Thursday, January 1, 2015

Scouting the 2015 Draft: James Kaprelian

James Kaprelian put up dominating numbers for UCLA last year and in 2013 as a freshman.  He is one of the bigger college pitchers in this draft at 6'4", 200 lbs.  He has plenty of room to put on another 10-10 lbs to fill out his frame.  His FB has been reported to range from 88-94 MPH.  From what I can gather, he tends to sit 89-92.  In one interview I read, he seemed almost obsessed with keeping the ball down in the zone.  He seems to be something of a curveball wizard with unusual command of several variations of the pitch.  He is able to use it as a strike 3 pitch or to steal early strikes pitching backwards.  He also has a split-change.  That particular 3 pitch mix just might play at the MLB level despite his velocity challenges.   If he were to gain velocity with more weight and more strength, he could be a future ace.  Here are his stat lines for his first two college seasons:

2013:  0-0, 1.55, 40.2 IP, 24 BB, 53 K.
2014:  7-6, 2.29, 106 IP, 35 BB, 108 K.

In the BA interview I read, he comes across as a highly intelligent kid who studies pitching intently.  In fact, he talks much like I would expect a pitching coach to talk.  He apparently went so far as to offer pitching advice to Thomas Eshleman of CS Fullerton who is a pretty good college pitcher in his own right.  BA has him ranked as the #21 draft prospect for 2015 while Kiley McDaniel has him outside the top 50 but mentions him as someone to watch.  He does not seem like a Giants type of first rounder, but if he falls, I could see them taking him in the supplemental round or 2'nd round.

2 comments:

  1. Happy New Year everyone! Judging from past drafts since 2008, if the Giants take pitching with their top 2 picks, I'm hoping its a high school pitcher since they seem to be having better results going that route taking Zach Wheeler and Kyle Crick. Their high picks they took out of College Chris Stratton and Martin Agosta don't look as promising but I'm not giving up on them.

    LG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgot to mention that I hope Tyler Beede will change their fortunes with college pitchers and become a top prospect

      LG

      Delete