Scott Frazier Scouting Report

I watched Scott Fraizer of Pepperdine pitch against Oklahoma on television. The Junior right-hander was a 5th round pick out of high school where he was already throwing in the low 90s. Most available scouting reports on him (just from a quick Google search) are from high school, but he has hit 95 MPH according to reporters. He is a huge guy at 6-7, listed at 215.

Before saying anything else, I will note that this was a really poor outing for Frazier, as he gave up 8 runs in 6 innings. As a sophomore (he only threw 18 innings as a freshman), he threw 103 innings and had a 4.38 kwERA with just 2 homers given up and about a hit an inning. He can get college hitters out. He has struggled with control (12 wild pitches and 12 HBPs seem to be a lot), but he was a solid college pitcher last year. This goes down as a bad start for him, and that should be noted before we continue on, as this is a one time look on a day where he was less successful than he usually is. With that said, after a horrible start, he did settle down and at least throw some innings.

I really hate his mechanics (and this was a question about him coming out of high school according to the little that I read). You can just look up some of the available video on him to see what I am talking about (as I won't spend too much time discussing them). It almost makes me want to call him a bullpen pitcher right off the bat. It is hard to see him being able to consistently repeat those for large periods of time per game, per season, for multiple years. He also doesn't look especially athletic or anything. A somewhat lanky body made it hard for him to really run or field well.

With all these negative things said, the ball moves well out of his hand. He can sink it and was moving it glove side but could move it arm side as well. When he is going well he can place it both ways. However, his command was poor, not harnessing the really good movement he was getting. While the broadcast didn't have a consistent radar gun, he was clearly throwing hard. Stuff is awesome looking and he is fun to watch. He hit 94 MPH, but had one fastball thrown right down the middle knocked out of the park.

I didn't chart, but seemed to be throwing high a little more. On a good day, I can imagine he works both high and low, using what you might call a sinker and 4-seam. His change stayed up, and didn't have a lot of movement. Would miss arm side a lot.

It looks like Frazier has a hard vertical curve (could be called a slider, but doesn't have any kind of horizontal breaking action). It looked like a solid pitch (but Chris Crawford's draft book calls it just average) with quick and very dramatic break. I obviously like hard curves, and that is what he has.

To me, Frazier looks like a guy that could be a really good reliever. He has the stuff. He has at least 2 good pitches, but the change needs a lot of work, and his delivery makes me question whether he can ever be consistent enough to start.