A full listing of our Top 25 Prospects is on the right hand side of our website.Without further ado....The Mack's Mets #14 organizational prospect is......
#14 LHP Jack Leathersich
Bats: R Throws: L
Height: 5' 11" Weight: 205 lb
Acquired: 2011 draft, 5th round, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
2012: (A/A+) 2-6, 3.00 ERA, 2 SV, 4.0 BB/9, 14.1 K/9, 1.153 WHIP
2011: (SS-A) 0-0, 0.71 ERA, 1 SV, 2.1 BB/9, 18.5 K/9, 0.711 WHIP
ALL ABOARD THE LEATHER ROCKET BANDWAGON!!! Leathersich has flown up every analyst rankings this season after posting some eye popping K rates in Brooklyn, Savannah, and even the tougher Port St. Lucie. Now despite the excellent K rates there is a fundamental flaw within the numbers. A majority of these strikeouts are due to his "deception" not his "stuff." There is legitimate concern that once batters get used to his funky delivery that they'll be able to time up and hammer Leathersich's underwhelming pitches. Now my thing here is that St. Lucie is crowded....but Binghamton is not. Paul Depodesta seems to have a lot of confidence in him and that will lead to an aggressive assignment. Gosh could you imagine if this guy threw 95+? He'd be future closer.
Anticipated Assignment: (AA) Binghamton bullpen
'Leather' has put up K/9 numbers that are unmatched in baseball. No one in the history of the game finished their careers at this pace.
ReplyDeleteDePo feels he could be in Queens sometime this year. I agree.
This is a real time future relief star.
Mack, while i think so this is where I'm going to do role reversal with you and be the cynical one.
ReplyDeleteLeather just doesn't have a dominant pitch in his arsenal. His K's are all generated from his motion which makes the ball hard to pick up.
Now if he can develop a plus out pitch in Binghamton then we can say we got ourselves a future 8th inning guy but until then I'll keep him in the club with the Chad Bradford's, Chris Young's and Greg Burke's of the world.
you're right about the lack of a + pitch and his delivery...
ReplyDeleteanother Josh Edgin
And yet like Edgin, the front office raves about him. His numbers are better then Edgins and he's been pretty impressive. Lucky the deception will last because he's a relief pitcher.
ReplyDeleteHe was a relief pitcher taken in the fifth round and has produced unreal numbers. Until he really struggles I'm not going to find a reason to jump off his bandwagon.
Charles, I don't happen to think everybody has to have a plus pitch.
ReplyDeleteI have stood behind Leathersich while he pitches. You can't pick up the ball for the first second it is released and all his release points are the same place. Very difficult.