught his Triple-A debut, where he threw a scoreless inning. He was 94-96 on the four-seamer, 90-91 on the sinker, with an occasional slider, and was sort of around the plate, enough to say maybe he could pop up later this year as the last man in the major-league bullpen. Then he gave up a five-spot on Sunday, so maybe not.
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Over the weekend, I saw the Pirates' High-A affiliate, Greensboro, play a pair of games at Aberdeen. It allowed me to get my first extended look at the Pirates 2024 first-rounder, shortstop Konnor Griffin.
He struck out three times on Saturday, cutting right through 91-92 in the zone, then had three hits on Sunday, one of them a hard-hit double the other way against a reliever in the ninth inning, along with a bunt attempt he popped right up to the pitcher. (Whoever called for that bunt should walk the plank.)
Griffin still bars his lead arm, making up for it right now because he starts his hands so quickly and is strong enough to rip the bat through the zone, but I worry about him adjusting against better pitchers who can change speeds more on him where he's already committed to a path because of that locked elbow.
He was substantially better at shortstop than I expected, with a quick first step and good hands, along with the plus-plus arm he showed as a pitcher in high school. Sunday's game was a pitching debacle; the final score was 13-7 and Greensboro had 15 hits and drew five walks.
Griffin's performance this year has been incredible for a teenager from Mississippi whose biggest question as an amateur was whether he could hit at all. There are some reasons for caution going forward, and I hope the Pirates let him spend most or all of the summer in High A rather than rushing him to Double-A Altoona.
Shortstop Javier Rivas took over the six spot on Sunday, with Griffin DHing, and ended up with a four-hit day that included a grand slam on a hanging slider and a hustle double on a bloop to right. He's 6-foot-6 and strong, too big for shortstop, and he's super-aggressive at the plate, with a 44 percent chase rate on the season and just 16 walks in 302 PA. The power is legit and he actually has a better approach than you might expect, enough that he could end up a good utility infielder held back by sub-.300 OBPs.
Right-handed pitching prospect Carlson Reed started Sunday's game, but he didn't look right at all as he continues to try to return from a back injury that cost him the first month and a half of this season. Reed topped out at 93, sat 89-91, with poor command and nothing above-average. He faced 12 batters, recording just five outs, walking four and allowing two homers.
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The Pirates acquired Keiner Delgado from the Yankees last year for JT Brubaker, and the fun-sized infielder — Delgado is listed at 5-7, 145, although that weight has to be very old — has bounced back from a bad 2024 season to hit .247/.370/.411 as a 21-year-old in High A. He looked really good at third base — you might call it Keiner's corner — with excellent hands and a surprisingly strong arm. He's a switch-hitter but I only saw him hit left-handed, where he's got a short swing that's all about putting the bat on the ball in any way he can. A couple of sliders coming in towards his shins got him, while he inside-outed a couple of balls in but more up towards his midsection. He might be a utility infielder of a different sort than Rivas, one who makes contact and gets on base but without much power.
Outfield prospect Lonnie White, Jr. is still striking out 37.7 percent of the time, repeating High A this year at age 22, but this is the first time I've seen him look fully healthy since his draft year back in 2021. He is moving and running well, showing some bat speed again, and hitting .237/.335/.424. There's almost no chance a hitter with this kind of whiff rate sees real major-league time; I mention him because he's missed so many games with injuries that it's notable that he's doing anything at all this year, and at least now I could see him getting to Triple A and hanging around as a solid defensive center fielder with some pop.
The Orioles' 2024 draft class is off to about as bad of a start as you can imagine, particularly the hitters they took to start off the group. I've seen that quintet — Vance Honeycutt, Griff O'Ferrall, Ethan Anderson, Austin Overn and Ryan Stafford — several times this year, and I don't think any of them is more than an up-and-down guy right now.
Honeycutt, the first-rounder, did homer on Sunday, just his third of the year, but it was a high pop fly to left that the wind carried out. He just doesn't seem to see the ball at all out of the pitcher's hand, and has struck out in 40 percent of his PA this year.
