Zack Weiss, RHP, Northwood High (Irvine, CA)

Listed at 6'2", 195 pounds, Zack Weiss uses his strong legs to generate a fastball that topped out at 94 (two times) today. Most of his fastballs came in at 89-91 with good armside movement when he keeps the pitch down in the zone. Weiss maintained his velocity late into the game, hitting 92 and 94 in the seventh inning.

Some of the scouts at today's game were debating if Weiss was throwing a slider, so I looked at some of the video from the bullpen and it was in deed a slider that he was mixing in. From behind the plate, the slider looks a lot like the curve, but it comes in at 79-82, where the curve was coming in at 74-78. I thought either he was varying the velo on the curve or not getting on top of the curve which was giving it more velo with less break, but it is in fact a slider. If you look at the clip below, you can see that he strides slightly towards the right hand batters box. This allows him to generate a lot of torque which enables him to snap off a big curveball and also adds to his deception as the ball is harder to pick up out of his hand. Weiss' change-up lags behind his other offerings quite a bit. The pitch had inconsistent movement and very shabby command. When warming up between innings, he flashed a change that had good sink and arm side fade, but I didn't see this pitch at all during the game. He struggled with his release point on the change, bouncing the pitch a few times, and leaving the pitch up in the zone on several other occasions.

Aside from the issues with his change-up, Weiss was able to command his fastball and curveball quite well. From the third base side, you can see he sometimes lands harder and on his heal and this was usually when he would miss up in the zone. A few times he missed up in the zone with the fastball and that was the only time El Toro really hit the ball hard. Today he only gave up one run (they won 2-1), and that run shouldn't have scored, as the CF airmailed the cutoff man and the runner was able to come around and score.

The main thing for me regarding Weiss is can he take the next step. His body is pretty thick right now, and he isn't overly athletic. He does have large feet, I could see him growing another inch or two as he gets into his late teens, which would definitely help his cause. I just don't see a ton of projectability with him though, primarily because he seems to lack some athleticism. But time will tell. . . .