FanPost

Rangers Draft Review

This is the second of my published pieces and this involves profiles on three players: Tim Murphy, Clark Murphy, and Corey Young.  As I mentioned in the Neil Ramirez fan post, I will periodically check back and answer any questions readers might have, but I will be out till later this afternoon.

89. Tim Murphy | LHP

 

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via www.baseball-intellect.com

Deceptive, hides ball well, stays closed, doesn't really show the ball into just before release.

Not efficient with his body. Tucks his arm behind his hips, but he keeps it there for too long in my opinion. Murphy works between 87 - 91 mph, but his velocity might be more consistent if he didn't lose out on the rotational forces a pitcher needs to produce velocity. I slow down the key sequence in his delivery. Watch how the upper body is uncoiled forward, but notice the arm is still rising to its loaded position, meaning it isn't in position to come along for the ride.

Yes, the Rangers could work with Murphy to make these adjustments, but like any adjustment, making them is easier said than done because other facets of the delivery need to be changed due to timing differences. You also have to deal with a variety of issues such as muscle memory--how well the muscles adapt to a change in one's mechanics

WIth that said, he is deceptive, his curveball is close to plus, and his control is solid. I'm not sure he has the quality kind of stuff to be a starter at the major league level but nothing wrong with a quality arm out of the bullpen.

153. Clark Murphy | OF | B - L

 

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via www.baseball-intellect.com

Murphy is one reason you have to take the use of these video clips with a grain of salt, especially ones in which contact was rarely made and the player appeared to injure himself multiple times.

 

All of the above occurred in Murphy's draft video, but the mechanics of his swing look pretty good.  His best swing actually came on a pitch he swung-and-missed on (above).  He really loads his hand with a jerk of the bat away from his body and then back.  He keeps his swing pretty short in the process.

 

He looks to take an aggressive hack at the ball and it appears, should he make contact, it would be after he let it travel deep into his hitting zone.  All this lends itself to solid power.

 

The tendency for him to swing and miss could be from a number of issues.  It often appeared he was too far out in front, meaning he was possibly fooled on some sort of breaking pitch.  Nevertheless, Murphy put up some fantastic numbers in the Arizona League and should monitored as we head forward.

 

353. Corey Young | LHP

 

Corey-young_medium

via www.baseball-intellect.com

I like guys with unique or deceptive mechanics and Young is one of those types.  He's got a fast tempo (number of frames from the point in which the knee reaches it's upper most point to release), but he isn't a high-velocity thrower mostly because he doesn't efficiently use his body in that he doesn't achieve good separation of the torso and hips...similar to the problem Tim Murphy suffered from.  His arm isn't in position to come along for the ride.

 

However, Young is deceptive in that he has a relatively long stride, he looks like he throws harder than he actually does, and his pitches have some quality movement on them.  He's got a lot of tailing action on his fastball, but can get in trouble when he leaves it up in the zone.  His curveball is more of a frisby type curve that you can see below.

 

Corey-young-curve_medium

via www.baseball-intellect.com

He has a lot of parts to coordinate so there is a question of whether his command will be good at higher levels of competition.

 

He's not a flashy pick nor a high upside pick, but he's another player that could be useful for the Rangers out of their bullpen.  His ability to generate ground balls will also be welcome at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

 

Hope this article provided a little more in-depth information on these prospects and again thanks for the support.