Clayton Blackburn, RHP. DOB: 1/6/1993. 6'3", 220 lbs. B-L, T-R.
Low A: 8-4, 2.54, 131.1 IP, 18 BB, 143 K, GO/AO= 2.32.
Clayton Blackburn was the wallflower at the 2011 draft dance in Oklahoma while all the attention swirled around Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley. He didn't have the huge fastball that gets scouts all in a lather, but he did have a fastball, with 3 other pitches to go with it, and the ability to command it and get ground balls. The Giants took him in the 16'th round and persuaded him to sign.
He reported to Arizona and proceeded to dominate there with an ERA of 1.09, 30 K's against just 3 BB's in 31 IP with a GO/AO of nearly 3. Was he lucky? Was he just too polished for the kids in rookie ball? He went to Augusta last year and put up the line you see above. He then got a late callup to SJ for the Cal League playoffs and struck out 9 batters in 7 IP while allowing just 3 hits.
Blacburn's fastball is nothing to apologize for, topping out at 93 with excellent movement and sink. He compliments that with 3 other solid to plus pitches all of which he can command. The result is a rare combination of high K's, low BB's and an extreme groundball tendency. The Holy Grail of pitching statistics!
Blackburn is an extrovert who likes to talk, while at the same time seeming to be well grounded with a good head on his shoulders. He knows what he wants to accomplish and how to accomplish it. He's a big kid who should be able to eat a lot of innings, but may have to watch his conditioning. I can't wait to see him pitch in the Cal League in 2012! I figure I better go see him early in the season because if he pitches like he did in that one playoff game, he'll be in AA by the time SJ makes their August swing through SoCal.
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Cody Ross signs a 3 year deal with the D'Backs for $26 M including a $1 M 4'th year buyout. Good for him. I'm glad Cody Ross is going to take a nice stash out of the game. I'm also glad the Giants aren't the ones paying it.
ReplyDeleteDbacks management is really screwing up this team. Losing Bauer for a no-hit shortstop and now signing vets that are not worth what they get where they already have a surplus. Just seems questionable to me, but being a Giants fan this is good for us.
ReplyDeleteYup. D'Backs are not like the Dodgers with unlimited resources to cover up mistakes. They gotta use their money wisely and aren't getting it done.
Deletei believe that cody will do well at that park, and he is a great clubhouse guy
Deletei dont get their trade philosophy and i believe it is based on their attempts to fit square pegs in round holes...something the giants do not do
btw, hope everyone has read lew's letter to oakland...its a doozie
can be found in the a's section at sfgate
bacci
Well, Cody will probably hit a walkoff dinger to two against the Giants, then flip his bat and take a hop skip step or two. I won't be able to get too mad at him after what he did on 2010, but he's a downgrade from Chris B. Young and a downgrade at the plate from Kubel(if, in fact, the D'Backs are seriously shopping Kubel) even if he's an upgrade from Kubel on D. Yeah, gotta scratch your head a bit at what the D'Backs are doing.
DeleteYeah, this is good for us. Lots of negatives for Cody, he hit horribly on the road in 2012, has really been a platoon guy in his career, but the bad end, vs. LHP, and has not hit well in AZ even though their pitching was not the best before and it is a hitters park, 78 PA if I remember right.
DeleteI am a little miffed at him for backing out of a deal with the Giants, but karma payback that he ended up with a lousy contract and misses out on another ring. But I will forever be thankful for his 2010.
Wow! Sorry for getting this comment thread off track there. Anybody want to talk Clayton Blackburn?
ReplyDeleteHow does the trio of Crick, Stratton, and Blackburn compare to the trio of AFW?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are really comparable, yet. AFW was still looking very promising as late as AAA before crashing and burning on the MLB beach head, while these kids haven't made it out of A ball yet.
DeleteVery curious to see how the season goes for Blackburn. Very wide spread on his reported velocity readings. Does he have more in the tank? The big knock is he's out of projection. There are some pro-am scouts who aren't as high on Blackburn as Giants fans. They started with soft tosser labels and have definitely questioned any 93-95 MPH talk. I'm pretty sure the big heat #s come from none other than Keith Law, who is most likely dreaming up new ways to mock the Greybeards for somehow not realizing what they might have with young Clayton.
ReplyDeleteThere are 3 questions I have: one, what is his true velocity and along those lines is he leaving a little off to keep maximum control; two, will his conditioning improve to compensate for this lack of top ceiling; three, can he carve up the CA league the way he did the Sally? Pretty excited about Blackburn, looks like a great piece of drafting by Los Gigantes.
I haven't see Blackburn pitch so I can only go by what's out there in the way of second hand information. Based on everything I've read, I am reasonably sure he sits in the low 90's.
DeleteThe Cal League will be a test, but he already made an impressive debut there in the 2012 playoffs.
I hadn't seen this until recently though it had been written some time ago. Not really what I wanted to hear and leads credence to the 'soft tosser' label. Granted one guy and only one start. Who knows if Blackburn was simply tired that start which led to the reduced velocity.
Delete"Blackburn is a three-pitch pitcher. While it’s been reported that Blackburn throws in the low 90s by a couple of well known armchair prospect writers, the truth is that he touches the low 90s, but spends ninety percent of the time in the upper 80s. I only saw six innings of one start. Still, a few of my most trusted scouting sources confirmed my velocity readings. While this pitch isn’t what some have made it out to be, it’s a groundball inducing drug for hitters."
Full article here...
http://bullpenbanter.com/scouting-report-giants-prospect-clayton-blackburn/
Now that we got the big three, in my mind, out, what would really be interesting is a discussion of the relative merits of the three. I know you made the point not to worry about the relative ranking, and I am not, but still, I think it would be informative to see you discuss, here or in a separate post, what your thoughts were in ranking them the way you did, or more importantly, relative to each other.
ReplyDeleteJust looking at just the numbers, Blackburn looks really exciting, but then we had the most spectacular pitcher, Pucetas, and he flamed out by AAA. But the knock appears to be his lack of projection. But he is a pretty good size, maybe too much per Shankbone, So why no possibility for projection, I am not as familiar with that concept, usually I see that with college seniors or short players. Still, he has four pitches, so I would think that would help him as he rises. But Stratton also has four, and is older, so is it velocity that gets him ranked higher?
Well, when you are dealing with kids in Low A ball, I think scouting has to trump stats, so Crick comes out on top. The only reason I did not rank him #1 overall is I tend to believe that it's harder to get walk rates down than most people think and he has to do that. Plenty of time to get it done, but he has to do it. The ceiling is huge, though.
DeleteI think you can almost flip a coin between Stratton and Blackburn. I gave the nod to the guy who excelled in a major D1 college program which I think tells you a lot.
As for Blackburn vs Pucetas, I really don't see any comparison. Pucetas was a college draftee from an obscure program, was a true soft tosser and just was never going to be more than a #5 starter on a bad team.
I agree OGC, the projection knock seems a bit unfair. These are the labels that get thrown down though. BA, Mayo, etc all say that. But he has nice size, he just has conditioning issues.
DeleteI'd say wait and see what happens this year at High-A, but SIX pitchers who look good is really, really sweet. And I think Agosta is getting undersold right now. He has the ability to pitch both sides of the plate, mix up a solid bunch of stuff. Stratton might have six pitches depending on how you categorize them. Blackburn definitely has shown some advanced stuff, I do think its a little prove out, see what happens with his velocity and how he spots things versus more advanced hitting. Next year I'd start thinking big 3 if they call can move up.