SP Rick Porcello, 19, (RHP), Lakeland Flying Tigers (Detroit Tigers)

Rick Porcello is a perfect example of what every MLB GM hopes to get when drafting a highly touted high school arm. This goes for dynasty and keeper league fantasy managers as well, so if you’re in one of those leagues and it allows you to pick up minor league players; pay attention. If Porcello is available, STOP READING and go pick him up now! Now that we have that taken care of, let’s find out why you just picked up a 20 year old at Advanced-A in his first full season.

Porcello has all the tools that baseball GM's and fantasy GM's look for in a pitcher. At 6' 5" and 200 lbs. he can dial his fastball up to 97 mph, usually working it between 90-94. That’s nice, but the movement is what makes it special. He spots his fastball with exceptional control but doesn't rely solely on it. That's impressive for a kid out of high school in his first full pro season. Check out this video that RotoExperts' own Bob Poe shot of a Porcello bullpen session that shows some of his late movement.

The most impressive pitch to me right now is his changeup that sits in the mid to high 70's. From what I understand, this pitch is getting better every time he throws it and is a legit out pitch. Watch his strikeout totals rise as he advances. In this video you can see the bottom fall out of that changeup.

Porcello uses his slider quite a bit and sits in the low 80's with it, but it may be his weakest pitch right now. It could very well become his best pitch if he works on tightening it up and gets that late movement out of it consistently. His curveball is in the low 70's and moves in a 12 to 6 plane, but lacks the late movement to be a great out pitch right now.  With four plus pitches, does it really matter?

The third video really shows how fast he works and I really like that in a pitcher. I know, this is just a bullpen session, but when you see him pitch live (bottom video) it’s just as fast.

Now, that you have an idea of what he is throwing, let me show you what he can do with it. This is something I really love to see. On July 8, he pitched 6 innings of one-hit ball, then on July 13, he got rocked and gave up 5 earned runs in 4 innings. How does he bounce back? How about 5 innings of no-hit ball on July 19. That's right! You can't ask for much more than that. He is poised beyond his years.

Porcello is one of those few players that has lived up to the hype that has preceded him. The Tigers are looking for someone to fill their fifth spot in the rotation for the second-half of this year. Tigers brass has said it's not going to be Porcello. At the very least they need to promote him to Double-A because he has passed Advanced-A with straight A's. Even if he doesn't get a cup of coffee this year, don't be surprised if he earns a rotation spot in 2009.

6 W 6 L 2.91 ERA 19 G 19 GS 0 CG 0 SHO 99 IP 88 H 42 R 32 ER 6 HR 28 BB 54 K 2.15 GO/AO .235 BA

For the last video, check out some game action and a nice grab at the end.

Jason Revelia is hoping for a Major League Baseball strike, so he can play fantasy baseball with all Minor League players. Send the next great FANTASY prospect to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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