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Matt Bush Scouting Report:
Matt Bush is a big leaguer with the Texas Rangers. Lots and lots and lots of words have been written about his travails and lots and lots more will be written in the weeks to come. I wrote about Matt after meeting him in Frisco early last month. You can check it out here. His story? Well, it's complicated and everyone knows that. I'm not here to rehash that or to tell you whether or not you have to root for him. But he is on the Rangers and 12 years after being the number 1 overall pick- he's finally going to make his big league debut.
Basically, just let this piece serve as an update to the article I wrote last month. The background on Matt hasn't changed a lick and never will. What has happened is that he's done everything, both and off the field, that the Rangers have asked of him. Stuff wise, he's been dominant. I tweeted this sentiment a few days ago, but it bears repeating here; he's almost been too good. With his command I mean. He's lived in the zone, and commanded the FB to all 4 quadrants. His CB has nearly always bent back in for a strike, either swung and missed or called. That brings us to last week when all the sudden the reliable radar gun in Frisco read "90", then "91" and the ball bent. Definitely not a CB, and too much tilt to be a cutter, so there is was, a SL. Then in his outing on Tuesday night, 4 of the first 6 pitches he threw were SLs. He got a swinging K on an 88mph version and all of them were hard and grooving in and out of the strike zone in a late flash. It's a good pitch and it's going to get even better. Now he has 3 pitches and he has a chase pitch to put some very discerning professional hitters away. He's thrown about ten of them, total, in (AA!) game action. So bear that in mind when he has to throw one to Mike Trout. The FB can straighten out at times, so he'll rely on the velo to get swings and misses at the big league level and if he bends one of those CBs back over the plate, it might go a long way. But that's not a big deal to Matt. He's already gone a long way, and now he's just where he always thought he'd be.
He's Here, And He's Can Throw.
As Always, Enjoy Baseball,
Love Ya!
-Tepid