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Visiting the Farm: “The Hutt” Dominates

His mid-90s fastball blew by the ash bats of the opposition. His slider dipped, dove and dismayed Harrisburg’s lineup. The changeup came in at 80 mph and had baseball writers snickering, exchanging comments of “that’s just not fair.”

For six scoreless innings, Joba Chamberlain toyed with the Harrisburg offense as onlookers sat with their jaws in their laps. I was one of them. Sitting in the press-box, it became comical as I scribbled down a “K” for 2/3’s of the batters he retired. 18 outs, 12 of them strikeouts. Five of those punchouts came looking.

It was an exciting 2 hours and 10 minutes at Waterfront Park. Arguably the Yankees top prospect (assuming Phil Hughes isn’t in the discussion), Chamberlain’s pitching counterpart was none other than Collin Balestar, the #1 prospect in the Washington Nationals’ farm system.

The lanky 6’5’’ Balestar blinked first, surrendering a solo homerun to Juan Miranda. You could almost hear Joba bellow “Ho, ho, ho, Solo!” because one run of support was all that he would need. Over six innings of work, Chamberlain only walked one batter, gave up 4 hits, allowed zero runs and again struck out twelve. Balestar pitched a very solid game himself, showing a good breaking ball and tailing fastball. Although he only allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6 over six innings, the two earned runs were enough to earn him the loss.

Coming into last night’s game, I was already a big-time believer in The Hutt. Like you, I had read the reports from Hawaii in which he struck out 44 and walked 3. I had heard of the fastball that could touch 99. I had read descriptions of his mid-80s slider as devastating. But last night, I saw it.

The command of the fastball was precise. He never seemed to throw a fat pitch. When a fastball caught too much of the plate, it was elevated and in the mitt before the batter’s lumber had entered the hitting zone. He pitched inside with the maturity of a veteran big leaguer. His release point and delivery were repeated expertly as the ball exploded out of his hand.

If the fastball was intimidating, then the slider was downright unfair. Although the Harrisburg Senators are one of the lighter hitting teams in the Eastern League (.233 team batting average going into last night), Chamberlain looked like a man amongst mice. The slider showed tremendous bite, diving into the lefthanded batter and buckling the righties. What most pitchers would deem unconventional, Chamberlain utilized front-door sliders and curveballs on the inner half of the plate.

That can be dangerous and even be an open invitation for a HBP party against righties, but Joba excelled pitching inside. The slider that started even with the righthanded hitter’s hips dove in on the hands. And with two strikes, the hitter is compelled to protect the inside pitch. Once the ball begins to dive towards their ankles, they are stuck in no-man’s land. They will either fail to check their swing or hopelessly swat and only connect with a vapor trail. Many of last night’s strikeouts came on this very pitch.

The slider/curve against lefthanded hitters was also devastating. The ball begins on the inner half of the plate, and initially appears to be a mistake. However, the mid-80s slider bores in on the bat-label, leaving the batter helpless. Similarly, the curveball begins as what appears to be a hittable pitch, but the change of speed and sharp break (along with the limited use) surprises the batter into an ugly looking swing. Either way it ends in a tidy K-corner for The Hutt.

If that weren’t enough, Chamberlain threw a substantial amount of changeups in comparison to previous starts. Many on hand believed that last night’s performance showcased his best performance at the AA-Level, particularly in the area of “feel.” His feel for the changeup was very impressive, and the downward sail was evident behind homeplate. He utilized the change well, by implementing it into the middle innings of the start. After the hitter’s first atbat saw primarily power stuff, i.e. fastballs and sliders, their second atbat has them sitting on boring heavy pitches. Even if they get the pitch they’re looking for, they might not be able to make contact. Should they find themselves with 2 strikes and Joba decides to drop in a 80mph change, just make your way to the dugout. Many of Harrisburg’s hitters did just that.

Overall, Chamberlain was excellent. Not good. Not very good. Excellent. As already explained, his command was superlative. His stuff was electric. His pitchability and baseball IQ appeared to be very mature. And, when a hard comeback chopper ricocheted off of his pitching hand, he shooed away the training staff, pounded his chest with his glove and bore down, striking out the final batter of the inning. This showed that bulldog competitive nature that talent-evaluators love to see in a high-ceiling pitching prospect. This is probably why there were so many scouts sitting in the stands. Heck, Stick Michael even mosied through the pressbox, on his way to some prime real estate: a seat a few rows behind homeplate.

After the game, Joba offered a few insights:

“The biggest change with me over the last few games has been my changeup,” Chamberlain said. “Scott [Aldred] actually had me change my grip from a four-seamer to a two-seamer. Now I’m getting more sink and fade on it, plus it’s a little easier to control, too.

“Once I got into that bullpen, though, I knew I was going to have something good going tonight. Scott and I both looked at each other afterwards and I said, ‘Those guys are sure going to have a long night tonight.’”

Looks like that bullpen session was right. After seeing him in person for the first time I have only one thing to say: Get pumped Yankee fans, Joba the Hutt is the real deal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 3:57 am and is filed under Joba Chamberlain. 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.