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| Medium, stocky build; lots of strength; upbeat delivery; loose arm; arm speed is plus-plus; low 3/4 slot; creates good life on his fastball; can under-rotate hips and land closed which causes him to miss arm-side; 1.31 from the stretch. |
| Chris Rodriguez |
| 08/22/2014 |
| Lake Elsinore Storm (High A, Padres) |
| 7/26 |
| 55 |
| Late 2015 |
| No |
| FB |
65 |
89-94 |
95 |
Plus pitch; easy chedder; good 2-seam life; cut it on occasion; slot gives it nice bore into right handed-hitter; command was below avg; often left the pitch middle-middle and relied on stuff/movement to get by (and it worked most of the time); missed arm-side as well; command needs to improve to become a plus-plus offering; can get too fastball happy; velocity will jump if/when he's moved to the bullpen. |
| CB |
60 |
80-82 |
83 |
Power curve; has some tight spin and a little depth; shorter break; dives underneath bats; command was erratic; thrown sparingly in favor of his fastball; major-league plus pitch with more work/feel. |
| CH |
55 |
84-85 |
85 |
Turned it over well; has late dive; resembles fastball movement; solid arm-speed gives the pitch deception; looked comfortable with it; command also suspect, but was still effective when thrown because of the high percentage of fastballs thrown. |
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De Paula was solid in his first outing with Lake Elsinore after the trade, with a hard fastball and two workable pitches that he mixed in sparingly. The command profile is tough to ignore, however, and with his up-tempo delivery and raw arm strength, I see him more in a reliever role than a starter. He's fallen on some tough times, with four consecutive starts (Aug 1st-17th) with at least four earned runs in no more than six innings pitched per start. I think he could move fast if moved to the bullpen, which could happen next season. He could start in Double-A and find his way to the big club by the summer months, with the fastball velocity playing up for an inning at a time. He could be electric in one outing and frustrating the next, all the while striking out more than a batter an inning. It's a 8th-inning, maybe even closer arm if it all clicks; there's still a lot to like here.
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