striker42
Well-known member
Yeah. Fortunately we have data showing that unlike Capellan, you can't level a shelf with Smith-Shawver's fastball.
Minor League Thread
- Thread starter CJ9
- Start date
Yeah. Fortunately we have data showing that unlike Capellan, you can't level a shelf with Smith-Shawver's fastball.
Deester11
Well-known member
Dang 50. You had to mention him....lol. If you swung a bat on a flat plane against him...you could hit moonshots off of him. He did have the prettiest straight fastball I've ever seen.
AJ Smith-Shawver is now a top 100 prospect on Fangraphs. Jumped to 86 overall. Longenhagen write up about him:
"Finally, the Atlanta Braves again have a Top 100 prospect as AJ Smith-Shawver moves into the 50 FV tier upon promotion to Triple-A. This isn’t like with Painter last year where by the time he had made a few Double-A starts, he had already shown polished usage of two more pitches than he was in April. Smith-Shawver still has a lot of key developmental checkpoints left to hit. His line to the plate, including often during his last start at Mississippi, can waiver all over the place and impact his fastball command. However, his feel for his curveball has leveled up since his first couple of starts, and his feel for locating his slider (which is often better than his fastball command) consistently gives him a go-to weapon that can miss a bat in a big spot. He still hasn’t allowed an earned run this year and is now the youngest player at Triple-A. There’s big long-term projection here because of the athletic and mechanical elements discussed throughout Smith-Shawver’s scouting report. That stuff carries a lot of weight in forecasting above-average command and a good changeup down the line. He’s now stacked near Cubs righty Ben Brown on the Top 100 list. Both are huge-framed late-bloomer types with two good breaking balls."
"Finally, the Atlanta Braves again have a Top 100 prospect as AJ Smith-Shawver moves into the 50 FV tier upon promotion to Triple-A. This isn’t like with Painter last year where by the time he had made a few Double-A starts, he had already shown polished usage of two more pitches than he was in April. Smith-Shawver still has a lot of key developmental checkpoints left to hit. His line to the plate, including often during his last start at Mississippi, can waiver all over the place and impact his fastball command. However, his feel for his curveball has leveled up since his first couple of starts, and his feel for locating his slider (which is often better than his fastball command) consistently gives him a go-to weapon that can miss a bat in a big spot. He still hasn’t allowed an earned run this year and is now the youngest player at Triple-A. There’s big long-term projection here because of the athletic and mechanical elements discussed throughout Smith-Shawver’s scouting report. That stuff carries a lot of weight in forecasting above-average command and a good changeup down the line. He’s now stacked near Cubs righty Ben Brown on the Top 100 list. Both are huge-framed late-bloomer types with two good breaking balls."
Russ2dollas
10 yr, $185 million Extension
Does AAA have publicly available Statcast data?
No, all we get are secondhand reports of this data. That's how we get dumb statements like "Ian Anderson only has 1700 RPM on his breaking ball". So I don't trust any of those values, no matter where I see them.
It will take 1 start at the MLB level to give us a very clear idea of what AJ is...or isn't, just like every other SP who makes their debut.
It will take 1 start at the MLB level to give us a very clear idea of what AJ is...or isn't, just like every other SP who makes their debut.
striker42
Well-known member
I'm beginning to wonder if those reports about Anderson had more truth to them than we thought when he came up. Here are his RPMs on the curve by year:
2020- 2098
2021- 1895
2022- 1874
So two out of his three years he was sub 1900 RPM on the curve. That's not terribly far off from 1700 RPM on the curve.
I'll agree we need MLB data for it to be the most reliable but Anderson's curve was almost as disappointing as reports said.
Hey Scheff- does the savant data for these minor league games not work for you ? Is it unreliable in your opinion? Or other ? Now, while it’s easy to access and etc - I don’t know enough to make sense of it, but am curious as to why it isn’t satisfactory to you ?
And just we are clear - not trying to argue or anything- just genuinely curious -
Is it just not the type of data you are looking for ?
I honestly didn't know it existed.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
have fun.. keep us posted.
Hudson2
Well-known member
Will do. If he sucks it’s not my fault…
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zbhargrove
Well-known member
It will be 100% your fault
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
AJ Smith-Shawver gets them 1-2-3 in his Triple-A debut. FB sitting ~ 97MPH, ~ 2200 RPM. Threw, what statcast identified, as a cutter @ 86 MPH, ~1800 RPM.
NYCBrave
Well-known member
That's pretty cool that you get to be there for this one
NYCBrave
Well-known member
Dumb question. But is that something that can be improved upon since he's only 20 and only very recently began pitching?
Hudson2
Well-known member
I only live 45 mins away so I wasn’t gonna miss out. He’s taller than I thought. He’s a good size and is popping the catchers mitt.