Edgar Olmos Scouting Report (2010)
Late in the 2010 season, I had the opportunity to scout Edgar Olmos while looking at houses in the Atlanta area. After becoming what I thought was hopelessly lost, I happened to stumble upon the stadium about 45-minutes after the first pitch was supposed to be thrown. Fortunately for me, a strong, but short thunderstorm delayed the action and I was there for the first pitch.
A special hat tip to @Jenn_B_Smith on twitter for the free ticket and scoop on a number of former Rome Braves who have moved onto bigger and better things. She's truly one of the most baseball savvy women on twitter and deserves a follow.
In seeing Olmos pitch, it was a tale of two pitchers as he cruised through the first four innings only to fall apart in the fifth before being pulled. And while his final line of 6 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings was uninspiring, I saw glimpses of a pitcher capable of being a top-10 prospect within the organization when lists are released after the 2011 season.
Physical Projection: Listed at 6'5", 180 lbs., Olmos seemed to be closer to 210 lbs in person. At present, his lower half has some development and size, but he's still pretty lean throughout. His frame should allow for additional size, and Olmos' limbs are what I would consider to be very long and loose. It leaves him with plenty of projection, but also presents a challenge as Olmos will really need to tighten his mechanics to consistently repeat his delivery.
Mound Presence: Whether Olmos was rattled, tired, or both, he fell apart the first time he faced adversity. After cruising through four innings, a misplayed bunt opened the floodgates and Olmos was unable to recover. When on the ropes, his body language quickly went south and it was easy to see his frustration bubbling over. Intensity is a plus, but Olmos needs to better control his emotions on the mound to become consistent and avoid extreme peaks and valleys in his performance.
Fastball: With his 3/4 arm slot, Olmos currently slings the baseball across his body which allows for significant tail on a fastball which he works at 89-91 MPH. However, he does have a tendency to elevate the pitch and did not seem too keen on working the inner half of the plate. Additionally, his throwing across his body may limit his velocity some as his present arm whip is very easy. He looks like a pitcher who has the ability to throw harder, but just isn't incorporating his lower half enough to take advantage of his size and arm action.
His 2-seam fastball was a quality pitch he located consistently. It was definitely a weapon, but one which would be so much better if he could backdoor the pitch on the inside corner to right-handed hitters.
Curveball: At 75-77 MPH, Olmos' curveball had plenty of movement, but was not what I would consider to be sharp. It was more "slurvy" than I would like to see with a 3-7 break. In looking at his platoon splits, I strongly believe this pitch is the reason for his much stronger peripherals versus LHH as sweeping breaking balls away make for an extremely effective pitch across the league. However, that same sweeping breaking ball is not going to work at higher levels without refinement, and is likely already being exploited by RHH.
Changeup: At 76 MPH, I only registered a single gun reading on the pitch the entire outing. That's obviously not enough to make a strong assessment of the offering, but is telling nonetheless as he probably threw 80% fastballs, 15% curveballs, and 5% changeups during his starT. This speaks to his breaking pitches lagging behind the rest of his arsenal.
At present, Edgar Olmos is an intriguing, but unrefined combination of athleticism and projection. At twenty, he's a prospect any organization would love to have as a project which could yield a significant return. 2011 will be a big season for his prospect status as he had only 10 2/3 professional innings since being drafted in 2008 before throwing 117 1/3 in 2010. And while not a big workload in general compared to prospects his age, it's worth noting and something I'll keep a passing eye on as 2011 progresses.
Based on what I saw, it's hard for me to project him as a starting pitcher at the major league level, but he's still in an embryonic state as a prospect and has the physical tools to grow significantly as he makes up for lost time.
A special hat tip to @Jenn_B_Smith on twitter for the free ticket and scoop on a number of former Rome Braves who have moved onto bigger and better things. She's truly one of the most baseball savvy women on twitter and deserves a follow.
In seeing Olmos pitch, it was a tale of two pitchers as he cruised through the first four innings only to fall apart in the fifth before being pulled. And while his final line of 6 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings was uninspiring, I saw glimpses of a pitcher capable of being a top-10 prospect within the organization when lists are released after the 2011 season.
Physical Projection: Listed at 6'5", 180 lbs., Olmos seemed to be closer to 210 lbs in person. At present, his lower half has some development and size, but he's still pretty lean throughout. His frame should allow for additional size, and Olmos' limbs are what I would consider to be very long and loose. It leaves him with plenty of projection, but also presents a challenge as Olmos will really need to tighten his mechanics to consistently repeat his delivery.
Mound Presence: Whether Olmos was rattled, tired, or both, he fell apart the first time he faced adversity. After cruising through four innings, a misplayed bunt opened the floodgates and Olmos was unable to recover. When on the ropes, his body language quickly went south and it was easy to see his frustration bubbling over. Intensity is a plus, but Olmos needs to better control his emotions on the mound to become consistent and avoid extreme peaks and valleys in his performance.
Fastball: With his 3/4 arm slot, Olmos currently slings the baseball across his body which allows for significant tail on a fastball which he works at 89-91 MPH. However, he does have a tendency to elevate the pitch and did not seem too keen on working the inner half of the plate. Additionally, his throwing across his body may limit his velocity some as his present arm whip is very easy. He looks like a pitcher who has the ability to throw harder, but just isn't incorporating his lower half enough to take advantage of his size and arm action.
His 2-seam fastball was a quality pitch he located consistently. It was definitely a weapon, but one which would be so much better if he could backdoor the pitch on the inside corner to right-handed hitters.
Curveball: At 75-77 MPH, Olmos' curveball had plenty of movement, but was not what I would consider to be sharp. It was more "slurvy" than I would like to see with a 3-7 break. In looking at his platoon splits, I strongly believe this pitch is the reason for his much stronger peripherals versus LHH as sweeping breaking balls away make for an extremely effective pitch across the league. However, that same sweeping breaking ball is not going to work at higher levels without refinement, and is likely already being exploited by RHH.
Changeup: At 76 MPH, I only registered a single gun reading on the pitch the entire outing. That's obviously not enough to make a strong assessment of the offering, but is telling nonetheless as he probably threw 80% fastballs, 15% curveballs, and 5% changeups during his starT. This speaks to his breaking pitches lagging behind the rest of his arsenal.
At present, Edgar Olmos is an intriguing, but unrefined combination of athleticism and projection. At twenty, he's a prospect any organization would love to have as a project which could yield a significant return. 2011 will be a big season for his prospect status as he had only 10 2/3 professional innings since being drafted in 2008 before throwing 117 1/3 in 2010. And while not a big workload in general compared to prospects his age, it's worth noting and something I'll keep a passing eye on as 2011 progresses.
Based on what I saw, it's hard for me to project him as a starting pitcher at the major league level, but he's still in an embryonic state as a prospect and has the physical tools to grow significantly as he makes up for lost time.
