CHARLESTON, WV – Since day one, Gage Hinsz has been behind Mitch Keller in many ways. While Keller was drafted in the second round in 2014, Hinsz was drafted in the 11th round. Keller made his pro debut in 2014 and pitched a good amount of innings after signing early, but Hinsz only got a few outings after signing late.
Keller was rated higher in the initial prospect rankings, and is still ranked higher. This was because Keller’s stuff took off earlier, with improvements to his curveball, his changeup, and his control, along with added velocity. But just like always, Hinsz was right behind him. Keller entered the year as a breakout prospect to watch, due to all of those improvements coming into the year (and he’s made further improvements this season). But Hinsz was more of a flier at the start of the year, that is until he started showing his own improvements during the season.
When I saw Hinsz during Extended Spring Training in April, he was sitting 89-94 MPH with his fastball, while showing off a great curveball. The velocity increase wasn’t totally new, as I saw him sitting 90-92, touching 93 last August in Bristol. He also showed better control, which has continued to improve in a big way this year. So while Keller is starting to move up in the rankings, once again, Hinsz is right behind him making the same move.
Last year, Hinsz made an adjustment to stay back longer in his delivery, preventing himself from flying open and losing command of his pitches. This year, he’s added a further focus on staying in line with the plate, which has not only helped his fastball command, but has helped his secondary stuff.
“I really think he’s starting to get an identity out there,” West Virginia Pitching Coach Matt Ford said after Hinsz’s start on Thursday. “His fastball command has really improved a ton this year. Tonight, it was a lot of misses that were low, which was pretty positive. I think the only thing was just not adjusting in time to guys that were ready to hit fastballs with runners in scoring position. He’s been overall a lot better with control, and better use of the secondary.”
The fastball velocity has also ticked up, sitting 92-95 MPH that night, which was almost exactly one year from when I saw him sitting 90-92 and touching 93. Ford said that this comes from getting to his lower half much better now, and just growing into his body and getting stronger.
The added velocity and command is great, but the really exciting thing about Hinsz this year is the development of his secondary stuff. He throws a curveball and a changeup, and both have seen improvements this year. As I mentioned, the curve looked great in Extended Spring Training in April. After Hinsz was promoted to West Virginia in early June, I got a text from a scout saying he heard the curveball was looking like a plus pitch this year.
Meanwhile, Hinsz had a grip he was comfortable with on the changeup, but the delivery change to keep him more in line with the plate really paid off for the pitch.
“I’ve been really excited about how my changeup’s come along,” Hinsz said. “Last year I didn’t trust it much, I threw it a couple of times here and then, but it’s really come along. I like to use it sometimes now more than the curveball. The curveball, it’s coming along well too.”
Hinsz said that he’s getting a lot of swings and misses on the pitch, but that he could still work to improve it by getting some more movement. He has good velocity separation on the pitch, sitting 81-84 MPH last week, and does a good job making it look like the fastball out of the hand. One downside is that he’s not to the point where he knows to fall back on it quick enough. As Ford noted, he ran into trouble on Thursday when he made the switch to the pitch a little too late, after realizing the other team was sitting on his fastball. But that experience should come with throwing the pitch more.
“That pitch has improved a ton since he’s gotten here,” Ford said. “One thing that Gage understands, to be a Major League pitcher, a changeup is a must. He’s been throwing it, and throwing it with conviction and confidence, which has been awesome to watch.”
A short-term downside with the changeup development was that his curveball regressed. With his mechanical adjustment, he struggled to find the new release point for the curve. He’s now getting more comfortable with throwing the pitch again, and it’s starting to look as good as it did in Extended Spring Training.
“I kind of ran into a little speed bump with that mechanical change that I was talking about,” Hinsz said. “It kind of made it more difficult for me to throw. In the past two outings, I’d say it’s really come along and been really a game changer for me now. So stick with it the way that it is. It’ll be good to have.”
Hinsz is actually running into a similar issue that Keller was running into recently. His fastball is so good that he can dominate this level with that pitch alone. On Thursday, he threw nothing but fastballs for his first 48 pitches, switching to the curveball later in the third inning. That was the inning (video below) that Ford referenced where he needed to make the switch to his secondary stuff sooner. Power Manager Brian Esposito said the same thing. Hinsz started using his changeup and curveball more often in the final two innings, and got back on track.
https://youtu.be/4R5W5NmXq5M
While the switch was late on Thursday, a good sign is that Hinsz is comfortable with his other pitches that he can switch to another one when one of them isn’t working. But at the same time, he’s going to need to switch to them earlier, not just for results, but so that he can keep them sharp and continue the development of the pitches.
“He’s got three weapons. He’s got good stuff,” Esposito said. “He’s got a good fastball. The command wasn’t there today, but he’s got a good, hard fastball and he challenges hitters with it. He’s got a plus changeup, and he had a good breaking ball. At this level, sometimes it might not be there for one or two outings in a row, or it kind of disappears, but he does have the pitch and he does a great job with it.”
“If one pitch hasn’t been working, secondary wise, he’s been able to fall back on another pitch,” Ford said. “It’s great seeing him grow as a pitcher, and being able to go back and forth if need be.”
Hinsz is already at a career high in innings, but is actually behind where others are in the rotation, due to his late start. This late start was due to a car accident he was in at the end of Spring Training, which left him with a concussion and a few lingering effects with his arm that he had to work through with the trainers. He ended up getting back and throwing about 30-35 innings the first two months of the year, and is up to 70 innings in West Virginia. This will leave him with more time during the Fall Instructional League to add some additional innings that he missed, catching up to Keller and other pitchers who are about 15-20 innings ahead of him.
The progress shown by Hinsz so far this year has been impressive. He once again finds himself trailing Mitch Keller, but in a good way. I wrote yesterday that Keller is looking like a guy who is moving up to the top tier in the farm system. Hinsz looks like a guy who is also moving up to becoming a top ten prospect in the system. The fact that he still remains a step behind Keller is a good sign, as it shows both are making progress going forward. This is especially encouraging for Hinsz, as he came into the system with a lot less experience, due to his high school team in Montana not having a baseball team. So we might just be seeing the beginning of continued progression now that Hinsz is getting more and more time to work on his game.
