| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 03-07-2009 |
Many of you got a chance to see Seattle Mariners right-hander Phillippe Aumont for the first time today, as Canada took on the U.S. in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.A few of you asked me in the Prospect Pack thread what I thought of Aumont's performance today.
My first reaction when someone asks about Aumont is to really give away my Top 10, which comes out in the Handbook.
Side Note: Working as much as I can to finish the book and get it out. The publisher isn't being as cooperative as I'd like, but I'm spending as much time as I can on the book's completion. The rankings are set, and I'm done adding players to it; Fields was the final addition. Even if Jack trades Beltre and Bedard for half the Brewers farm system, they won't make the book.
I don't have Aumont ranked as high as some would expect, or as high as Baseball America, who ranked him No. 3 behind Greg Halman and Michael Saunders.
But I think my answers in the above linked thread were too shortsighted, so I thought I'd tackle the subject in its own post, which is why you're reading this.
Aumont went one inning today versus the United States, pitching a scoreless seventh. It wasn't pretty by any means; Aumont gave up a line shot double to right-center off the bat of Dustin Pedroia, a softly-lined single to left by Jimmy Rollins and a 5-pitch walk to Chipper Jones in which he also threw a wild pitch that sent runners to second and third.
But that's when Aumont turned it up a notch. Canada's pitching coach Denis Boucher made a visit and whatever he said, he should bottle it and sell it on the market. Aumont got David Wright to line out softly to short on a 94-mph two-seamer that screamed in on his hands, and then up stepped Kevin Youkilis.
Youkilis had reached base in three straight plate appearances, but Aumont made the All-star look rather pedestrian, striking out the Red Sox first baseman on three pitches.
He started off Youkilis with a 94-mph tailing fastball, up and in - swing and a miss, strike one.
Aumont then went to his breaking ball, a curve, for a called strike two, down at the knees and scraping the outside corner. Youkilis didn't exactly like the call, but the 80-mph pitch was a beauty for strike two.
Aumont threw the curve ball again, this time starting the pitch on the outside corner at the knees and raking it down and out of the zone. Youkilis couldn't help but offer at the 81-mph pitch, checking his swing, but doing so too late.
He was visually displeased with the call by the first base umpire, but the replay showed he'd went too far.
Two down, bases still full of Americans. Aumont went on to strike out Curtis Granderson on another wicked curve ball, Granderson swinging over the top of the pitch as it dove down toward his ankles.
Aumont was out of the jam, and pumped his fist vigorously as he walked off the mound following his second straight strikeout.
It was a bit messy, but the stuff Aumont displayed was pretty good. Furthermore, some of the concerns I previously had about Aumont's future, I can now subdue a little bit.
I'm still worried about his arm slot, injuries, lack of track record in the pros, and his future role, of course.
But Aumont was working from a true, or even high-3/4 slot, rather than the low-3/4 placement he's shown last summer at Class A Wisconsin.
This could - and should - allow Aumont to stay on top of his pitches, at least more effectively than before, and keep the curve ball in lieu of a true slider. It should also allow him to develop a third pitch, a change or splitter, a pitch that needs be kept down as much as any other.
His curve showed more depth than it did regularly in 2008, and if he sustains that curve ball, it's a two-plane breaker that ranges from 78-82 mph.
He still has below-average fastball command, which may never be better than average due to the difficulty in repeating his delivery, but the life on the pitch is reminiscent of the same pitch from Brandon Morrow.
Aumont still gets good sink on his two-seamer, that sits 90-93 mph, and his four-seamer reached 96 on Saturday.
The sinking action is imperative for his future; without it, he could find himself leaving a lot of 94-mph fastballs up and catching too much of the plate, much like he did with Pedroia to lead off the inning.
Too many of the those would probably prevent Aumont from starting at the big-league level.
One more cool thing about the inning for Aumont: The Mariners had explicit restrictions on his use for Team Canada; one inning or 25 pitches, not more, not ever, not even one more pitch.
The curve that got Granderson was pitch No. 25.
scouting-phillippe-aumont-at-the-wbc
Comments
The following 20 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: 01v-dubs on 03-07-2009 22:08:19 Jason, with Aumount's new arm slot will that allow him likely stay more healthy then his old arm slot, is he 2-seemer still his bread and butter with his new arm slot? I also noticed that he slows his arm after he releases the ball, I don't know much about pitching mechanics but that can't be good right? |
| 2. By: Slurve on 03-07-2009 22:25:09 Do you see Aumont taking the Brandon Morrow track where he makes the team as a reliever then getting a couple starts along the way or is it the dream rotation coming in in 2010 with the Felix/Morrow/Aumont with possibly Erik and Alex White coming in with Pineda/Rameriez/Adcock backing it up. Aumont reminds me of a right handed Randy Johnson big athlete and wicked stuff. His role is a question due to durability questions but it seems to me he's either a rotation ace or a relief ace. |
| 3. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-07-2009 22:49:31 Aumont's follow-through is very easy and pronounced, but as long as he's doing it on every pitch, it's fine. As far as his track to the rotation in the bigs, that will depend on when that occurs. Aumont is so much more physical than Randy, less effort in his delivery, and while he uses his lower body, it's not out of control. He has things to clean up, but repeating his delivery, arm slot and arm speed on each pitch type is the key for him. That and a change/split. |
