The Roar of a Tiger (Prospect)

by
June 16, 2008

There is no doubt that the Detroit Tigers organization has had a disappointing season up to this point. However, there is good news in the minor league system.

After purging most of its top prospects from the system this past winter to acquire such names as Miguel Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, and Dontrelle Willis, the Tigers organization was rated as having one of the worst systems in the game. But a number of the mid-level prospects in the system have improved their games. As well, top pitching prospect and 2007 first-round pick Rick Porcello made his much-anticipated pro debut.

Porcello, who was drafted out of a New Jersey high school, was considered a Top 10 talent but he fell to the 27th overall pick due to signability concerns. Every team in the league who passed him up now regrets it, as he is holding his own in High-A ball as a 19-year-old. He throws in the mid-90s and has a four-pitch mix that includes a fastball, curve, slider and change-up.

So far this season, Porcello has a 2.94 ERA in 67.1 innings. He has allowed 67 hits and only 19 walks, to go along with 41 strikeouts. Although he is not striking out a ton of batters, Porcello is inducing more than 2.2 ground balls for every fly ball out and only four balls have left the yard. He is actually having better luck against left-handed batters (.222 batting average), than righties (.283).

His worst game of the season came on June 1 when he faced the Dunedin Blue Jays for the fourth time in a month. He allowed four earned runs on nine hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. Porcello was been excellent so far in his pro career despite skipping over both short season ball and low A-ball. He could end up being one of the first pitchers from the 2007 draft to make it to the majors, which is good news for the Detroit Tigers.

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Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

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Bodhizefa
17 years ago

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/SPORTS0104/806030391/&imw=Y

That’s an article Nate Silver linked to in his column today giving comparables for last year’s draft picks. Most interestingly is Rick Porcello’s comps which include Jon Garland, the sinkerballer who doesn’t strike many guys out. And that’s just how Porcello is describing himself in this article. Here’s a quote from both his coaches as well as Porcello from the article:

[QUOTE]”This isn’t a flame-throwing, 95(-mph) kid,” Matlack said. “He’ll touch 95 and touch 96, and most of those are thrown when he’s behind in the count, which I find interesting. He’s more of a sinker-ball guy at 91-92, and that’s not bad.

“I’m not so sure that the world hasn’t had a misconception about this kid. He was touted as this flame-thrower, but he told me in Oneonta when I first met him last summer, ‘I need you to understand that they think I throw harder than I throw.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I can throw hard, but it’s usually pretty straight. I don’t always get favorable results. I’m a sinker-ball thrower.'” [/QUOTE]

I know many many people have been really high on Porcello and have touted him as one of the best prospects in baseball. It doesn’t sound like he’s going to be a great ace prospect with his lack of K’s, though.

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