Minorleagueball: Prospect Smackdow- Gallagher v Slowey

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Link

 

The summary:

 

I give Slowey a slight edge on background and intangibles, Gallagher a slight edge on tools and physicality, Slowey an edge in performance based on what they did in Double-A, and rate them even on projection. All in all I think Slowey has a slight margin ahead of Gallagher. I ranked Slowey at 33 on my Top 50 Pitcher list, and Gallagher at 38. I like both of them a lot.

[Laura]

Argh, my brilliant response was eaten, so here are some random thoughts instead.

 

The writeup was interesting, but I don't really see Gallagher and Slowey as being hugely similar pitchers, so the smackdown concept fell flat for me. The comments seem to reflect that.

 

Sickels mentioned that Gallagher's BB rate spiked after his AA promotion. He also developed more of a LHB-RHB split than he had demonstrated in Peoria/Daytona. (Link to AA pitching splits). That's partly because he walked LHBs at 2x the rate of RHBs (8.4/9!) and partly because LHs hit against him a bit better.

 

He had a good last month of the season (still too many BBs, but he did lower the rate throughout the season). From the broadcasts and from what I've been reading lately, he worked a lot on developing changeup last season and was regularly throwing it in West Tenn.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Gallagher is turning out to be quite the steal in Round 12. Kid's a gamer.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Gallagher is turning out to be quite the steal in Round 12. Kid's a gamer.

 

Well, he was third round talent that fell.

[CoolHandLuke]

Wasn't there a story about the Gallagher's cell phone being off and a bunch of teams would have drafted Sean if they would have been able to get a hold of him?

[Laura]

He was flying from Boston to Florida the day of the draft. I think the Cubs area scout got ahold of his father to see how committed he was to college.

 

Maybe someone will come along and let us know the story. :)

[RichHillIsABeast]

I thought it was just a pure signability issue. Our scout just stuck with him and got him to sign.

[CUBZ99]

I'm hoping that he gets to pitch during one of the Televised spring training games, so we can see what type of stuff he has.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wasn't there a story about the Gallagher's cell phone being off and a bunch of teams would have drafted Sean if they would have been able to get a hold of him?

 

Dunno about a bunch, definitely one divisional rival we know of that was considering taking him much earlier than where the Cubs got him.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

By the way, I agree with Laura.

 

The only similarities I see are that Slowey and Gallagher don't throw as hard as most prospects rated similarly and have above average control.

 

Slowey's fastball is better (but Gallagher has the advantage in velocity) and Gallagher's offspeed pitches are way better. Gallagher has a wider aresnal of pitches.

 

And I think Gallagher's control will rebound after he struggled with it at AA last season. I think Sean will be a better big leaguer.

[BDWeav71]

I've never seen Gallagher pitch in person, but from what I hear of him I really like.

 

I have a comparison that jumps out at me when I read about Sean, and i was wondering if any of you had comments on it? Sean sounds like he pitches a lot like Tom Glavine, am i way off base with this or is it sort of accurate?

[CuseCubFan69]

I've never seen Gallagher pitch in person, but from what I hear of him I really like.

 

I have a comparison that jumps out at me when I read about Sean, and i was wondering if any of you had comments on it? Sean sounds like he pitches a lot like Tom Glavine, am i way off base with this or is it sort of accurate?

 

Good question, I was hoping for Maddux myself!

[biittner77]

How can anyone named Slowey be an athlete? It just seems wrong somehow.

[craig]

I don't think Gallagher seems much like Glavine or Maddux at all to me. The one similarity seems to be that they are all smart and none had overpowering velocity.

 

But Glavine and Maddux were both great control pitchers. And both had super good movement on their fastballs. With their control and movement, they really lived off their fastballs.

 

Last year Gallagher was certainly faster than the velocity at which Maddux and Glavine worked during their best years. But 55 walks in 86 innings in AA is not exactly Glavine/Maddux-like in terms of control. Those guys lived off their fastballs, even if it wasn't velocity that made those fastballs extraordinary. Gallagher does not. His fastball is fine, but it's his breaking stuff that's really special on a given day.

 

And as with most young breaking-ball pitchers, the breaking stuff is harder to control and isn't equally good every inning of every start. Hard to consistently locate the breaking ball the way that Maddux and Glavine could locate their fastballs.

