After being drafted in 2019, and dealing with shoulder inflammation that year, and then a pandemic the next year, this is the first year we get to see Xzavion Curry in a professional setting. How’s that going? Glad you asked…
- Born: July 27, 1998
- B/T: Right/Right
- 5’11”, 190-lbs
- Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Georgia Institute of Technology.
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:
Yup, that’ll get our attention! Striking out 45 of the 113 batters he’s faced, and he’s walked only six across six starts in Low-A and High-A. He recently got promoted to High-A Lake County Captains, and he just kept on going:
His first High-A start was a five-inning, seven strikeout, two walk affair. So he struck out 37% of the batters he faced in his first effort.
Interesting to see that he’s faced almost as many lefties as righties so far, but in this small sample we see no strong tilt.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: Not on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: Not on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: Not on their Top 133.
- Fantasy Six Pack: Not on their dynasty list.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: Not on the Top 473.
- Fantrax: Not on the Top 250.
Warnings
He’s a pop-up prospect who hasn’t yet made it to the scout’s attention that much.
He’s a 22-year-old beating up on Low-A batters (to be fair, he then beat up on a few High-A batters).
He’s only 5’11”, and there’s a real professional prejudice against using starting pitchers who aren’t at least 6′ (and the taller the better). That said, he’s a solid 190 at his height, not a rail-thin hurler the coaches would be scared to break if he started long-term.
Conclusion
Look at those numbers! He can only pitch where they tell him to pitch, so it’s not his fault they assigned him to Low-A. He can only dominate who they tell him to dominate, so mission accomplished.
He throws with a low-to-mid 90s FB with a vertical arm slot that gives the pitch angle and carry. He also has two breaking balls, though he loves his FB the most. No matter, he’s in the CLE organization, and this is a club that knows how to develop pitchers to get the most out of their talents.
With at least three pitches, and a body that, despite its height, creates a solid foundation, he has the ability to remain a starter. If his velocity doesn’t grow from here (and at almost 23 he probably isn’t going to physically develop all that much more), it will come down to the quality of his secondary pitches. If they remain at least average as he reaches Double-A and above, Curry could become a MLB back-end starter.
For Cleveland.
Which knows how to develop good pitchers.
And now you’ve heard of Xzavion Curry.
You’re welcome.