I was able to get out to Frisco last night and saw a gem from Luke Jackson, who was perfect through 5 2/3 innings, and threw 7 scoreless with 8 Ks and no walks. Here are some notes from the game:
- Jackson sat at 93-96, touching 97 in the later innings. He had excellent control of his fastball all night, able to keep the ball on the outside edge and consistently at the knees all night, especially from the 3rd inning on. Jackson likes to run his curveball through the zone early to get a strike called and get ahead in the count, and likes to bury it in the dirt late with a sharper break looking for a chase from the batter. His curve ranged from 72-85 mph, normally sitting in the 78-81 range. He also pitched backwards often, starting off 5 batters with curveballs from the 4th inning on. Jackson didn't even need to use his change until the 3rd time through the order due to the effectiveness of his fastball and curve. When he did use his changeup, it routinely sat 12-15 mph below his fastball, an incredible change of speed. To show the change of speeds, here are some at-bats pitch-by-pitch:
93 mph FB
97 mph FB
79 mph Curve
72 mph Curve
94 mph FB
95 mph FB
94 mph FB
79 mph Curve
95 mph FB
What I saw was a potential 60 fastball, 55 curveball, and 50 changeup. To me, he projects as a starter long-term if his command can be anywhere near what it was last night on a consistent basis.
- Edwar Cabrera is a guy who could contribute in the bullpen later on. His fastball sits at 87-89, but has some good two-seam action on it. His command can be spotty at times. But he has a legit plus pitch in a hard-biting 79-82 mph change. Cabrera has been in the majors before, and had some success, but missed all of last year after Tommy John surgery and was signed to a minor league deal by the Rangers over the offseason.
- Rougned Odor is truly one-of-a-kind. The amount of rituals he does prior to each at-bat is rivaled only by Pedro Cerrano. Before leaving the on-deck circle, Odor will slam the weight off his bat, tap a cross into the dirt, and tap his helmet twice with his bat. On his way to the plate, Odor unstraps and redoes both batting gloves. When he gets to the plate, he draws two lines with the knob of his bat, and taps both feet with his bat as he steps into the box.
- Ryan Rua showed a much better approach at the plate than he has previously, which is a very big development. A pull hitter, Rua laid off outside pitches for the most part, waiting for a pitch on the inner half, and even took an outside pitch the opposite way for a base hit.
- Jackson sat at 93-96, touching 97 in the later innings. He had excellent control of his fastball all night, able to keep the ball on the outside edge and consistently at the knees all night, especially from the 3rd inning on. Jackson likes to run his curveball through the zone early to get a strike called and get ahead in the count, and likes to bury it in the dirt late with a sharper break looking for a chase from the batter. His curve ranged from 72-85 mph, normally sitting in the 78-81 range. He also pitched backwards often, starting off 5 batters with curveballs from the 4th inning on. Jackson didn't even need to use his change until the 3rd time through the order due to the effectiveness of his fastball and curve. When he did use his changeup, it routinely sat 12-15 mph below his fastball, an incredible change of speed. To show the change of speeds, here are some at-bats pitch-by-pitch:
93 mph FB
97 mph FB
79 mph Curve
72 mph Curve
94 mph FB
95 mph FB
94 mph FB
79 mph Curve
95 mph FB
What I saw was a potential 60 fastball, 55 curveball, and 50 changeup. To me, he projects as a starter long-term if his command can be anywhere near what it was last night on a consistent basis.
- Edwar Cabrera is a guy who could contribute in the bullpen later on. His fastball sits at 87-89, but has some good two-seam action on it. His command can be spotty at times. But he has a legit plus pitch in a hard-biting 79-82 mph change. Cabrera has been in the majors before, and had some success, but missed all of last year after Tommy John surgery and was signed to a minor league deal by the Rangers over the offseason.
- Rougned Odor is truly one-of-a-kind. The amount of rituals he does prior to each at-bat is rivaled only by Pedro Cerrano. Before leaving the on-deck circle, Odor will slam the weight off his bat, tap a cross into the dirt, and tap his helmet twice with his bat. On his way to the plate, Odor unstraps and redoes both batting gloves. When he gets to the plate, he draws two lines with the knob of his bat, and taps both feet with his bat as he steps into the box.
- Ryan Rua showed a much better approach at the plate than he has previously, which is a very big development. A pull hitter, Rua laid off outside pitches for the most part, waiting for a pitch on the inner half, and even took an outside pitch the opposite way for a base hit.
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