 

I'm really interested in Gallagher. I think brains and a diverse array of pitches can carry him a long way.

[CuseCubFan69]

I don't think Gallagher seems much like Glavine or Maddux at all to me. The one similarity seems to be that they are all smart and none had overpowering velocity.

 

But Glavine and Maddux were both great control pitchers. And both had super good movement on their fastballs. With their control and movement, they really lived off their fastballs.

 

Last year Gallagher was certainly faster than the velocity at which Maddux and Glavine worked during their best years. But 55 walks in 86 innings in AA is not exactly Glavine/Maddux-like in terms of control. Those guys lived off their fastballs, even if it wasn't velocity that made those fastballs extraordinary. Gallagher does not. His fastball is fine, but it's his breaking stuff that's really special on a given day.

 

And as with most young breaking-ball pitchers, the breaking stuff is harder to control and isn't equally good every inning of every start. Hard to consistently locate the breaking ball the way that Maddux and Glavine could locate their fastballs.

 

I'm really interested in Gallagher. I think brains and a diverse array of pitches can carry him a long way.

 

Thanks craig. What's he top off at?

[craig]

Thanks craig. What's he top off at?

 

My understanding is that he's hit at least 94 on a number of occassions. My understanding is that his fastball is pretty fast, and that he had a number of games in which he was throwing 90-94 quite regularly.

 

I think there may be many others where he throws more in the 88-91 range. But, as always it depends on what you're trying to do. An 88-91 2-seam sinker that's located well is a really good fastball. A lot more useful than a 93-96 four-seamer that's straight and wild.

 

Which relates to one of my beliefs about Gallagher. I think he's a smart pitcher who pitches for wins and for outs. I imagine he does a lot of pitching in the 88-92 range to get outs. I imagine he could let it fly and throw for the radar records, but that it wouldn't necessarily help him get outs.

 

I think a lot of pitchers are routinely choosing between throwing as fast as they can, versus throwing for outs. Give up a mph or two for command. Every 2-seam fastballer in baseball knows he could throw faster with 4-seam.

[NCCubFan]

Thanks craig. What's he top off at?

 

My understanding is that he's hit at least 94 on a number of occassions. My understanding is that his fastball is pretty fast, and that he had a number of games in which he was throwing 90-94 quite regularly.

 

I think there may be many others where he throws more in the 88-91 range. But, as always it depends on what you're trying to do. An 88-91 2-seam sinker that's located well is a really good fastball. A lot more useful than a 93-96 four-seamer that's straight and wild.

 

Which relates to one of my beliefs about Gallagher. I think he's a smart pitcher who pitches for wins and for outs. I imagine he does a lot of pitching in the 88-92 range to get outs. I imagine he could let it fly and throw for the radar records, but that it wouldn't necessarily help him get outs.

 

I think a lot of pitchers are routinely choosing between throwing as fast as they can, versus throwing for outs. Give up a mph or two for command. Every 2-seam fastballer in baseball knows he could throw faster with 4-seam.

Quoting and thanking yourself, huh? :D

[craig]

Quoting and thanking yourself, huh? :D

 

Heh heh, oops.

 

Man, I sure wish I didn't have to scroll through pages and pages and pages of repeat quotes quoted over and over and over and over, though. If people made a few quote-trimming editorial errors now and then but saved me the agony, I would be very willing to pay that small price!

[CuseCubFan69]

My understanding is that he's hit at least 94 on a number of occassions. My understanding is that his fastball is pretty fast, and that he had a number of games in which he was throwing 90-94 quite regularly.

 

I think there may be many others where he throws more in the 88-91 range. But, as always it depends on what you're trying to do. An 88-91 2-seam sinker that's located well is a really good fastball. A lot more useful than a 93-96 four-seamer that's straight and wild.

 

Which relates to one of my beliefs about Gallagher. I think he's a smart pitcher who pitches for wins and for outs. I imagine he does a lot of pitching in the 88-92 range to get outs. I imagine he could let it fly and throw for the radar records, but that it wouldn't necessarily help him get outs.

 

I think a lot of pitchers are routinely choosing between throwing as fast as they can, versus throwing for outs. Give up a mph or two for command. Every 2-seam fastballer in baseball knows he could throw faster with 4-seam.

 

Thanks craig. I think you get a little more movement out of a 2 seam than you do a 4 too.