O'Ferrall is the most mystifying one to me, as he continues to try to lift and pull everything when that's not the type of hitter he is — he's not built like that, and has the contact skills to hit for some average by using the whole field and eschewing power.
I think at this point the best prospect from their 2024 draft is outfielder Nate George, a high schooler they selected in the 16th round about whom I wrote a few weeks ago, and who is one of their only 2024 picks who's performing this year.
Baltimore took right-hander Carter Baumler in the 2020 draft and paid him well over slot to buy him out of a scholarship to TCU, using some of the savings from going well under slot at the second pick with Heston Kjerstad. (They used the rest of the savings to sign Coby Mayo.) Baumler has been hurt more than he's been healthy, undergoing Tommy John surgery before he ever threw a professional pitch, then throwing just 11 2/3 innings in his pro debut in 2022.
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He's at 71 1/3 career innings now, but the good news is the stuff is pretty good for a reliever, 94-95 with at least an average curveball, and the delivery works enough for him to get to 45 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) or maybe eventually 50 control. His 22 1/3 innings this year is a career high, but I'd just keep moving him up the system while he's healthy, especially since they'll have to decide whether to protect him this winter from the Rule 5 draft.
Right-handed pitching prospect Zach Fruit started Saturday's game for Aberdeen, his first appearance since he went on the IL in Double A in late April with a lat strain. He was 94-98 with a cutter and slider, good extension to get the ball in on hitters quickly, but the stuff slipped a little across the board in the fourth inning, after which they pulled him. Right-hander Michael Forret replaced him and was 94-96 with a meh slider and more-meh changeup, cutting himself off very badly in his delivery. He left the game due to an unknown injury — he was hit in the leg by a comebacker in his first inning, but stayed in long enough to face 10 batters. Both project as relievers, with Fruit the better of the two.
I've mentioned Aron Estrada before, but the Orioles infielder is probably always going to be underrated, at least until he starts showing some power. He's a good hitter, though, with a smart approach and pretty simple swing that puts the ball in play a ton. He started Sunday's game, dead-pulled a homer to right (without the benefit of the wind) on a 91-mph fastball, and then later smoked a ball to the center field warning track. He's played six positions for Aberdeen this year, mostly second base and left field, and he's at least a 55 runner. He's going to play in the majors, maybe always as a backup, but I bet he sticks around for a while, and since he won't turn 21 until January he does have time (if not a lot of projection) to add a little more strength.
(Top photo of Schlittler: George Kubas / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
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Schlittler was 95-98 in his outing at Lehigh Valley, throwing his 89-93 mph cutter as often as he did the four-seamer, mixing in a handful of sweepers and curveballs as well. Beyond the fastball's velocity, he didn't have anything that was even above-average, and the second time through the order he got hit around, without much help behind him — the inning started with a groundball single and a runner reaching on an error by the shortstop, after which Schlittler gave up a bunt single, a non-competitive walk, and then a first-pitch grand slam to Payton Henry on a hanging sweeper that didn't sweep. The homer was loud, but it was the only hard contact of the inning. After the grand slam, Schlittler started looking into the dugout repeatedly, which I interpreted as him hoping the manager was going to come to the mound and take him out of the game.
Schlittler's tall and lean with an arm slot a little above three-quarters and a slight cutoff in his landing, all of which contributes to his tendency to pitch much more to his arm side. He barely threw anything at all inside to lefties and he doesn't have a changeup or splitter to keep them off the heater. He's had no platoon split at all this year, however, so he's getting it done some other way — just not in this start. I can see the starter profile here, but without an out-pitch he looks more like a back-end guy, and I worry he'll be homer-prone or at least prone to hard contact in the majors.
Phillies outfield prospect Justin Crawford had a couple of hits for Lehigh Valley in the July 2 game and showed some real judgment at the plate, but man, I don't know why or how he is still hitting with his hands starting out so high. It's why he's still rocking a 61 percent groundball rate, despite plenty of strength to hit for some real in-game power. He's currently hitting .343/.416/.451, so I suppose it seems odd to complain about his swing, but you can see there's no power in there — and that his slugging percentage is inflated by his speed grabbing some extra bases.
