Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Rays 2nd Round Pick - 66th Overall: Jacob Thompson

BaseballAmerica:(Rated #161 overall)
Due to California high school transfer rules, Thompson did not pitch varsity baseball in his junior season at Wilson High, which is directly across the street from Blair Field, Long Beach State's home field. He graduated from Wilson a semester early to play for the Dirtbags. Thompson's college career has been a mixed bag, with bursts of brilliance interspersed with wildness and control problems. Relying heavily on his fastball, Thompson is an aggressive hurler who resembles, in frame and style, former big leaguer Troy Percival. His 92-94 mph fastball peaks at 95, and Thompson adds an excellent changeup which he mixes in sparingly. Thompson's primary weakness is his curveball, a pitch he short-arms and doesn't finish off cleanly. Scouts think that Thompson's results don't match his talent because of his unusual arm stroke, which will need to be cleaned up, and a weak delivery finish in which he circles away from the plate. He has the arm and raw stuff to be a mid-rotation starter, but he will more likely end up in the bullpen.

Andy Seiler:
Jake Thompson is a powerful collegiate right-handed starting pitcher from Long Beach State. Thompson originally came to Long Beach State from Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. He’s actually a year younger than a lot of his draft classmates, because he graduated high school early in favor of playing for Long Beach State a year early. That was especially important after missing his junior year due to transfer rules inside the state of California, which caused him to be ineligible for a year. His career with the Dirtbags started early, and he was successful in the starting rotation from the very beginning. He was used cautiously in his freshman year, and while he wasn’t dominating anyone, he was pitching to contact and getting weak contact. His sophomore year was actually a regression, though his leash was let out much more. Expectations were tempered as a result, and even though he improved greatly in his junior year, he still isn’t where a lot of people thought he would be. He still profiles as a possible number three starter, but he’s a little more risky than a lot of other college pitchers. His fastball is a plus pitch by itself, sitting 91-94, touching 96, and he adds in a fringe-average curveball and above-average to plus changeup. If Thompson can develop the curveball just a little more and have more confidence in the changeup, he could be a very special pitcher. However, with some risk, he’s expected to be more of a third to sixth round talent than first round talent, and he should be signable in that other range.

There's the college pitcher.

2 comments:

  1. This started a trend that looks to be focused on the bullpen. I think the Rays plan to use Thompson as a reliever from the get go?

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  2. I hope Thompson makes it as a starter, I like what I hear about him. I know he is in HV, but any word on when his first start(or appearence) might be?

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