Justus Sheffield Finds Himself After A Tough Spring

When our other prospect writers submit scouting reports, I will provide a short background and industry consensus tool grades. There are two reasons for this: 1) giving context to account for the writer seeing a bad outing (never threw his changeup, coming back from injury, etc.) and 2) not making him go on about the player’s background or speculate about what may have happened in other outings.

The writer still grades the tools based on what they saw, I’m just letting the reader know what he would’ve seen in many other games from this season, particularly with young players that may be fatigued late in the season. The grades are presented as present/future on the 20-80 scouting scale and very shortly I’ll publish a series going into more depth explaining these grades.   –Kiley

Justus Sheffield, LHP, Cleveland Indians (Rookie level AZL Indians)

Sheffield jumped on the scouting radar when he hit 94 mph in October before his junior high school season in relief of his older brother (and current Vanderbilt pitcher) Jordan in front of dozens of scouts. Justus is listed at 5’10/196, so height isn’t on his side, but he has suitable bulk to start if his stuff and command are enough to overcome his lack of plane.

Sheffield looked like a first rounder entering his senior year in high school and then he struggled for most of the season, with some teams not scouting him down the stretch. This was due to inconsistency (velo dipped into the 80’s at times and command came and went)  and the assumption he would go to Vanderbilt to play with Jordan. Teams that stuck around saw Sheffield regularly hitting 95 mph late and the Indians grabbed him at the end of the first round in June. Sheffield could be a quick mover: he’s flashed three above average pitches and command at times and projects as a 3rd/4th starter if it all comes together.

(The above video was from one of Sheffield’s worst outings of his high school senior spring and his delivery is normally lower effort than that.)

Fastball: 50/55, Curveball: 50/55, Changeup: 50/55, Command: 45/50+, FV: 50   –Kiley

Hands down, the most talented Rookie Ball club out here in Arizona was the Indians’ affiliate, which featured half a dozen or so prospects who warrant some degree of excitement. The most notable of those is Justus Sheffield, a 5-foot-11 or thereabouts left -handed pitcher from Tullahoma High School in Tennessee. Sheffield was the 31st overall selection in the 2014 draft and it cost a cool $1.6 million, just a hair beneath slot value, to coax him away from his commitment to Vanderbilt. That sum was a bit less than I anticipated Sheffield would get as Vanderbilt, both a great academic institution and nurturing baseball environment, is a notoriously difficult school from which to pry commits. With that assumption in hand, I got nitpicky (hey, it was tough to find fault with Cleveland’s draft) and wondered if the projection-deficient Sheffield would be worth big time amateur money if he wasn’t going to allow you to dream on big time professional upside. The show he put on here in Arizona has altered my tone.

Sheffield’s aforementioned lack of projection is born of his body type. Unlike most high-end high school draft picks, Sheffield isn’t built like a broad-shouldered, skinny-limbed human coat hanger. The kids who look like David Byrne in a suit are the kids who you envision adding mass and, hopefully, velocity. Sheffield does not have such physical projection. At 5-foot-11, 180lbs, Sheffield is squat, thick in the thighs and ass, and already has a bit of a barreled torso. He’s thickened up since the showcase circuits from last summer and has no positive projection left, meaning I can’t see him adding weight in a way that will benefit his craft.

Despite his body type, Sheffield is actually very athletic and has an efficient, repeatable delivery. He makes good use of his lower half, generates torque with rotation in the hips and has a quick arm, all of this resulting in what looks like a near maximum velocity output for his frame without compromising his ability to throw strikes. Everything heads toward the plate, resulting in present fringe-average control and command with the ability to grow into plus.

Stuff-wise, Sheffield’s fastball will sit in the low 90s, mostly 92-93 and touch 95mph when he wants or needs it to. In this month’s AZL Championship game, Sheffield entered the game out of the bullpen and struggled to find his release point and therefore, the strike zone. He allowed a walk and a single to start off the inning and both advanced after a fielder’s choice. With runners on second and third of a one run game, Sheffield reached back and painted the outside corner at the knees several times with running 95mph fastballs as he struck out the remaining two hitters of the inning. While I don’t believe Sheffield will pitch at that velocity with consistency, it’s nice to know he has it in the tank when he needs it.

Most high school pitchers will never throw harder than they do as amateurs, due in large part to the increased frequency and quantity of innings that pro ball inflicts on the arm. As such, it’s not uncommon for me to project young arms to lose half a grade or so on their fastballs as they enter pro ball. In this case, Sheffield’s delivery is so efficient and clean that I’m inclined to hold firm on where the fastball is right now. He may not have the physical projection scouts look for to add velocity or at least counterweight that wear and tear, but things are so picturesque that I think the fastball plays as an above-average to plus offering at maturity.

For an 18 year old, Sheffield’s repertoire is quite deep. He backs the fastball with a presently fringe-average sweeping curveball in the mid-70s that projects to above average, as well as a present 45 changeup in the low 80s that I also consider a future 55 weapon. Sheffield’s arm speed on the change has improved significantly from where it was as an amateur and he’s shown a feel for getting arm side run and tumble on the pitch. He’ll also show a grade 40, low 80s slider that moves late but is a bit short, more cutter-like than slidey without a good cutter’s velocity. Given Sheffield’s apparent body and arm control, it’s possible this pitch develops into something useful that can induce weak contact early in counts, but right now it’s well behind the other offerings and I can’t ever see it missing a ton of bats. It has fringe average projection.

Three above-average pitches and plus control/command sure sounds like a very solid #3 starter to me, and I think that’s Sheffield’s ceiling (up from pre-draft looks and reports when I would’ve told you he was a #4) but a word of caution before we go. The environment in which Sheffield was pitching here in the Valley of the Sun is a tricky one. There’s no way of truly knowing whether the velo surge we saw from him out here is going to stick or if it was just an aberration brought on by some external factors (such as Sheffield’s period of rest since signing before coming here) or just random variation. If it doesn’t hold he’s still a nice prospect. If it does, he has a chance to be quite special.

Longenhagen’s Grades: Fastball: 55/55, Curveball: 50/55, Changeup: 45/55, Command: 45/55+, FV: 55