Yankees outfield prospect Spencer Jones homered on a hanging curveball, with an EV of 108 mph, and walked a couple of times, while whiffing on several better breaking balls in the July 2 game.
He's changed his stance to try to mimic Aaron Judge, which, OK, but I don't think that addresses the giant holes in his approach. He's struck out 12 times in 40 PA since his promotion to Triple A, for a 30 percent K-rate, with the benefit of the ABS challenge system (which has produced higher walk rates and lower strikeout rates at that level compared to Double A).
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He's still got elite power and is a great athlete, but it's a 40 hit tool (on the 20-80 scouting scale).
I've gotten a lot of questions about Yankees infielder/catcher Jesus Rodriguez, as he's hit .315/.412/.407 for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, splitting time between the backstop and third base. He was at the hot corner in this game and played it well, with really good hands, even though he's got a catcher's body with a thicker lower half and doesn't look that quick off his feet.
He's got a flat swing that's geared towards contact of any sort; he had two hits in this game, neither hard-hit, and he struck out twice. He doesn't have much power and the swing isn't going to put the ball in the air much at all. If he can catch, he's at least a little bit interesting, but his bat isn't going to play at third base, even if his body allows it.
Yankees outfield prospect Everson Pereira is pretty much stuck in neutral at this point. He's got power and is a plus defender, but breaking stuff has killed him this year. I did see him get a pair of hits on sliders in this game, including a 'double' off the top of the center field wall — I think it was out — that he hit off a slider down and away, but on the year he's whiffed 47 percent of the time he's swung at breaking pitches of all types. Maybe a change of scenery helps him; there's a decent extra outfielder in here if he can reduce that very clear weakness.
The Phillies picked up right-hander Ryan Cusick, a first-rounder back in 2021, off waivers at the end of June, and I caught his Triple-A debut, where he threw a scoreless inning. He was 94-96 on the four-seamer, 90-91 on the sinker, with an occasional slider, and was sort of around the plate, enough to say maybe he could pop up later this year as the last man in the major-league bullpen. Then he gave up a five-spot on Sunday, so maybe not.
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Over the weekend, I saw the Pirates' High-A affiliate, Greensboro, play a pair of games at Aberdeen. It allowed me to get my first extended look at the Pirates 2024 first-rounder, shortstop Konnor Griffin.
He struck out three times on Saturday, cutting right through 91-92 in the zone, then had three hits on Sunday, one of them a hard-hit double the other way against a reliever in the ninth inning, along with a bunt attempt he popped right up to the pitcher. (Whoever called for that bunt should walk the plank.)
Griffin still bars his lead arm, making up for it right now because he starts his hands so quickly and is strong enough to rip the bat through the zone, but I worry about him adjusting against better pitchers who can change speeds more on him where he's already committed to a path because of that locked elbow.
He was substantially better at shortstop than I expected, with a quick first step and good hands, along with the plus-plus arm he showed as a pitcher in high school. Sunday's game was a pitching debacle; the final score was 13-7 and Greensboro had 15 hits and drew five walks.
Griffin's performance this year has been incredible for a teenager from Mississippi whose biggest question as an amateur was whether he could hit at all. There are some reasons for caution going forward, and I hope the Pirates let him spend most or all of the summer in High A rather than rushing him to Double-A Altoona.
Shortstop Javier Rivas took over the six spot on Sunday, with Griffin DHing, and ended up with a four-hit day that included a grand slam on a hanging slider and a hustle double on a bloop to right. He's 6-foot-6 and strong, too big for shortstop, and he's super-aggressive at the plate, with a 44 percent chase rate on the season and just 16 walks in 302 PA. The power is legit and he actually has a better approach than you might expect, enough that he could end up a good utility infielder held back by sub-.300 OBPs.
Right-handed pitching prospect Carlson Reed started Sunday's game, but he didn't look right at all as he continues to try to return from a back injury that cost him the first month and a half of this season. Reed topped out at 93, sat 89-91, with poor command and nothing above-average. He faced 12 batters, recording just five outs, walking four and allowing two homers.
