Will Smith, Minor League Pitcher, RC Quakes

I got a chance to see Will Smith pitch recently and was pretty impressed with what he brings to the mound. He's not a very hyped up prospect, by any means, but he is a guy that could be pitching at the back of the Angels, or another teams rotation for a long time. Baseball America ranked him as just the 15th best Angel prospect entering the season, primarily because he doesn't have front end stuff, but he does mix in three pitches, and he commands them well within the strike zone.

The outing I saw was his first start of the season, against a pretty formidable Inland Empire lineup. The most impressive thing to me was how quick he works, he would make Mark Buerhle proud. He operates with a simple rock and fire delivery which he repeats well. His fastball ranged from 88-91, and it looked like he used a four seamer a few times that touched as high as 93. He used the four seam up in the zone, and a two seamer that has nice run to it and he was able to get some good sink at times as well. The ability to mix up the look on the fastball is a definite asset, and he had great success on this night, taking a no hitter into the fifth innning. He did run into some trouble, and he finished with a line of 6 IP, 3H, 2BB, 6K's and he allowed 3 earned runs. He did allow a home run to Preston Mattingly, which was a "Cal Leaguer" and probably wouldn't have been a home run in several other parks.

Smith mixes his pitches very well, he commands a solid change around 80 MPH that has good sink and fade away from a right handed hitter. His curveball wouldn't be considered a plus pitch, it has average break, but he varied the speed between 75-80 and commanded the pitch well. He doubled up with the curveball on at least one occasion too, and the change in velocities particularly plays up when he did this.

Smith is the kind of pitcher that the whole package is better than the individual parts, which is why I could see him at the back of a rotation in the bigs down the road. He doesn't have the huge fastball, or wipeout slider, but he uses his full arsenal to his advantage, changes speeds and commands the zone. He knows his stuff, he trusts his stuff, and he can command his stuff, and that will often lead to a pitcher's success.