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Physical
Description: Thin, athletic right-hander with some projection in
his upper body.
Mechanics: Throws from a
three-quarters arm slot from the first base side. Easy, athletic
mechanics. Starts in the stretch before stepping toward first
base then coming up with a medium-high leg kick. Does not use a
wind-up. Loose arm action. Stab behind during delivery. Comes
across body. Arm gets out of sync with the rest of his delivery
at times. Gets good extension. Maintains delivery deep into
games.
Fastball: 91-94 mph. Tops out at
96 mph. Primarily throws two-seam version with late movement
down and in on right-handed hitters. Has shown average control
and fringe-average command, but could take some time for both to
return after Tommy John surgery. Generates a lot of weak contact
on the ground. Potential solid-average offering.
Slider: 81-85 mph. Horizontal shape. Ideal sidespin.
Pitch shows bite. Has strong feel for the pitch, able to throw
it for strikes in the zone or bury it down and out of the zone
when ahead in the count. Potential above-average offering.
Cutter: 86-89 mph. Added the pitch in 2019
and it became his go-to pitch. Late, horizontal movement. Able
to generate swinging strikes with the pitch already. Did not
feature pitch during 2022 Arizona Fall League. Potential
above-average offering.
Changeup: 87-89
mph. Pitch has mostly been shelved in favor of the cutter at
this point and has firmed up from 84-86 mph range he once threw
it at. Throws with deceptive arm speed. Pitch shows fade and
looks like a fastball until late. Can be on the firm side, but
flashed average potential in 2018.
Curveball: 76-79 mph. Vertical, 12-to-6 shape.
Pitch is more of a show-me offering at this point and is rarely
used.
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Career Notes: A Fort Myers native, served as a
Red Sox batboy in the spring of 2004 at City of Palms Park. Also
had scholarship offers to play basketball. Pitched largely in
the bullpen during college, but Red Sox amateur scouts,
including signing scout Stephen Hargett and pitching
crosschecker Chris Mears, identified Ward as a candidate to move
into the rotation. Came out early in two 2019 starts after
trying to barehand comebackers. Did not miss time, but relative
issues with walks following the first incident (21 walks in 30
innings versus 36 in previous 95 2/3 innings) raise question of
whether his control was affected. Participated in the 2018 and
2020 Fall Instructional League. Was placed on the IL after two
starts in 2021 with a right forearm strain, then had Tommy John
surgery on June 3, 2021. Participated in the Fall Performance
Program in 2021 as a rehabber. Participated in 2022 Winter
Warm-Up as a rehabber. Returned to rehab games in July 2022 and
was activated from the IL in August. Assigned to the Arizona
Fall League in 2022 to continue making up innings, but missed
three weeks due to a strained oblique. Was not protected from
selection in the Rule 5 Draft in either 2021 and 2022, the
latter representing something of a surprise.
Summation:
Potential major league swingman type. Ceiling of a back-end
starter if his development continues on an upward trajectory.
Has three pitches that project as at least average that he mixes
well and has the ability to locate. Slider shows most potential
and could get to plus. Able to generate swinging strikes, but
also uses repertoire to generate bad contact, allowing him to
work deeper into outings. Ability to stick as a starter will
depend on continued improvement of fastball command and
refinement of secondary pitches, as well as how stuff comes back
once completely removed from Tommy John rehab.
Links
State of the System: Low Minors Pitchers (4.2.20)
Scouting Report Update (4.24.20)
Scouting Scratch: Red Sox 2021 Rule 5 Preview (11.18.2021) |
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