The following piece can be originally seen directly at PnR Scouting.
Ht/Wt: 6-2/195 | B/T: L/R | Year: Sophomore | Born: 11/01/1988
Scouted:
Ohio State at Purdue (West Lafayette, IN) April 17, 2009 (in attendance)
Michigan at Ohio State (Columbus, OH) May 2, 2009 (film)
Ohio State at Georgia (Tallahassee, FL) May 29, 2009 (film)
Frame:
Wimmers has a strong and athletic frame. While he’s only average in height, he has fairly broad shoulders, a developed core and a strong lower body. There is a little projection left in him, as he could stand to gain some arm strength to increase durability throughout the game and season.
Motion:
Wimmers throws out of a true three-quarters arm slot, and starts his motion tall and using a quick and high leg kick before entering his delivery. The high leg kick is effective in building momentum to the plate, but he doesn't always balance over the rubber, leading to inconsistencies in his timing and variance in his release. This, in turn, can affect his control and command of his pitches. Moving out of his leg kick, Wimmers flies open with his glove, which can also detrimentally affect his control. He circles the baseball down below his waist before bringing his arm up, creating extra deception. During the arm swing, his glove-side elbow rises up above his shoulder, creating extra stress on the UCL of the non-throwing arm. He strides sideways towards the target, maximizing the force with which the hips pull the shoulders around. Upon foot strike, landing properly with his glove-side knee bent, his arm is in good shape -- parallel to the ground and even or slightly below the pitching arm-side shoulder. Wimmers keeps his shoulders back, creating good scapular load and allowing his hips to rotate through first. He incorporates his trunk well, getting good drive off the rubber. He concludes with his upper-body hunched over, but his pitching arm ends almost touching the ground, which shows remarkable follow-through. He isn’t put in the greatest fielding position by doing so because he finishes towards first base, but hasn’t appeared to have problems reacting to balls hit back up the middle.
Stuff:
Fastball - Wimmers currently sits in the upper-80’s to low-90’s with his fastball, with a little room to add velocity as he increases arm strength and improves his mechanics. The pitch has good arm-side run and average command that fluctuates when he struggles to find a proper release point.
Curveball - Wimmers owns one of the finest curveballs in the draft. He throws the pitch in the mid-70’s with plus 11-5 movement on hitters. With improved mechanics, it could be a true Major League out pitch.
Change-up - Wimmers also throws a decent change-up -- a 75-78 mph straight change that flashes good tumble and helps keep hitters honest. As he continues to more consistently hit his release point, it will be a nice complementary piece in his arsenal.
Projected Position: Back-end to Mid-rotation Starter
Suggested Draft Slot: Late 1st- 1st Supplemental
CAREER:
STATISTICS:
Ohio State Univ. (Spring 2010)
Bourne Braves (Cape Cod 2009)
Ohio State Univ. (Spring 2009)
Ohio State Univ. (Spring 2008)
GRADING OUT (FUTURE):
Motion: 40 (50/55)
Fastball: 45/50 (55)
Curveball: 55/60 (65/70)
Change: 45 (50)
Control: 45 (50/55)
Command: 35 (50)