A Top-100 prospect has made it to majors in a strange 2020 season even though he has very little time at AA, but here is Clarke Schmidt. A top 100 guy for my 100th player profile!
- Born: February 20, 1996
- B/T: Right/Right
- 6’1″, 200-lbs
- Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of South Carolina.
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
Now three years removed from his Tommy John surgery in April 2017, he was slowly ramping up in 2018 where he put up really good numbers, but at low levels.
In 2019, and now with more innings at higher levels, he still put up good numbers, just not quite as dominating.
I’m not seeing real split tendencies here.
He throws a sinking FB and a curve that looks like a slider at time and a changeup that is really good.
Nice spin rate on that slider/curve! Look at the Whiff%!
In his first full season, 2019, he faced A+ batters, and after a period of adjustment he got the better of them, and then he moved briefly to AA where he continued to do just fine.
The key with Schmidt is that whatever you call it, a curve or a slider, it’s one of three pitches that are plus, and his changeup has the ability to become double-plus. This is a starter’s repertoire, and a good one.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #35 on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: #87 on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: Not on their Top 120.
- Fantasy Six Pack: #355 on their dynasty list.
- Prospects365: #80 on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #129 on the Top 487.
- Fantrax: #103 on the Top 250.
Warnings
He hasn’t spent much time at the upper levels, so the majors is a real test. He could use more time, once we get back to a normal minor league season.
Conclusion
He has good control, and three plus pitches. That’s not only a starter profile, he could be a #2 SP one day. But let’s be patient. With Schmidt it was all about building him up after his surgery. Now that he’s done that, he needs reps against batters, and once he gets that he will be a good one.
Maybe even a great one.