What do you know about Anthony Slama?

by journeymen on Feb 6, 2009 2:23 PM EST Comment 8 comments

So he had pretty mediocre stats in college, but in two years in the minors he has been absolutely lights out. 102 innings pitched with 159 strikeouts (14.0 per nine), 60 hits allowed and 34 walks (0.92 whip), and era of 1.23, and he has not given up a single homer in those two years! I guess part of it he's a man among boys, as he was a 24-year-old last year in High A ball, but that can only explain so much of it. Why does a guy have such incredible numbers, but no one seems to know who he is? What am I missing?

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Put him on a AA team with Aumont and Simmons

and you’d have Phi Slama Jama.

Many years from now, when his name's recalled
Everyone will say, "He should have passed the ball"
-- Al Stewart, "Football Hero"

by PaulThomas on Feb 6, 2009 2:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

LOLOLOL

by joltinjoe on Feb 6, 2009 2:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

What do I think of Anthony Slama?

He’s a Bad Mamma Jamma

by guru4u on Feb 6, 2009 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I haven't seen him pitch

but I remember someone saying that he’s successful due to deception rather than stuff. And that his dominance is unlikely to translate to higher levels. I don’t remember who it was though.

I don’t think he did too well in the AZL. It was a small sample size and late in the year and all, but I remember it being pretty ugly.

by OldDutchPots on Feb 6, 2009 3:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Sure hope he's a closer

And he can come in a Slamma the door….

rimshot

The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.

by mckeeno on Feb 6, 2009 3:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

His #'s are sick

But Sickles Likes Delaney better than Slama which kind of makes me giggle

Slama I think is better than a future setup man he has CLOSER in his future, to me.

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Feb 6, 2009 5:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Slama

Seems to me like a typical Twins pitching prospect, they love guys with who throw stikes and have a good sinker. His level of success is amazing though, even if he is old for his league.

Here is a scouting breakdown from Jason Grey of ESPN on Anthony Slama

"Slama is a draft-and-follow signee who was picked in the 39th round of the 2006 draft out of San Diego and has emerged as a dominant closer at high Class A.

As a 24-year-old he should be dominating at this level, but it’s the extent of his dominance that is intriguing. Slama leads the minor leagues in strikeout rate as well as ERA.

The 6-3 righty has not allowed a homer as a professional while producing a ridiculous strikeout rate with his heavy low-90s sinker from a three-quarters arm slot. His delivery is clean and compact without a lot of wasted effort, allowing him to repeat it well and command to all four quadrants of the strike zone. He adds an average slider to go with his sinker, and his changeup is just a “show me” pitch for lefties that occasionally has a slower delivery and arm speed. The one negative besides his age relative to his level, is that sometimes he tips his pitches and upper-level hitters can exploit that. However, even when he does so, he commands well enough that they still may not be able to do much with it. There are some good skills here to back up the numbers, but again it would be a shock if a polished college pitcher was not dominating the Florida State League to some extent.

The stats speak for themselves. Minor league closers become major league ones far less often than people think, but he’s a name to monitor. He’s clearly ready for a different level of competition, and we’ll have to see how he handles the upper levels of the minors."

by smoooooth on Feb 8, 2009 1:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs