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Kerry Wood, RHP, closer
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Wood has always had a good fastball. He can consistently pump it in the mid-90s with late life. He has varied his breaking balls throughout his career, now looking like he's settled on a hard 12-6 curveball in the low-80s. 5/14/09 CSJ
*fastball(94-96), curve(80-84)
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Justin Masterson, RHP, starter/reliever
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Masterson's delivery is strange to say the least, but it has produced results at every level so far. He slings the ball up to the plate from a very low arm angle, creating a lot of movement with each pitch. Justin will also vary the speed on his fastball, which will mess with batters' timing. Masterson's second pitch is his sweeping slider and he'll rarely use his third pitch, the changeup. 5/1/09 CSJ
2-seam fastball(87-94), slider(78-83), changeup
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Jensen Lewis, RHP, reliever
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Jensen Lewis throws a decent moving fastball out of his 'herky-jerky' delivery. He puts together a couple of twitches, and then very quickly the ball flies out of there. He likes using his changeup as his secondary pitch, and he creates some decent deception with it. Lewis' third pitch is a fairly standard slider. Coming out of Vanderbilt, Lewis has produced good minor league numbers, and has quickly stuck in the Indians bullpen. 5/5/09 CSJ
*fastball(87-93), changeup(79-84), slider(83-86)
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Jeremy Sowers, LHP, starter
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Sowers is a soft-tossing lefty, but uses his fastball the vast majority of the time. His fastball rarely breaks 90mph, but it has some natural cut. He's not afraid to pitch inside with it either, making it run in on LHs, and cut in on RHs. He'll mix in changeups when necessary, and also owns a slurvy slider. Sowers pitched collegiately at Vanderbilt. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(88-91), changeup(80-83), slider(79)
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Joe Smith, RHP, reliever
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Joe Smith, the sidearming reliever from Wright State, throws three pitches. He shows a fastball that tails and sinks, a sweeping slider, and occasionally a sinking changeup. Rick Peterson altered Joe's delivery in 2008, and he's throwing from a more upright position. His arm angle is still extremely low, but the new delivery seems to have given his slider more bite. 5/8/08 CSJ
*fastball(87-93), slider(77-85), change(79-83)
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Jake Westbrook, RHP, starter
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Westbrook relies on his sinking fastball. He throws it sinking away to LHs and down and in to RHs. He also throws a hard cutter which he'll throw to any hitter. His changeup looks similar to his fastball, but with slightly more sink. Westbrook also throws a slider that is slower and gets more sweep than the cutter. Lastly, he'll mix in some slow curveballs. 6/25/07 CSJ
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R.J. Swindle, LHP, reliever
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Swindle's success is all about deception and trickeration. His windup consists of flying arms and legs, which make it appear like he's going to bring some major league heat. However, he ends up flicking the ball from a very low 3/4 arm angle which tends to throw off the batter's timing. He'll deal a moving fastball, a sweeping slider, and a changeup. I've even seen "The Swindler" drop is two extremely slow curveballs around 55mph. 10/21/08 CSJ
*fastball(83-85), slider(71-75), changeup(69-74), curve(54-56)
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Fausto Carmona, RHP, starter
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Carmona keeps it simple. He uses his hard sinking fastball to get quick outs. The velocity and movement on this pitch makes it tough for batters to make solid contact. Fausto has a deceptive, sinking changeup that he can get Ks with, or induce weak groundballs. His third pitch is a slider that looks fairly standard. In 2008, Carmona struggled with his fastball command, as it has a tendency to get considerable running action to his armside. This led to quite the "off" year for Carmona. 10/23/08 CSJ
*fastball(90-94), changeup(83-86), slider(82-84)
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Chris Perez, RHP, reliever
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Future closer, Chris Perez, throws a very hard fastball and sharp slider. He has been closing games since his college days at Miami. 6/15/09 CSJ
*fastball(94-96), slider(84-86)
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Aaron Laffey, LHP, starter
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Laffey is a fringe major leaguer for a reason, he lacks big league velocity. He throws two very distinct fastballs. His 4-seamer is fairly straight, flying between the mid to upper 80s. Then he'll mix in a distinct 2-seamer that gets a ton of sink. At times this pitch will act like a changeup for him because it varies so much from his 4-seam velocity. Laffey will use a slider, backdooring it to RHs and sweeping it away from LHs. Lastly, Laffey does have a changeup, a fairly straight offering that's slower than his 2-seamer. 5/14/08 CSJ
*4-seam(85-89), 2-seam(82-85), slider(76-82), changeup(78-79)
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Rafael Perez, LHP, reliever
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Perez is a strange case. He doesn't appear to have much of a repertoire, but he has produced excellent numbers at every level of pro ball. His fastball is usually around 88-90mph and appears to get some natural cut. This natural cut, inside towards RHs, may be the reason he is so effective against them. Perez' second pitch is a slider, which gets good break. Perez has shown a changeup, but rarely uses it. Even when facing RHs he prefers the slider, either burying it at their ankles, or backdooring it. 5/5/09 CSJ
*fastball(88-91), slider(83-85), changeup
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Anthony Reyes, RHP, starter
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Reyes was a superstar pitcher at USC and reached the big leagues at age 23. He had struggled mightily against Major League hitters until finding a short stint of success late in 2008 with the Indians. Sources tell me that the Indians allowed him to start elevating his 4-seamer, a pitch that Cardinals' coach Dave Duncan didn't like. The 4-seamer gets some natural cut and he also mixes in a 2-seam variety. Reyes' curveball looks like a plus pitch, but his fastball is hittable and his changeup is all over the place. He may still succeed in the bigs, but needs to tighten up his game. 5/5/09 CSJ
*fastball(88-93), curve(75-79), changeup(74-79)
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Zach Jackson, LHP, reliever/starter
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Jackson is a former first round pick that has become a fringe major leaguer. He has an awkward looking low angle delivery that doesn't take advantage of his 6' 5" frame. Jackson's fastball flies around 90 mph with standard movement from a lefthander. He'll mix in two different breaking pitches and show RHs a changeup. 5/5/09 CSJ
*fastball(88-91), curve(77), slider(87), changeup
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