Behind the Fence: Lewis Thorpe on the mound 3/25/17

[Bob Sacamento]

On Saturday on the backfields, The High A and Low A squads took on the Boston Red Sox affiliates while the GCL played an intrasquad game.  Starting each of the games was Matt Tracy in High A, Wade LeBlanc for Low A, Huascar Ynoa and Brian Anderson in GCL.  I spent most of the early time watching the High A and GCL game.  Tracy was in control of the much younger hitters, his curveball was solid with a 88-90mph fastball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rQi6Sz9N0k

 

 

 

Probably the biggest name on the mound was former top prospect and Tommy John receipent  LHP Lewis Thorpe. This was Thorpe's third outing this spring, he went 3 IP throwing 62 pitches (35K/27BB).  His FB was 88-91mph sitting 88-89 with good movement. I know some fans were hoping for higher velo but it's still early in the process for that I'd be more happy with he flashed some good secondary pitches mainly a CV.  His secondary was (in order of usage) a CV 77-79 mph, CH 82-83 mph, SL 85-86 mph.  

 

He started off with solid control spotting the corners and working his FB inside, not afraid to throw in, setting up with curveball outside.  Lewis started off strong, 11 pitches (10 strikes) to 3 batters in the first inning, recording a strikeout.  He also started off well in his second inning, inducing a flyout and giving up a weak contact single between 1st and 2nd before he proceeded to strike the next two batters out.  In his second ining, he threw 23 pitches 13 for strikes.  Unfortunately, his control started to wane in his third inning, he walked the first batter he faced, then induced a flyout to right before walking the next two batters but then ending it on a strikeout.  He threw 28 pitches, 12 for strikes.  Overall a pretty good outing for the Aussie.  

Here's video of bullpen warmups, game warmups, and every game pitch by Lewis Thorpe but one to CJ Chatham in the first (a nasty curveball).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2n6QStc5us

 

 

 

In the Cedar Rapids game, 2016 6th round pick RHP Alex Schick took over after LeBlanc and held his own.  Schick's delivery creates nice downward plane and features mechanics that still need worked.  His stuff was good throwing mainly FB and SL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mEcTgOezs

 

 

Rehab notes, minor league pitchers on the mend, Johan Quezada will start throwing on Wednesday and Brusador Graterol will begin throwing in game action in two weeks.  As of right now it looks like Gonsalves will start throwing in a week or two and begin the season in Extended Spring Training.  Other rehabbers, Trey Cabbage got his boot off and will get his first game action of the spring this upcoming Wednesday.

 

One side session did garner alot of attention from the minor league players when Catching prospect Rainis Silva was on the mound showing what he had.  His fastball was 88-90mph with short arm action.  Some of the guys observing were pitchers Felix Jorge, Fernando Romero, Randy "Batman" Rosario, Eddie Del Rosario.

 

[FormerMinnasotan]

Good to see Thorpe pitching again. Would Thorpe's wildness be attributed to fatigue since it has been about 2 years since Thorpe last pitched? And will his fastball velocity get back to where it was pre-Tommy John? I would think as Thorpe gets his stamina back he'll be better? I hope for a good season from Thorpe as he is another prospect I think could really eventually help out the big league rotation.

[sftwinsfan]

Thorpe will be a guy I'll be following closely this season.  I'm trying not to get too excited though, I'm guessing it has to be pretty rare to miss 2 full years and come back successfully.  We may have been spoiled by Romero last year.  

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Good to see Thorpe pitching again. Would Thorpe's wildness be attributed to fatigue since it has been about 2 years since Thorpe last pitched? And will his fastball velocity get back to where it was pre-Tommy John? I would think as Thorpe gets his stamina back he'll be better? I hope for a good season from Thorpe as he is another prospect I think could really eventually help out the big league rotation.

He's still at the point of building back arm strength and game stamina. Over the next few months, the velo will likely uptick a bit in Extended Spring Training as long as there are on setbacks in the meantime.  If I remember correctly he was 92-94  at his peak before TJS, so by season's send I'd say the goal is to get back there and that happens. Yes, Thorpe was out 2 years but one year was due to TJS (I believe his surgery was not until April 2015) while the other was due to mono while in the early stages of his TJS arm program. So it's not like he had recurrent arm issues that cost him two years. I'd definitely keep an eye on him, at times he was flashing his old self in the outing especially his secondary.

[Willihammer]

Cool videos! Thorpe's definitely got pitches. Looked like he had the changeup working best in that outing.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Cool videos! Thorpe's definitely got pitches. Looked like he had the changeup working best in that outing.

Yes and it comes out of the same arm slot as his fastball so hitters had a hard time picking it up (talked to a couple of the BoSox players afterward).  But when he had good grip on his curveball, it was a thing of beauty, Twins MiLB pitcher Lachlan Wells and BoSox pitcher Mark Brakeman were charting and commenting early on just keep throwing the hammer because the hitters had no chance with it.

 

One thing that I did notice after a local photographer brought to my attention was that Thorpe was flinching after a majority of his pitches.  The photographer is out there more than I am, and I guess one of the last times Lewis was on the mound he took a sharp comebacker that nailed him on his ankle.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but Thorpe's fastball used to sit 93-94, right?

 

I'm not worried about his lack of velocity today, just wondering what to expect going forward.

[Oldgoat_MN]

Like anyone else who saw his stats at the time, I was pretty excited by Thorpe in 2014 when he was pitching well in A ball in spite of being nearly 4 years younger than the competition. Then he's gone for 2 years...

 

Good to remember that he is only 21 years old.

Cautiously optimistic.

[clutterheart]

 

 

One thing that I did notice after a local photographer brought to my attention was that Thorpe was flinching after a majority of his pitches.  The photographer is out there more than I am, and I guess one of the last times Lewis was on the mound he took a sharp comebacker that nailed him on his ankle.

 

Flinching?

 

Flinching in pain or freaked out about comebackers?

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Flinching?

 

Flinching in pain or freaked out about comebackers?

Flinching for comebackers to the mound, if you watch the side view of the video I took, you can see it ever so briefly.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but Thorpe's fastball used to sit 93-94, right?

 

I'm not worried about his lack of velocity today, just wondering what to expect going forward.

At his peak velo and prospect status he was sitting usually 92-94 and up to 96 mph.  But yeah no need to be worried about velo lacking at this point, if it's still 88-90 mph in a month then there might be a little cause for worry.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Like anyone else who saw his stats at the time, I was pretty excited by Thorpe in 2014 when he was pitching well in A ball in spite of being nearly 4 years younger than the competition. Then he's gone for 2 years...

 

Good to remember that he is only 21 years old.

Cautiously optimistic.

Exactly, even with time off, he's still likely going to be younger than the average age competition in High A and AA.

[Steve Lein]

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but Thorpe's fastball used to sit 93-94, right?

 

I'm not worried about his lack of velocity today, just wondering what to expect going forward.

 

I charted him back in 2014 with Cedar Rapids: http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins-minor-leagues/color-me-and-joe-mauer-impressed-r2962

 

To quote: "If you go by the “+2” rule everybody in the know talks about with the Veteran Memorial Stadium radar gun, Thorpe sat 91-93MPH all night with his fastball (from the windup and stretch), and touched 95. His curveball was sharp and came in around 75, while the changeup sat around 80 and the slider at 84."

 

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

this is another one of those guys who could be in a lot of top 100s with a strong showing this year.  Need to be patient though.  2 years is a lot of rust to knock off.