Scouting Philadelphia’s Return for Pat Neshek
Philadelphia sent All Star reliever Pat Neshek to Colorado on Wednesday night in exchange for three prospects. Let’s refresh:
Colorado gets
RHP Pat Neshek
Philadelphia gets
SS Jose Gomez
RHP J.D. Hammer
RHP Alejandro Requena
Gomez, a 20-year old infielder at Low-A Asheville, is the owner of a .316 career batting average and indeed scouts like his feel to hit. Gomez doesn’t get much out of his lower half and is a bit undersized, and thus very unlikely to hit for much power barring a mechanical change, but he has good hand-eye coordination, above average bat speed and a chance to be a plus hitter at peak.
An average runner with an average arm, Gomez lacks the high-end athleticism typically found at shortstop and is not a lock to stay there. He’s already seeing time at second and third base, two positions where Gomez will likely lack the power to profile every day should one of them become his long term defensive home. He projects as a bat-first utility player.
Hammer is a 23-year old relief prospect with a plus, running fastball that will touch 97. He was a 24th rounder out of Marshall last year and had struck out 47 hitters at Low-A before a late-June promotion to Hi-A Lancaster. Hammer’s arm is lightning quick and while he shows some feel for locating his fastball to his arm side with consistency (in part because it naturally runs that way), his command is currently below average. He also has a power slider (I’ve had scouts call it a slider and curveball, and the way its’ described makes it sound like a hard slurve, so I’ll call it a slider) that flashes average. He projects as a middle relief piece but could be more if a better secondary pitch can be coaxed out of that arm speed and, as a Colorado high schooler who then went to a college not typically associated with baseball, perhaps that’s coming late.
Finally, 20-year old Venezuelan Alejandro Requena is a pitchability who had posted a 2.85 ERA this season at Asheville. He sits in the 88-92 range with his fastball which he locates readily to both sides of the plate and he has a loopy, fringey curveball that he can lob in for strikes to get ahead of hitters or bury in the dirt when ahead in the count. He could max out as a backend starter but is more likely to fall in the starters 6-10 range teams typically need to dip into during the course of a season.
As far as FVs go, Gomez is a 40 for me, projecting as a utility man with a better bat than usually found there. That’s a 45 at peak with Gomez’s proximity from the Majors diluting the mark. The other two are, in FanGraphs prospect parlance, honorable mention prospects worth continued attention.
| Age | 20 | Height | 5’11 | Weight | 175 | Bat/Throw | R/R |
|---|
| Hit | Raw Power | Game Power | Speed | Defense | Throw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30/60 | 40/45 | 20/40 | 50/50 | 40/50 | 50/50 |
Eric Longenhagen is from Catasauqua, PA and currently lives in Tempe, AZ. He spent four years working for the Phillies Triple-A affiliate, two with Baseball Info Solutions and two contributing to prospect coverage at ESPN.com. Previous work can also be found at Sports On Earth, CrashburnAlley and Prospect Insider.
“Finally, 20-year old Venezuelan Alejandro Requena is a pitchability …. He sits in the 88-92 range with his fastball …. and he has a loopy, fringey curveball that he can lob in for strikes”
Eric: “Yo, Carson! The Phillies made a trade.”
I’m sad that JD Hammer doesn’t have a curveball.
Also you know his entrance music is going to be U Can’t Touch This. Stop! Hammer time!
If he became a closer, every out in the 9th they could say: “another nail in the coffin”.
Nope, Peter Gabriel.
I want to be your sledgehammer
Why don’t you call my name
You’d better call the sledgehammer
Put your mind at rest
I’m going to be-the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
I’m your sledgehammer
Let there be no doubt about it
Eric tweeted: J.D. Hammer: Quick arm. Plus fastball, avg curveball, below average control. Middle relief projection.
Weird, he calls it a slider here. Of course, he does waffle on it a bit.
I tweeted this back to Eric yesterday before he posted here:
1. Hammer doesn’t throw a curve, ironically enough. Working instead on slider to pair with mid-90s heat that has reached as high as 99
2. I give more credence to scouts who consider context. Hammer didn’t pitch until he flamed out as hitter in junior college
3. Hammer played four years in college and turned 23 two weeks ago; his progression in the minors has been normal, not slow.
4. Most pitchers with big frame/big fastball don’t develop secondary pitches, command needed to close in MLB, some do and Hammer has chance.
To Eric’s credit, I think he dug deeper after the tweets and before he posted here.