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Stacey King -> RE: Players and prospects III (4/30/2015 1:31:40 PM)
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Twins Hope Clay Can Develop Fastball Command
April 30, 2015 by Phil Miller
MINNEAPOLIS—Like a lot of 21-year-old pitchers in the low minors, lefthander Sam Clay needs to develop a pitch. Clay is a little unusual, though: He needs a fastball.
“His path is sort of backwards from most pitchers,” vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff said. “He’s got a legitimate, major league curveball, a plus-plus strikeout pitch. What he doesn’t have, though, is command of a fastball. For most guys, it’s just the opposite, but he just never learned to throw it.”
That’s because Clay, a fourth-round pick in 2014 from Georgia Tech, was a quarterback in high school. “He was a football guy,” Radcliff said. “Then he discovered he can throw this pitch, and it’s taken him a long way.”
It got the Buford, Ga., native to Georgia Tech, where he eventually harnessed that curveball and became the Yellow Jackets’ closer, “just finishing games by striking out guys with hard hammers,” Radcliff said. “He can throw it 82-83 (mph), which not many guys can do, and he moves it around very well.”
[image]http://i57.tinypic.com/2z81fft.jpg[/image]
After turning pro last summer, Clay immediately struck out 44 batters in just 29 innings at Rookie-level Elizabethton.
But while Clay can hit 92 mph, he doesn’t always know where his fastball going. He walked 17 batters at Elizabethton, hit four more, and threw 10 wild pitches. His ERA ballooned to 12.46 at one point, but he closed the season with 16 straight scoreless innings.
The Twins have tinkered with Clay’s mechanics in hopes of helping him throw strikes, and they are optimistic. In his 2015 debut at low Class A Cedar Rapids, though, he faced five batters, walked three, threw a wild pitch and gave up a two-run double.
“We know it’s going to take time,” Radcliff said, “but if he can throw strikes, he’s got a real future. His curve would already play in the big leagues. His objective, his challenge for the year is to control his fastball and get it into the mix.”
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