Eyewitness Accounts

His FB/CB combination is as good as that of any reliever in the Carolina League. When Nina is sitting 96-98 with life and staying on top of his CB at 80-81, he’s deadly. The command profile is well below average, but Nina is effectively wild. His arm speed was noticeably much faster this outing and he could have been told to tone it down for more command. After that didn’t work, he just let it rip. When everything is in unison, his stuff is electric. Although he is an older guy there is still high risk here; his stuff is electric but he lacks to the command for it to be effective to his full potential. If the command improves and his FB/CB combo plays to 60/70 then he could be a late innings reliever. The upside is there, it's just a matter of whether Nina can achieve it.

Okert is an advanced college arm with two potential plus-pitches (the fastball is one already). He has a lot of confidence in both pitches and is able to use both in any count vs. lefties and righties. I believe he has late-innings potential (eighth inning) and could very well reach that. It's just a matter of logging innings and facing tougher competition. The risk factor could be low, but I went moderate because he hasn't achieved success yet at Double-A, which he could and should reach this year.

Owens' fastball velocity was on the pedestrian side in this outing, but the tall left-hander used his body well to consistently throw downhill when delivering the offering. Throughout the start, he stayed on top of the ball and was able to replicate his release point with the majority of his heaters. This enabled Owens to throw to spots in the lower tier of the strike zone, where the plane he created forced hitters to get on top of the ball.

While the pitcher did get some swings-and-misses when elevated with his fastball, I don't see the pitch being effective in this area against big league hitters. Owens is deceptive overall, with the ball seaming to jump out of his body at the last instance, but he's likely to get hurt often working in this area. I do have some concerns about how the fastball is going to play if this was a peak representation of the command.

Owens' changeup showed as his best pitch in this outing. There's plenty of fastball guise, and hitters consistently swung over the top of it. My feel is that this offering will continue to play as the lefty advances further. The deception, along with the separation in velocity, will force even the better of hitters to commit early. Owens' sprinkled his curveball in toward the end of the start, and I'm not big on the present look of the pitch. The lack of power will give major-league hitters a chance to recover even when they have committed early.

Owens will need to demonstrate solid-average-to-plus command of his fastball on a consistent basis to fully reach his ceiling. In this outing, it looked like the pitcher was focusing hard on finishing his delivery and working down in the zone. The execution showed. There is a finer margin of error here given the profile of the overall repertoire. On nights when Owens' fastball is just a bit off, it is likely to be difficult. I see the prospect over the long haul projecting toward the back of a rotation, where he can provide a lot of innings and value as a reliable, complimentary piece of a good staff.