This week, I’m kicking off a new weekly series that I’ll tentatively call the Monday Minutes. Each week on the Monday off-day, I’ll choose one or two prospects from the week prior and do a more detailed rundown of their week. The focus won’t be entirely on the box score but instead will look at specific details in-game that I think matter for their development or long-term prospects. This week to kick us off, we’re taking a look at a couple of arms pitching in the low minors so far this season. RHP Blake Wolters and RHP Logan Martin have each spent the entire season with the Columbia Fireflies to this point. Wolters got the start on Saturday with Martin piggybacking his start. Here’s a closer look at the outing for each pitcher.
RHP Blake Wolters: 5.0IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 2 SO
Wolters got the start on Saturday. He started the first inning with a fastball sitting around 96 mph. The command was spotty to start the game, with Wolters missing his spots fairly often up in the zone.
First Inning
In the first, Wolters worked around a soft single up the middle and a walk. He got behind 2-0 but worked his way back into an even 2-2 count. Wolters just couldn’t find a put-away pitch to seal the deal. Instead, Kenni Gomez fouled off a couple of pitches over the plate before letting ball four pass by, well off the plate. Over his last handful of starts, the strikeouts haven’t been common for Wolters. He has 16 strikeouts over his last 19.0 IP — still a respectable number but nothing that blows you away. In order to really turn up the strikeouts, Wolters needs to find a put-away pitch that he can trust and throw consistently. As it stands now, he simply doesn’t locate the slider or change consistently enough to seal the deal.
The next batter after the walk reached on a throwing error by Daniel Vazquez, loading the bases with just one out. Wolters needed a strikeout or a double-play ball and came through with the K. It came on the back of a great changeup at 90 mph. When located well, the changeup is a serious weapon for Wolters, with excellent arm-side fading action. It plays very nicely off his mid-90s fastball. It took 23 pitches in all, but Wolters eventually escaped the first inning unscathed. It took him finding the zone, but once he started to attack hitters head-on, the results were much better.
Second Inning
Wolters continued attacking the zone to open the second inning. He landed four pitches over the heart of the plate against Victor Diaz, but simply couldn’t garner a swinging strike. Instead, Diaz lined a sharp fly ball that was straight to the center fielder, Erick Peña for an out. Wolters worked again through traffic on the basepaths pretty quickly after the first out in the second inning. The second batter of the inning roped a lazy fly ball to center field for a single before Wolters hit the third batter of the inning with the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Wolters was clearly distracted by the runner at first, throwing over once and also missing pretty badly on this slider that didn’t break. The pitch that hit the batter was a slider that missed up and in as well.
Wolters allowed an RBI single to the next batter he faced. By this point, Wolters was noticeably targeting down and in with the fastball when he needed a “get-me-over” strike. Alejandro Nunez clearly picked up on that, jumping on the first pitch fastball down and in and grounding it up the middle. Shortly after, the defense picked up Wolters to get him out of the second-inning jam. A weak ground ball to Chris Brito at first became an out at second base. With a heads-up play, shortstop Daniel Vazquez fired the ball home to catch the runner from third trying to sneak across a run. That ended the inning with Wolters up to 38 pitches on the day through two.
Third Inning
Wolters attacked down in the zone to open the third inning. That worked a bit better for him, as he worked more efficiently against the first two batters of the inning. One popped out to third base on four pitches, the other lined out to left field on the third pitch of the at-bat. The inconsistent command cropped back up briefly after the first two outs. Wolters tried pitching inside to the left-handed batter but missed badly, nailing him in the back for his second hit batter of the day.
Wolters got back and kept the ball down against the fourth hitter of the inning. The first two pitches went for strikes, including a whiff on the fastball to open the plate appearance. On the third pitch of the inning, Wolters got the batter to ground out weakly to end the inning. Wolters has much better command down in the zone against right-handed batters. When he’s able to keep the ball down, any contact he allows has been relatively weak contact. He doesn’t get beat badly when he keeps it down. The command issues crop up when he tries to pitch up in the zone or inside against lefties.
Fourth Inning
It took just five pitches for Wolters to get the first two outs in the fourth. Both pitches were hit very well to the warning track but ultimately caught by right-fielder Derlin Figueroa. One was a hard shot to right-center that would’ve cleared the fence if Will Bush had pulled it just a tick more. That came after Wolters fell behind 2-1 to the lefty. Again, those command issues against lefties cropped up but luckily didn’t bite him in the runs department this time around. Wolters has a bit of a platoon split thus far in his pro career, and it shows when he works through outings.
