BBB Top Prospect Countdown #20: James Pazos
At every stop along the way, Pazos has generally seen a lot
of success. He’s been able to fly through the system ranks and was even able to
appear in 11 major league games in 2015. We’re still not totally sure about
what his usage with the team will be. Could he be the primary guy against
left-handed batters? Could he be a multiple inning reliever? Is he even going
to make the 25-man roster out of spring training? Even though he comes in as
our 20th prospect, he could potentially play the biggest role
amongst all Yankees prospects this season.
Picture by: Adam Hunger (Getty Images)
Breakdown
From 2013-to-2015, Pazos went from low Single-A to the
majors. In Double-A during the 2014 season, he pitched in 28 games and had a
1.50 ERA. He remained with the Trenton in Double-A for six games before moving
on up to Triple-A. He dominated Triple-A hitters to the noise of a 1.09 ERA and
a 1.21 WHIP in 33 innings pitched. Pazos’ one issue at every level has been his
inability to throw strikes. He had a career 3.32 BB/9 (Walks per nine innings
pitched) in the minor leagues and it didn’t get much better in his short 11
game major league stint with the MLB team as he walked 5.40 per nine innings.
Breaking down 2015, his Triple-A more specifically, he was
dominant against lefties. In 47 plate-appearances against him, opposing batters
could only manage a .179 batting average against him. He only allowed seven
hits in the aforementioned 47 plate-appearances. He performed well against
righties, as well. We’re not sure if he’ll get the chance against many RHH in
the pros, but he proved during his days in the minors he can.
Moving up the majors, his small sample size of innings saw
him perform better against RHH. He didn’t allow a single hit in the eight
batters he faced. Lefties hit .273 against Pazos. Both are extremely small
sample sizes.
Projection
Generally teams carry 12 pitchers, seven being relievers.
Three of those spots are very obviously going to be taken up by Aroldis Chapman,
Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. Its likely Chasen Shreve is given the fourth
spot based on the first-half of last season. The fifth, sixth and seventh spots
are tricky. Seeing how I’ve already named three left-handed relievers, it’s
likely they won’t use more than four. That means either Pazos or Jacob Lindgren
will likely be battling in spring training for ownership to a bullpen spot. If
Pazos does make the team over Lindgren, my guess is he’ll likely start off as
the team’s lefty-specialist. He has great stuff, he just needs to throw more
strikes. If he can’t, he’ll likely have to wait until an injury until getting
another crack in the bigs.
Article by: James Grande
Follow me on twitter: @The_Real_Grande
Follow the BBB on twitter: @BronxBomberBlog
Comments
Post a Comment