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The Pirates acquired Keiner Delgado from the Yankees last year for JT Brubaker, and the fun-sized infielder — Delgado is listed at 5-7, 145, although that weight has to be very old — has bounced back from a bad 2024 season to hit .247/.370/.411 as a 21-year-old in High A. He looked really good at third base — you might call it Keiner's corner — with excellent hands and a surprisingly strong arm. He's a switch-hitter but I only saw him hit left-handed, where he's got a short swing that's all about putting the bat on the ball in any way he can. A couple of sliders coming in towards his shins got him, while he inside-outed a couple of balls in but more up towards his midsection. He might be a utility infielder of a different sort than Rivas, one who makes contact and gets on base but without much power.
Outfield prospect Lonnie White, Jr. is still striking out 37.7 percent of the time, repeating High A this year at age 22, but this is the first time I've seen him look fully healthy since his draft year back in 2021. He is moving and running well, showing some bat speed again, and hitting .237/.335/.424. There's almost no chance a hitter with this kind of whiff rate sees real major-league time; I mention him because he's missed so many games with injuries that it's notable that he's doing anything at all this year, and at least now I could see him getting to Triple A and hanging around as a solid defensive center fielder with some pop.
The Orioles' 2024 draft class is off to about as bad of a start as you can imagine, particularly the hitters they took to start off the group. I've seen that quintet — Vance Honeycutt, Griff O'Ferrall, Ethan Anderson, Austin Overn and Ryan Stafford — several times this year, and I don't think any of them is more than an up-and-down guy right now.
Honeycutt, the first-rounder, did homer on Sunday, just his third of the year, but it was a high pop fly to left that the wind carried out. He just doesn't seem to see the ball at all out of the pitcher's hand, and has struck out in 40 percent of his PA this year.
O'Ferrall is the most mystifying one to me, as he continues to try to lift and pull everything when that's not the type of hitter he is — he's not built like that, and has the contact skills to hit for some average by using the whole field and eschewing power.
I think at this point the best prospect from their 2024 draft is outfielder Nate George, a high schooler they selected in the 16th round about whom I wrote a few weeks ago, and who is one of their only 2024 picks who's performing this year.
Baltimore took right-hander Carter Baumler in the 2020 draft and paid him well over slot to buy him out of a scholarship to TCU, using some of the savings from going well under slot at the second pick with Heston Kjerstad. (They used the rest of the savings to sign Coby Mayo.) Baumler has been hurt more than he's been healthy, undergoing Tommy John surgery before he ever threw a professional pitch, then throwing just 11 2/3 innings in his pro debut in 2022.
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He's at 71 1/3 career innings now, but the good news is the stuff is pretty good for a reliever, 94-95 with at least an average curveball, and the delivery works enough for him to get to 45 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) or maybe eventually 50 control. His 22 1/3 innings this year is a career high, but I'd just keep moving him up the system while he's healthy, especially since they'll have to decide whether to protect him this winter from the Rule 5 draft.
Right-handed pitching prospect Zach Fruit started Saturday's game for Aberdeen, his first appearance since he went on the IL in Double A in late April with a lat strain. He was 94-98 with a cutter and slider, good extension to get the ball in on hitters quickly, but the stuff slipped a little across the board in the fourth inning, after which they pulled him. Right-hander Michael Forret replaced him and was 94-96 with a meh slider and more-meh changeup, cutting himself off very badly in his delivery. He left the game due to an unknown injury — he was hit in the leg by a comebacker in his first inning, but stayed in long enough to face 10 batters. Both project as relievers, with Fruit the better of the two.
I've mentioned Aron Estrada before, but the Orioles infielder is probably always going to be underrated, at least until he starts showing some power. He's a good hitter, though, with a smart approach and pretty simple swing that puts the ball in play a ton. He started Sunday's game, dead-pulled a homer to right (without the benefit of the wind) on a 91-mph fastball, and then later smoked a ball to the center field warning track. He's played six positions for Aberdeen this year, mostly second base and left field, and he's at least a 55 runner. He's going to play in the majors, maybe always as a backup, but I bet he sticks around for a while, and since he won't turn 21 until January he does have time (if not a lot of projection) to add a little more strength.
(Top photo of Schlittler: George Kubas / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
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