Lefties have hit .286 against him this season with nine walks and a .384 on-base percentage in 75 plate appearances. Right-handed hitters, on the other hand, have slashed .230/.296/.405 with six walks in 81 plate appearances. Wolters needs to develop consistency with his changeup to help him find more success against lefties. He will also need to learn to pitch better inside and leverage his slider more to backdoor it against lefties. Wolters notched his first 1-2-3 inning of the night in the fourth, moving to the fifth with 62 pitches on the day.
Fifth Inning
It took just one pitch for Wolters to get his first out in the fifth. He landed a slider inside that was hit very weakly to the second baseman, Lizandro Rodriguez, for the out. Against the second batter, Wolters landed a slider exactly where you’d like to see it against the switch-hitting Yamal Encarnacion.
Wolters worked quickly through the fifth, finishing his day with a relatively efficient 67 pitches through five full innings. That number becomes more impressive considering it took Wolters 23 pitches to get through the first inning alone. In all, it was a solid start for Wolters. He showed great poise and composure in the first two innings, working around a ton of traffic on the basepaths but limited damage masterfully.
The youth is apparent on the mound, and the fastball has fallen back some this season in the velocity department. Wolters debuted this season touching 98 but sat more at 94-96mph on Saturday. Some of that could be fatigue, as Wolters has transitioned from the prep ranks to now pitching on a much more regular schedule. The Royals have taken him somewhat slow this season, skipping his spot in the rotation here or there to help extend his arm. They’ll continue to build him up and see if that velocity can tick back up and stick over a full season.
RHP Logan Martin: 4.0IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 3 SO
Martin took over for Wolters in the sixth inning. He started his day showcasing the heater, which has good, running action up in the zone. He tosses from a three-quarter arm slot, using a long arm action and generating plenty of movement with an excellent slider. He also mixes in a changeup here and there.
The slider is Martin’s best pitch by far, regularly generating whiffs and forcing hitters to chase out of the zone. He went to it often and early in his first inning of work, notching two swinging strikes with it to tally his first strikeout of the day against the first batter he faced.
Martin worked fairly quickly, taking 12 pitches to get through his first inning of work. He does miss his spots at time, but leans heavily on the slider to get strikes even when it breaks well out of the zone. The pitch reminds me quite a bit of Mack Anglin last year for Columbia. It’s an above-average offering at least, with 60-grade potential.
Seventh Inning
In the seventh inning, Martin got the first out via a weak ground ball on his first pitch of the inning. He got ahead quickly against the second hitter of the inning, landing a changeup down and in against the lefty before blowing a heater by him to make it a 1-2 count. Martin doesn’t have any real platoon split and does a good job leveraging his arsenal against both lefties and right-handed hitters. Right-handed hitters have hit .214 against him this season, and he’s limited lefties to a .197 average as well. Martin went to the changeup to notch his second strikeout on the night.
Eighth Inning
The first hitter of the eighth was the third and final strikeout of the night for Martin. He punched this one out with a nice fastball on the outside half of the plate. Martin’s fastball sits 92-94 with healthy arm-side action at times. I don’t know for certain, but watching him pitch I get the sense that he mixes in a four-seamer and a two-seamer.
There are times that Martin overthrows, trying to put a bit more behind his stuff, but with his college experience at Kentucky, those instances are relatively rare. In the eighth, he reached back and touched 95 with the fastball. Columbia had retired 14 straight hitters until Martin allowed a weak single to the second hitter of the inning. Martin has above-average command and hits his spots pretty consistently. Two weak pop-outs to the right side ended the inning with Columbia still out front, 2-1. Into the ninth, Martin made quick work of the side. He retired the side in order to lock down the four-inning save.
Martin now has a 2.93 ERA on the season. I’m reminded some of David Sandlin and Steven Zobac from last season. Like those two last season, Martin is a bit under matched by Low-A hitters and needs a promotion to High-A to get a clearer glimpse at how good he may be long-term. He reminds me some of former Giants prospect, Clayton Blackburn. Blackburn never made his way to the big leagues after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, but I think Martin has solid fifth or sixth starter potential just like Blackburn once did.
