Hardballtimes on Zach Stewart

[OnBaseMachine]

This was on Doug's and C. Trent's blog:

84. Zach Stewart | RHP | Cincinnati Reds

As opposed to the first round, the third round is a much more optimal place to be drafting a high-level reliever. In Stewart, the Reds are getting a pitcher with two potentially plus pitches, good control, and the ability to miss bats and generate ground balls. Overall, Stewart doesn't have too many glaring weaknesses.

Fastball - ranges from 91-95 mph and has both vertical and horizontal movement. The pitch has some heavy sink to generate plenty of ground balls, but also tails away from lefties and into right-handed hitters. The pitch profiles as above average, flashing plus at times.

Slider - a tight spinning, hard breaking pitch coming in the low 80's complements his fastball very well. The pitch can lose some of its tightness at times and turn into a slurvy-type pitch, but when he's on, the pitch can be very difficult to hit. Below is Stewart's fastball (left) at 93 mph, while his slider (right) is a little more slurvy, but still effective nonetheless:



Stewart has good command of both pitches as he can throw both pitches for strikes. His control is not perfect, however. There will be times he can lose the strike zone so he must do a better job of consistently throwing strikes.



Stewart comes to a compact, athletic position, which I like. His elbow gets a little high, but that doesn't concern me too much. You can see he generates very good separation between his torso and hips, helping him generate his plus velocity. The lower body is facing toward home plate, the numbers on the back of his jersey are pointing in the first-base direction.

One thing he does very well is maintain a firm glove out in front of his chest to prevent himself from flying open. His athletic/compact delivery, as I mentioned in my profile on Craig Kimbrel, helps Stewart coordinate all the moving parts of his body.

Stewart should move quickly through the Reds' minor league system and once he arrives to the big league level, he'll be a perfect fit in the homer-friendly Great American Ball Park, both because of his ability to miss bats and keep the ball on the ground.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/ar...quests-part-3/