Player Breakdowns: April 8th
Calvin Ziegler, Carson Palmquist, Landen Maroudis, & Notable Performers
Calvin Ziegler (NYM) - High-A:
Ziegler put on a show yesterday afternoon. At one point he struck out 8 batters in a row. He elicited a weak fly out to get the first batter of the game and then it was smooth sailing from there. His final line was perfect - 4IP 0H 0ER 0BB 9K
Here’s the first batter of the game:
After that batter, he struck out the next 8:
The fastball and curveball looked dominant all day long. He was sitting mid-90s about 94-96 and his low 80s curve was confounding hitters. I’d still like to see his newfound splitter in action in his next start but I can’t complain about the results.
And here are all his Whiffs and CS for the entire outing:
I wrote about Ziegler on March 20th in Part 2 of Pitching Prospects Outside the Top 100 to Target. Here is what I wrote at the time:
Ziegler was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2021 draft by the Mets and at the time it looked like he’d be the best or 2nd best pitching prospect in the system. He was derailed with injuries. He needed surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow and then later had a torn quad muscle which put his season on the shelf last year.
I posted about Ziegler a while back and it seemed like many people were out on him because the likes of Christian Scott, Mike Vasil, Dominic Hamel, Blake Tidwell, and the rest look like they’re on their way up soon. That doesn’t mean Ziegler should be an afterthought. He was drafted as a 2nd rounder for a reason and he’s still just 21 years old.
Let’s get to the stuff. Ziegler features a fastball-curveball combination and offers a splitter that he’s been working on as a true out-pitch. The fastball sits mid-90s and the curveball is a low 80s breaker with good depth. He pitched 46.2 innings in 2022 at low-A and repeated low-A to start 2023 where he pitched just 1 inning before going down with the injuries. Over 17 starts in his minor league career, he has a 36.1% K rate but a 17.3% walk rate. He’s pitched to a .159 Avg. against in those 47.2 innings and it isn’t hard to see why.
While the command is going to need work over larger samples, Ziegler’s spring debut offered a glimpse of a legitimate power pitcher with secondary offerings. His fastball had a borderline elite shape to it as he averaged 96.1 mph on his 4-seamer which had 18.8” of induced Vertical Break, or iVB. He’s getting a lot of ride on that thing and more than initially thought. His curveball also graded out well, although we didn’t get to see it enough. Ziegler has a lot to prove in 2024 but a lot of it will be staying healthy and building up a workload. The stuff is going to play and this year is crucial for his development.
Ziegler is built Ford tough. He’s a thick kid and looks like an F-150 out there, especially in his lower half. He put in the work in the offseason to add to his frame as he was leaner earlier on. I’m starting to really bet on pitchers who don’t skip leg day. And that brings us to our next arm.
He’s just making me look undeservingly prophetic after yesterday’s start.