The MLB Draft has come and gone, and many have begun to take note of another major change beginning in baseball. This change comes just 60 feet, six inches away from home plate.
In round three, pick 100, Texas Christian University congratulated right-handed reliever Durbin Feltman on his selection by the Boston Red Sox. But, different from most draft picks, Feltman may not be a long-term pick. The two main bullets for Feltman, a 95-99 mph fastball, and a mid-80s slider, give the soon to be Red Sox reliever the tools to play in the majors as early as next spring. A number of scouts I’ve questioned about Feltman project him to be a similar scenario as former Royals and TCU reliever Brandon Finnegan.
via FanGraphs
Finnegan was in a virtually identical situation to Durbin Feltman’s current scenario; a first-round draft selection in 2014, by the Kansas City Royals, with the full intention of playing for the Royals sooner rather than later. He also threw mid-to-high 90s with a plus slider in the mid-80s. Finnegan found himself in October baseball, in the same year he was drafted, and came just two games from a championship. The Royals achieved their goal of a championship the next year, in 2015. Unfortunately, Finnegan had then been traded to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for ace Johnny Cueto.
The trend is this: hard-throwing college pitchers will find their way to the bigs sooner rather than later. Hitters often take longer, as they work with minor league instructors along the way, which often slows the process. In Finnegan and Feltman’s cases, the two TCU stars had already proven their ability to be accurate in college, while having a swing-and-miss repertoire.
Keynote, and the largest takeaway, is accuracy. A pitcher who hits 99 will get picked higher than 91, but neither will make it without accuracy. In the MLB, they have no time for you to find the zone. You have to get on that mound, toe in, and throw strikes. Get outs.