Last Saturday, two of the best pitching prospects in the Midwest League met and showed why they were rated so highly.
Matt Manning, starting for the Whitecaps, went 5 innings on 73 pitches before being pulled. He did start to tire a bit in the 5th, but I was still surprised to not see him out for the start of the 6th.
In the first inning, Manning started out 92-93 on his fastball before ringing up the first batter with a 89 MPH changeup(maybe a 2-seam FB, given the velo). The next batter saw 94-95 before flying out to RF (the only fly ball Manning would allow). For the third batter, he ramped his FB all the way up to 96-97, mixing in a 81 MPH curveball. He finished the poor right-handed batter with an absolutely filthy 97 MPH fastball that tailed off the plate away from him, drawing a swinging that looked more like he was waving a white flag than actually trying to drive the ball.
Manning's command started to waver a bit in the 2nd inning, as his first pitch was nearly a HBP. He ended up issuing a leadoff walk on a full count. The next batter saw two changeups sandwiched around a fastball and flailed at both. the next two hitters fared no better as Manning squashed the threat, with his fastball ranging from 92-94, his curve holding steady at 79, and one 87 MPH change making an appearance.
Hitters tried to lay off Manning in the third, but it didn't work. He just threw it in the zone. The first guy K'd looking, the next hit a grounder to the 2nd baseman, and the third K'd swinging. His FB was still 92-94, his curve 75-77, and his changeup at 80.
The 4th inning was the first in which Manning failed to strike out multiple hitters, but it didn't matter. A routine GB and foul popout were followed by a grounder that snuck up the middle for a single (might have been an out if the Whitecaps weren't trying to fit Isaac Paredes in at SS) and yet another K. Velocity numbers were essentially the same.
The 5th inning was where Manning's armor started to weaken. The first batter hit a 85 MPH changeup straight up the middle on the ground for a solid single, and after Manning K'd the next guy looking on three and battled back from a 3-0 count to K another, he gave up a walk on a full count to put two on with two out. He then managed to get an easy grounder on his next pitch to end the inning. His FB velocity dropped down to 91 by the end of the 5th, as he couldn't get any swinging strikes on the last two batters.
In total, Manning threw 73 pitches, 47 for strikes, and two wild pitches. I place partial blame on the catcher for those, though to be fair, he probably isn't used to catching someone with Manning's stuff. Manning gave up only two batted balls that even remotely resembled solid contact all night; the 5th inning single and a line drive pulled well foul into the RF stands during the 5th inning walk.
In total, Manning's stuff was absolutely filthy. His fastball was tailing away from righties and in on lefties all night, thrown about 70-75% of the time. His changeup and curve both got around 15% usage. His final line of 5 IP, 2H, 2 BB, 9 K might even understate how well he pitched, as 5 of the 6 non-K outs and both of the hits were on ground balls.
Adrian Morejon, pitching for the Tincaps, also went 5 innings, but on 80 pitches.
The first pitch he threw, a 94 MPH fastball, was sent just over the third baseman's head into LF. The batter, left-handed Danny Woodrow, had Morejon's number all night. Morejon next tried to nibble with four 94-96 MPH fastballs, but all missed to put two on with none out. During the next at bat, Morejon threw a slider that was waist high, but broke so quickly that the catcher completely missed it for a passed ball to advance the runners. After showing all three of his pitches to the batter, he got a weak grounder that bounced over his own head to the shortstop for an RBi groundout. The next batter hit a solid line drive to left to score the other runner, but that was the extent of the scoring with Morejon inducing a GIDP next. His fastball was 94-96, his slider 79-80, and the change 81-83.
The 2nd inning went much more smoothly, with a K followed by a somewhat deep flyout to RF and a routine grounder. FB was already starting to slow down at 91-94, change at 80-82 and slider at 78.
Morejon allowed two singles in a row to lead off the third, one on a liner and on a popup between the left fielder and shortstop. He then quashed the threat with consecutive Ks against the 2 and 3 hitters followed by a harmless fly out. FB was 91-93, changes/sliders were 78/80. By now the velo difference was small enough that I couldn't tell them apart.
The 4th inning featured more weak contact (foul popout and groundout to SS) and a K. Velocity remained steady.
the 5th inning was where Morejon, like manning, started to tire. He allowed a leadoff single on a grounder between short and third, got a K looking, allowed a third single to Woodrow on a solid liner, got another strikeout looking and then just barely got out of the inning when his second baseman made a nice catch on another line drive to end the inning.
Overall, while not as impressive as Manning, Morejon was still very good, especially when considering he is still only 18. His final line of 5 IP, 6 H, BB, 6 K, 2 ER is an accurate representation of his night. While he got BABIPed a bit early, it was mostly canceled out by the end of the night. 50 of his 80 pitches were strikes, and he gave up 5 grounders (4 GO), 2 FO, 2 popups (1 caught), and 5 liners (1 caught).
Now, on to the hitters.
Daz Cameron, in his first game as a member of the Tigers organization, did not get a chance to do anything defensively because Matt Manning decided to not to let anything get in the air. At the plate, he showed good discipline, drawing a walk and scoring in the 1st. But he had trouble catching up to Morejon's heater, hitting 3 fouls into the RF stands before striking out in the 5th sandwiched around a full count K looking in the 3rd. Maybe a different ump calls that a ball; it looked close to me.
Jorge Ona was DH'd, so I obviously didn't get a chance to see his defense either. But he had the unenviable task of trying to hit against Matt Manning with his command working, and Manning just overpowered him. Two plate appearances, two strikeouts.
Isaac Paredes was competent defensively. He easily handled a grounder hit straight at him, making a strong throw to get the runner easily. He might have had a shot at robbing one of the two singles Manning allowed, but it would have been close. I didn't think he had much of a shot at sticking at SS before the game, and he did nothing to change that. In the batter's box, he continued to show good discipline, and hammered a foul ball to deep left in the 1st before grounding into a double play. In the 4th, he hit three foul popups, with the last one caught. Once Morejon left, he drew a full count walk. My enthusiasm is a bit tempered now, but he still has plenty of time. He might just need to repeat low A next year.
