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Questions about Neal Cotts


SuperSteve

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I'll tell you the most important thing about him...He pitched for Illinois State University, baby!!! :headbang

 

He doesn't have the hardest of pitches, but what he lacks for in speed is more than compensated by his location. You can check out my article from early December for this wonderful site for more information about what I saw from him at ISU, just to give you a better picture about his earlier pitching days...

 

http://www.soxnet.net/marsala/article-12.5.html

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Heres a scouting report written about him by Futuresox/Soxnet/Soxtalk about a month ago.

 

5. Neal Cotts, 23 - LHP, SP - Birmingham Barons (AA)

2003 (Birmingham-AA): 7-2, 2.11 ERA, 59.2 IP, 85 K, 37 BB

2002 (Modesto): 12-6, 4.12 ERA, 137.2 IP, 178 K, 87 BB

2001 (Visalia): 3-2, 2.32 ERA, 31.0 IP, 34 K, 15 BB

2001 (Vancouver): 1-0, 3.09 ERA, 35.0 IP, 44 K, 13 BB

 

Cotts was originally drafted by the Oakland A?s in the 2nd round out of Illinois State University, and was acquired from the A?s in the Koch-Foulke deal. Last season for Modesto (A), he showed why Ken Williams and others think so highly of him - he struck out 178 batters in 138 innings (or 11.6 KO?s per nine innings). He also limited opponents to a collective .239 AVG. Just looking over these lines, you would think he was a flame-thrower, but Cotts isn?t. His fastball occasionally touches 90, but it has tremendous movement. Cotts relies mainly on his fastball and plus change-up. He does an excellent job keeping hitters off balance by changing speeds and locations. Late last season, Cotts added a curveball to his repertoire that is quickly developing into a very good pitch. The keys to Cotts? success will be the development of this third pitch and improving his overall control (87 walks last season). If Cotts can reduce his walks, he will shoot up the list, potentially becoming the Sox? best left-handed pitching prospect ? a fact which, in and of itself, says a lot. Cotts has gotten off to a quick start in Birmingham (AA) this year: he?s 7-2 with 85 strikeouts in just 59.2 innings. Neal is on the disabled list for precautionary measures and should be back in action in the next week or so. As long as he?s healthy he has a shot to get promoted to Charlotte sometime later this year and could find himself on the South Side of Chicago as a September call-up.

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