Pitching in the minors is a weird science. I have seen pitchers, who have terrible stats, do great in the majors and pitchers whose stats are dynamite, sink in the majors. So how do you prospect a pitcher? For me, usually I look at the WHIP. I look at the pitcher’s coach, the league he is in, the talent in the league, ect. When I first looked at Vincent Mazzaro, I saw nothing very special, although he was the A’s 3rd round draft pick in 2005, he didn’t play pro ball until 2006. I have always said this, but players who don’t sign and play a short season ball, have a harder time of making it to the pros. I don’t understand why this is, but the truth is you need that first crack of experience.
Mazzaro was one of those guys who didn’t play short season ball. Instead the A’s brass pressed him into service in low A Kane County in 2006. He responded as any no experience pitcher would, he struggled and put up a 9-9/5.05/1.58 record. The only thing really jumping out was his 81 strikeouts in 119 IP. At 19 I would have thought that they would have kept him in low A for another year. But someone saw something in him and in 2007 he progressed to high A Stockton. In Stockton it was more of the same. Instead he had more walks than ever before, he had brough down his H/9 and raised his K/9 but also his BB/9 went up as well. He was 9-12/5.33/1.50 and clearly, there is a trend that I’m noticing. A bad trend, like not going to make it to the majors trend.
Of course that all changed for him this year. I guess he was able to work on his mechanics in the off season, to finally make that adjustment to the intricacies of pro hitting. In 2008 he was promoted yet again. This time to AA Midland, where he is putting together an amazing season. I guess there is a reason why I am not a pro scout or a pro anything for that matter. Again, I would have left him in high A for more seasoning. I would have been wrong to do that as he has put up an amazing season this year. His record so far is 12-3/1.90/1.10 with only 36 walks and 104 strikeouts in 137 innings. I believe he has turned the corner. I also believe that he will progress to AAA next year, where if he continues pitching the way he has been, he should get a call up by mid season next year.
Like I said, it’s easy to spot guys like Hamels, Liriano, Duke, and Cahill, who rocket through the minors with their amazing stuff, not showing any kinks in their armor until they hit the show, but then there are guys like Mazzaro, who learn to pitch in the minors and are just waiting for a crack at the bigs. The latter guy is the one I look for because he is the one who might make something of himself in the majors. A very quick search of eBay revealed no signed cards or any cards for that matter. Keep your eye opened, I think he could turn out to be someone special.
