According to the Daily News, Rick Peterson took top pitching prospect Yusmeiro Petit to the bio-mechanics lab in Birmingham. The results?
Petit - who finished second in the minors in strikeouts last season with 200 - .manages to keep the ball hidden longer than other pitchers, giving batters less time to react.
Is this a gimmick or actual talent? Does it matter? Statheads and traditional scouts will be watching him closely this year as he starts in AA. Statheads look at his production and see a great prospect (#15 on Baseball Prospectus' Top 50 list). Traditional scouts see his stocky frame and so-so velocity and question his staying power (Baseball America ranks him #46 overall).
I love the guy, and I hope he proves the statheads right.
Update: Baseball America held their Top 100 Prospects Chat yesterday, and we got the following Q/A about Petit's low ranking:
Q: Jason M. from New York City asks: Why wasn't Yusmeiro Petit ranked higher? I thought he'd be up in the top 30.
A: John Manuel: He's at 46, so it's not like we disagree so much. All the pitchers ahead of him have bigger stuff, longer track records of success at higher levels, better bodies or some combination of those factors. I like where we have him.
"better bodies" and "bigger stuff"? I called it "stocky frame" and "so-so velocity", which was pretty damned close to what they actually said about him.
A: John Manuel: He's at 46, so it's not like we disagree so much. All the pitchers ahead of him have bigger stuff, longer track records of success at higher levels, better bodies or some combination of those factors. I like where we have him.