BRADENTON, Fl. – I’ve got a few articles going up this afternoon from today’s Spring Training coverage, but wanted to provide you with a video update first, featuring the two top pitching prospects in the system, who both threw bullpen sessions today.
Here’s top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow. Francisco Cervelli was catching him, and had him slowing down before each pitch. Glasnow has such a quick delivery that I had to record him holding a lot, just to make sure I got the pitch. I also had to split my recording between Taillon and Glasnow, since they were throwing at the same time. So not many pitches here, but you get to see all three of them.
Here’s Jameson Taillon, and as a bonus, the video of his pro debut for comparison. As I’ve written a lot in the last year, Taillon has really cleaned up his delivery. There’s much less effort, not as many moving parts, the fastball is down in the zone instead of always being flat and up, and he’s not falling toward first base on the follow through, instead planting his leg firm. He spent a lot of time cleaning up his delivery the last two years during his rehab, although this has been a progression lasting many years. Here was last year’s breakdown on the evolution of his delivery, to explain more. (I’ll use any excuse to link to that article, as it’s one of my favorite ones in this site’s history.)
As a bonus, here is a brief video of Elias Diaz catching Kyle Lobstein today, showing off his quiet glove and his blocking skills (1-for-2 in this video blocking the curveball in the dirt).
I’ve noticed Diaz talking with Manny Sanguillen every day before the bullpen sessions. Manny also watches him closely during batting practice. There seems to be a pretty close relationship there, and it’s not just this year, as I noticed it last year as well (and sat next to Manny at one point discussing how good Diaz is at receiving pitches, a topic which he brought up). Today, I tried to get a photo of them talking. Manny noticed, and got Diaz to pose for this picture, which was my favorite one of the day.
