MVN - Most Valuable Network

A Look at Phillippe Aumont

Seattle Mariners selected Aumont number 11th in the amature draft last season even though the Canadian had little baseball experience. The M’s inked him to a 1.9 million dollar signing bonus. His size (6-7 220lbs) and movement on his fastball was all the M’s had to see to take a chance with this kid. This was a little out of the ordinary for the Mariners becuase they tend to draft older college players in early rounds because of the less risk involved and signability.

Aumont started the year in single A Wisconsin and was used out of the bullpen throwing 40-50 pitches per outing. Slowly the M’s
moved him into the rotation and they increased his workload. He was having a very solid year in Wisconsin before he got injured in June. He hasn’t pitched since June, but their are reports that he is about to be placed off the disable list and resume throwing for Wisconsin. According to Rattler Radio (blog by Chris Mehring, the Rattlers’ announcer) Aumont had a bullpen session on July 30th and all the reports seemed to indicate that all went well:

Just passing along a tidbit from this morning. Phillippe Aumont finished up a simulated game about 45 minutes ago.

From the very few pitches I had a chance to see, he looked good. Sorry, I do have a few other duties that keep me busy before the game.

Early reports are that it went well. I have not had time to talk to Phillippe or pitching coach Jaime Navarro, but if there is a chance, I’ll have a new post later tonight or some time tomorrow.

The injury, if it wasn’t serious or an elbow problem, was probably a blessing in disguise. The M’s didn’t want the Canadian pitching too many innings this season, his first professional season, and was going to limit his outings anyways. When he comes back he should be eased back into the rotation and end the season on the active roster instead of being shut down.

Drivelinmechanics.com had a great article about his mechanics. They indicated, like most young pitchers, that Aumont will have to work on several things about his pitching mechanics. Here is a little tidbit:

Arm Action: Aumont does not take the ball laterally behind his body, which is very good, since a pitcher with a wingspan that large could end up having severe timing issues by doing that. Regardless, Aumont is late at footstrike, but not terribly so. His arm barely passes through the horizontal at footstrike, which will force the arm to lay violently back in external rotation. This is a major cause for concern. Aumont does not form the Inverted W with his arms, but instead loads the elbows behind the back naturally. I grade his Arm Action Average, but very close to Bad. Again, I understand how many timing flaws tall pitchers end up having, but that does not make it acceptable.

This is a little worrisome, but not uncommon at all. He had very little coaching and baseball experience before being drafted. Within a couple of years the coaching staff in the minor league should be able to correct some of his flaws and may even add a couple of MPH on his pitches. But they must resist from changing his mechanics too much because his pitches could be effected.

Here is a scouting report on his “raw stuff” by foxsports:

Growing up in a troubled home, Aumont gets rave reviews from his maturity. He throws a sinking fastball that hits the mid 90’s while hitting 98 at times with plenty of sink. He throws a very nice slider that gives him a effective secondary pitch. His delivery is excellent and his size gives his stuff more movement. He has a solid understanding of pitching and locates his stuff well. All in all, the tools are here for success.

In addition to throwing two kinds of fastballs and a slider Aumont has an effective change up that is a work in progress. Very inconsistent, but nasty when he is on. This report conflicts with my other report about his mechanics. Pitching mechanics are a work in progress and nobody really knows what a proper delivery should be to reduce stress just see Lincecum.

His stats this year in Wisconsin are pretty impressive for his first stint as a professional ballplayer. He has a K/9 rate of 8.6 with a BB/9 rate of 2.62 giving him a K/BB 3.31. He is much more polished with his command of the strike zone than many high school pitchers and sports an ERA of 2.62 with a FIP of 3.22. Not only is he striking guys out, but they are plain not hitting him. They have only been batting a meager .222 against him and he has only allowed 3 HR in 44.2 innings pitched. However he does tend to give regress some when runners get on base. He has an ERA of 5.79 with runners on and batters hit at a .257 clip. This is probably due to his inexperience in game situations and his delivery from the stretch, but it is something to take a look at.

Most scouts seem him as a potential ace or at least a #2 or #3 type pitcher with strikeout potential while collecting a lot of grounders with his fastball. Expect to see him in A+ or even AA by next season if all goes well. His ETA is 2011 or 2012.

Here is a YouTube clip of him pitching against Cuba, enjoy:

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.