| 4. By: Lonnie on 03-07-2009 22:58:03 What I'd like to know is what do you do with a guy like Aumont w/r/t his mechanics? From what I've read, there seems to be several flaws in his delivery, and if each is corrected then his delivery would be vastly different. Right now, he has some wicked stuff that is probably augumented by some wildness. Does a team "correct" his flaws to such an extent that he could become no longer as effective as he is right now? I don't believe that there is any sort of guarantee that correcting the flaws will make him a better pitcher, just a pitcher with a textbook delivery. Lonnie |
| 5. By: bikozu on 03-08-2009 00:09:30 Thanks for the post, Jason, it was a good read. I was really excited from the first pitch that Aumont threw, and the fact that he got so many swinging strikes from such quality batters just stunned me. I don't know about what constitutes 'red flags' or anything, but a couple things jumped out at me from that inning. 1. Stiff mechanics. I'm not going to try to predict injury risk or anything but he doesn't have the same smoothness in his motion that Johan or Lincecum does. 2. Inconsistent break on his pitches. It looks like he's throwing a slider with curveball arm action and it gets pretty slurvy. While I like the type of movement the pitch has, it will be hard for him to locate it consistently. Just my 2¢, I only watched that inning twice so I may have missed something. |
| 6. By: slick on 03-08-2009 00:14:00 Texas A&M pitcher Wilson's line Saturday IP H R ER BB SO 6.0 3 1 0 1 14 Nice performance, maybe is starting to move into the first round. |
| 7. By: safecochatter on 03-08-2009 05:41:55 rules are made to be broken. i think aumont finishes pitching to granderson even if it takes aumont 30 pitches for the inning. the confidence and expirence gained from that was 50 times better than anything he could of recieved in peoria. i think if the m's were watching,and they probably were,they would agree. oh...and the strike out of Youkilis....PRICELESS! |
| 8. By: Lonnie on 03-08-2009 09:33:29 safecochatter, I think that the M's management probably would have burned up the phone lines if Aumont had been out there beyond 28 pitches. It's one thing to look at the situation as a learning experience, but when the pitcher in question has future MOR - TOR potential they would have erred on the side of caution. I'm just glad that the mandate wasn't been put to the test... Lonnie |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-08-2009 11:26:49 Aumont would have been removed after the pitch regardless. The Mariners were very specific and strict about the pitch count, and Whitt agreed to them. re: Lonnie, I don't think he has a ton of flaws. Just a few major ones. Adjusting them wouldn't completely re-design his delivery. and you're right. If Lincecum's "odd/bad" mechanics were changed, where would he be right now? Triple-A Fresno with a sore shoulder? |
| 10. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-08-2009 11:40:49 Wilson's not going to move into the first round based on performance, though. He'll have to do it with tools. Stuff, command. If his stuff and command reflect his performances, he's a first rounder. But he hasn't exactly been facing the Yankees. |
| 11. By: Slurve on 03-08-2009 21:19:55 I read your PI article Jason good stuff but why do you have to remind us of what we can't have. >=( |
| 12. By: 01v-dubs on 03-09-2009 00:04:45 Jason, back to the draft, what do you think about Andrew Oliver? Could he make sense at #2? based on your previous write-up of him he seems pretty good, plus FB, possible plus slider, from the left side. Seems like a possible frontline pitcher with more promise then White, Crow etc. |
| 13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-09-2009 10:22:28 Sorry, Slurve. LOL. dubs, I like Oliver, haven't seen a lot of him, but his command is the key. He doesn't carry the velo that White or Crow carries right now, at least not consistently, but that won't matter if he commands everything better. Re: Aumont I know a lot of people are talking about Aumont's stiff front leg, but there's not a lot of evidence to prove his stuff landing leg is a major flaw. It doesn't LOOK right, and maybe holding him back some, but as far as being able to repeat, and injury is concerned, there aren't any major worries with that. The org has been focused on his arm slot and upper body mechanics. |
| 14. By: Blowgun7 on 03-09-2009 10:53:36 Great piece in the P-I, Jason. Still games to play, but right now I'd lean towards Ackley or one of the prep arms. Hopefully one of those prep pitchers seperates from the rest of pack over the next few months. The upside on White and Crow just isn't that exciting for the #2 overall pick. |
| 15. By: Jason A. Churchill on 03-09-2009 11:17:41 Honestly, I agree, blow. White is mucked up right in the middle of the rest of those college arms; Crow, Oliver, Gibson, even Volz... I like Tate, too, but Matzek or Miller, right now, would be MY PICK, i think. |
| 16. By: Slack on 03-09-2009 11:30:19 If it were up to me, I would choose Matzek and I am open to Miller as well. My question is, would the M's be open to taking a high schooler with the #2 pick or are they more likely to lean towards a college player? |
| 17. By: 01v-dubs on 03-09-2009 11:52:58 Yeah, I'd lean toward the prep player to right now. I know Jason will eventually get to him, but if Tate has superstar potential, maybe somewhere bewteen Maybin and the Uptons I'd take him. If not, I'd take Matzek. |
| 18. By: Pumpkin on 03-09-2009 12:13:00 I agree, Tate or Matzek would probably be my top two choices right now, although with how well Ackley has been doing recently he is right up there too, but I have always been a little biased towards drafting HS players personally. This is kinda off topic, but Lopez has 5 2B in 7 AB, maybe he is finally started to reach his full potential. |
| 19. By: Blowgun7 on 03-09-2009 13:03:52 Should be six doubles if he didnt hit one so hard that it bounced hard of the wall, and he got gunned down at second. |
| 20. By: bilbo on 03-13-2009 15:52:43 Hey Jason, what happened to the handbook thread? ;-) Let me ask my question this way: Do you think that the extra time it takes a HS player to develop would make the college guys more valuable and the Ms more likely to take a guy like Ackley or Crow at #2 (assuming Stras goes #1)? I don't think it is enough to overcome a huge talent difference (like a Griffey, Arod, Upton type) but I don't see that difference this year at this time. Because of the time of the ROI I expect that this is the case and as a result I have the board currently as Stras ... ... ... Ackley Crow (he has to pitch well in indy ball) ... Tate Matzek,etc |
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