[球員] Scouting Royals' righty Miguel Almonte
By Dan Weigel @DanWiggles38 on Sep 2 2014, 11:00a
Miguel Almonte is not imposing at his listed 6’2", 180-pound build, but he
looks thicker than that and able to handle a starters’ workload. He appears
presently strong with a bit of room to fill out. At his physical peak,
Almonte projects to have an average, good enough body that will not limit
him, but he is also not an intimidating physical presence on the mound.
Almonte works quickly on the mound, wasting no time getting the ball back
from the catcher and delivering when he is in a groove. He had a few quick
innings early in the game that seemed to take under a minute to complete due
to his rapid, aggressive pace. As long as he doesn’t suffer a loss in pitch
quality due to his non-existent rests between pitches, I applaud this
approach as it allows him to get in a rhythm, keep the hitter under pressure,
and keep the defense alert.
The delivery itself is equally as quick, which I don’t see as a bad thing.
He begins the delivery with a big sidestep in the Cliff Lee mold that
generates good momentum but seems difficult to repeat. His entire body rocks
back with it before completing the rest of the motion, which includes a very
strong, Stephen-Strasburg-esque front side and a long arm path. It isn’t a
very smooth delivery, which leads to questions about repeatability, but
Almonte did a fairly good job of repeating his motion during his outing. I don
’t have an issue with a delivery that isn’t smooth so long as it is
repeatable, a category in which Almonte’s delivery fits. Out of the stretch,
Almonte cuts down on his leg kick and works in the 1.35-1.4 range.
Like most pitchers, Almonte pitched off of his fastball. He offering ranged
from 91-95 MPH with good, late arm side run that made it difficult to square
up. Salem’s lineup featured a lot of lefties but Almonte found success by
making the pitch run away from their barrels, resulting in weak ground balls
or swings and misses. He was able to pitch to all parts of the zone with the
offering, including inside or chase pitches up and out of the zone, but lived
away the majority of the time. He was aggressive with the offering,
especially early in the game and early in at bats. This burned him a few
times when the pitch was left over the plate, but it’s difficult to make
significant criticisms about an aggressive pitcher not afraid to challenge a
hitter. This is an offering with solid-average velocity, at least average
command and plus movement, making it a potential above average pitch moving
forward.
I had heard plenty about Almonte’s changeup heading into the look, and it
did not disappoint. The velocity difference is not huge as the pitch sat in
the 86-87 MPH range, but it was extremely effective. Both the arm action and
the movement on the offering mirrored that of the fastball, making it
extremely difficult for hitters to identify. He generated many swings and
misses with the pitch and it projects to miss bats at the Major League level.
He didn’t throw it much the first time through the order, but went to it
frequently during his second and third trips through the lineup. His command
of the pitch was good and he spotted most of the pitches to his armside, away
from the lefties. This is a present plus pitch that will be a real weapon for
Almonte at the Major League level.
The third and final pitch in his arsenal was an overhand curveball that
worked from 78-81 MPH. It wasn’t a true hammer – few curveballs are – but
the offering has sharp 11-5 break and was consistently located at the bottom
of the zone. Almonte demonstrated confidence in the pitch, throwing it in
almost any count (including a 3-2 count) and getting a significant amount of
swings and misses and knee buckles with the pitch. Advanced hitters will have
less trouble with the offering and it doesn’t project to be the weapon it
was in this outing at the Major League level, but this is at least an average
to a slightly above average pitch in the long run.
Almonte ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth inning when he surrendered
three straight hits. His was clearly frustrated as the third hit was not hit
well and could have been caught. He took a long time before stepping back on
the mound, which is a good sign of a pitcher recognizing his present mental
state and taking time to clear his head before delivering another pitch.
However, when Almonte finally stepped back on the mound he immediately made
an errant pickoff throw to first base, but then regained his composure and
retired the next two batters in order.
I am not extremely concerned about Almonte’s relatively poor season
statistics, as the pitcher I saw looked like a potential mid-rotation arm at
the Major League level. I certainly saw him on a good day when all of his
pitches were working, but the upside he showed was no fluke. He showed the
ability to command a quality fastball with good movement, a very good
changeup, at least a solid average curveball. The best part about Almonte is
that the risk factor is low, especially for a pitcher in High-A, as has very
few developmental hurdles to clear to reach his potential as a midrotation
starter. If everything clicks and he continues to develop as planned, Almonte
could be a solid number three starter. If not, a number four starter seems
like the likely outcome.
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