Thoughts on Carlos Rodon

[royoung]

Rodon should be top 50 for sure. I am thinking more like 20-25 range at least. Anderson I bet comes in closer to 100, because a lot of people will dock him for the errors.

 

True and his walk rate is frightening low. He has his warts for sure.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Were people not that high on Matt Harvey out of college? 7th overall pick and not ranked the next year...and he is pretty good now?

 

I don't recall what people thought of Harvey going in to the draft, but as far as rankings go, BA and MLB.com did not even rank him in their top 100 after his draft season. BP ranked him #75 that year. Then the following year he was in everyone's top 50. And obviously he's had a fantastic MLB career so far.

[Dam8610]

Yeah, I agree. In his prime, Pedro probably had close to an 80 fastball, 80 changeup, 70 slider, and 65-70 command.

 

Again, please don't mistake the second number on those grades for a projection. They are more like a maximum or a ceiling. I hope that perhaps it makes more sense in that context.

 

Since you're grading pitches, though, could you name off some guys who had/have 80 sliders and some guys who had/have 80 two-seam fastballs?

[caulfield12]

Colon gained velocity and movement on his fastball as the game wore on.....just like Verlander.

 

From what I've seen from Colon, his 93-96 isn't in quite the same ballpark in terms of effectiveness.

Edited June 20, 2014 by caulfield12

[fathom]

Strasburg is the closest thing I've seen in this generation to having near 75-80s for 3 pitches. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay healthy.

[witesoxfan]

Again, please don't mistake the second number on those grades for a projection. They are more like a maximum or a ceiling. I hope that perhaps it makes more sense in that context.

 

Since you're grading pitches, though, could you name off some guys who had/have 80 sliders and some guys who had/have 80 two-seam fastballs?

 

Randy Johnson had an 80 slider. Maddux had an 80 2-seamer. Blyleven had an 80 curveball. Those are the types of pitchers you talk about with 80s.

 

Either way, I could care less if those are maximums or whatever. Courtney Hawkins maximums are probably 65/80/70/80/80, but you don't see people talking that stuff about him. There has to be some sense of realism.

[Dam8610]

Randy Johnson had an 80 slider. Maddux had an 80 2-seamer. Blyleven had an 80 curveball. Those are the types of pitchers you talk about with 80s.

 

Either way, I could care less if those are maximums or whatever. Courtney Hawkins maximums are probably 65/80/70/80/80, but you don't see people talking that stuff about him. There has to be some sense of realism.

 

Okay, watched Maddux and Johnson again, it's been a while, and Rodon's slider has similar movement to Johnson's, and his two-seam fastball has similar movement to Maddux's, though I would say is more comparable to Colon's because it's faster than Maddux's, and Rodon is FAR from the pinpoint control with his two-seam fastball that Maddux had with his. But if Maddux represents an 80 two-seam fastball, and Johnson represents an 80 slider, then Rodon has the POTENTIAL to have both, provided he can develop proper control of the two pitches. The determining factor in all of it is going to be whether he can get the kinks out of his mechanics and improve his control. If he does, he'll be the ace everyone projects. If not, he'll probably still be decent just because of the ridiculous amount of movement he has on his pitches.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Yeah, I agree. In his prime, Pedro probably had close to an 80 fastball, 80 changeup, 70 slider, and 65-70 command.

That's why I voted for him.