Article: What Does Aaron Slegers Have In Common With Jake Arrieta?

[Guest]

I think Slegers is interesting. I seem to recall a lot of talk with Alex Meyer about how very tall guys tend to develop later ala Randy Johnson. With Slegers consistency of release point that he already seems to have I am curious to see what the new regime pitching staff might be able to get out of him.

I think one of the problems with tall pitchers is that teams mess with their deliveries more than they do with other pitchers, in order to maximize downward plane. When teams accept the downward plane for what it is and train the taller pitchers like everyone else, natural skill comes out better. One of the interesting things about Tom’s article is it shows how Slegers didn’t get much experience when he was younger, so there may be more growth ahead.

[Shane Wahl]

Wow, this is a pretty fascinating article. Thank you. It does explain his success in the minors. I do think he is destined for the bullpen which could maximize all of this even further. 

[laloesch]

I think one of the problems with tall pitchers is that teams mess with their deliveries more than they do with other pitchers, in order to maximize downward plane. When teams accept the downward plane for what it is and train the taller pitchers like everyone else, natural skill comes out better. One of the interesting things about Tom’s article is it shows how Slegers didn’t get much experience when he was younger, so there may be more growth ahead.

I like that he is consistent with his control something a lot young pitchers seem to lack. If he can build on his AAA success and transfer that to the majors he's a good asset to have especially for a fifth round pick.

[2wins87]

I always think of Chris Young as a comp for Aaron Slegers, both being 6'10" and throwing in the low 90's. (Young has been in the mid to high 80's for most of his career, but did throw in the low 90's his first few years.) 
 
I looked up Young's chart from this year and he's much more over the top, coming in from almost straight on but from an even higher point than Slegers and the others. Chart

 

Young is interesting because he had a knack for exceeding his fielding independent metrics year-in and year-out, which mostly seems to be due to his ability to generate tons of pop-ups.  He induced tons of flyballs in general but had a low HR/FB ratio since most of those flyballs weren't squared up.

 

Slegers doesn't have the same crazy FB/GB split.  His minor league track record does indicate that he can generate an above average pop-up rate though.  His higher groundball rate likely comes from the fact that he throws a sinker about as often as his 4-seamer.

 

Anyway, that's my base case for how a guy with back of the rotation stuff can be a bit more than a back of the rotation starter.  Young has had a long and reasonably successful career.

 

As a side note, if Slegers doesn't pan out it could be interesting to see if the 6'8" Tyler Wells follows a similar but more successful path.  Right now he's just about all whiffs and pop-ups in single A, though his stuff doesn't get rave reviews either. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

interesting piece. Guessing the FO sees more in him that we do. That's fine I guess. I will say that he's prone to having some monster games from time to time, so perhaps there's something there. I'd like those K numbers to be a bit better, but if can figure out away to harness those mechanics and get them, he could be a very good pitcher.