Player Breakdowns: April 15th

Moisés Chace, Cam Schlittler, & Craig Yoho

Moisés Chace (Bal)- High-A:

I’ve been very impressed with Moisés Chace’s command to start the year. He’s even made gains in the velocity department and he’s showing he can throw his breakers in any count. It does help getting ahead of batters with the 4-seamer and 2-seamer but Chace looks like a completely different pitcher this year than he did last year. If he’s a newfound control freak, I’m going as far as to say this is a pop-up prospect and breakout arm in the Baltimore system. He’s a 21-year-old in High-A and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him get a dip at AA before the season is over if he keeps this up.

Chace is now sitting 93.5-95 mph while T - 97 mph. That’s a legitimate gain from last year and he’s using the fastball to get ahead in counts before using his slider and changeup to generate whiffs and called strikes, as well. He’s had two outings so far this year — he started his first outing and yesterday he came in relief and threw 4 innings of hitless ball. He looks dominant out there.

1st start: 4IP 3H 0ER 1BB 9K

2nd outing: 4IP 0H 0ER 1BB 6K

Here is his first inning of work from yesterday (4th inning):

He used all 3 pitches in these sequences and to both righties and lefties. This is a big improvement from last year when he struggled with his command. So far he’s at a 15:2 K:BB and while that large a ratio isn’t likely to continue, it is good to see him walk just one batter per outing thus far. In my head, I’m thinking, please be a newfound control freak. It’s going to make things a lot more fun with Chace’s stuff and arsenal if he can dictate where the ball is going.

Here is his second inning of work (5th inning):

Is Chace a control freak? I keep asking myself that when I watch the video and delivery. The delivery is compact and athletic. It’s repeatable and he’s showing no real mechanical concerns — he’s also constantly been in a groove since the beginning of the season. I know it’s just 8 innings of work, but this is something to keep an eye on going forward.

Here is the rest of his outing (6th and 7th inning):