Prospect Notes from Live Looks, Headlined by Jack Leiter

Below are snippets of our notes from our in-person looks over the last few weeks, including thoughts on Rangers prospect Jack Leiter as well as six amateur prospects eligible for the 2022 draft. If a player’s ranking on The Board has been impacted by these looks, we’ve indicated that within the player’s writeup.

Jack Leiter, RHP, Texas Rangers

Leiter needs no introduction — he’s one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. He pitched two innings in relief of Cody Bradford (whose velo is up, by the way) last Friday against an upper-level Royals minor league contingent. Leiter had scattershot command of a 95-98 mph fastball that featured his trademark carry through the zone. His two breaking balls – a mid-80s slider and mid-70s curveball – had somewhat more distinct shape Friday than they did throughout most of his career at Vanderbilt, and he used his slider pretty frequently during this outing. The most striking aspect of Leiter’s look on this day was his changeup quality and velocity. Leiter’s cambio was in the 84-86 mph range during his draft spring at Vanderbilt but was 88-90 mph on Friday and had power tailing action. He ran a couple of them off the front hip of left-handed hitters and back into the zone for a looking strike. If he can do this consistently, it might become his best secondary weapon over time, though his curveball has that distinction for now, in part because of how well its shape pairs with his fastball. — EL

Alex Williams, RHP, Stanford Cardinal

Williams got off to a hot start as a sophomore in 2020 (0.51 ERA over 17.2 innings) before being shut down for Tommy John surgery not long before the season was abruptly cut short. He returned in 2021, pitching out of the bullpen to start the season before moving to the rotation and ultimately proving to be a pivotal piece of the postseason puzzle, pitching a two-hit complete game shutout against Texas Tech in the Super-regionals, sending Stanford to the College World Series for the first time in over a decade.

He was on the mound for Stanford’s first game of conference play last Friday night against Oregon. The Ducks’ starting lineup came into the game with a cumulative slash line of .367/.440/.576, having scored at least 10 runs in five of their 13 games thus far this season. In his six innings of work, Williams effectively located his fastball, slider, and changeup, demonstrating a feel for strike-throwing, and maintaining a consistent arm speed and release point with all three offerings while using a low-effort, repeatable delivery. He doesn’t throw his four-seamer all that hard (low-90s), but his over-the-top slot gives it some life up in the zone, and his ability to locate it well to all quadrants allows it to play up even further. He messes with hitters’ timing by creating significant velocity separation between the heater and his changeup, which has movement to his arm side. He missed bats and induced weak contact with his slider, though its shape wasn’t consistent over the course of the night and he didn’t often throw it in the zone. Three of the seven hits he allowed were for extra bases – a stand-up double on a misplaced changeup, and back-to-back triples that could have been saved by sturdier defense – but his command was solid for the most part, as indicated by his 10 punch outs, three of which were issued to Oregon’s Drew Cowley, who led the conference in all three slash categories heading into the weekend with a .512/.615/.902 line. Williams left with the game tied after six innings of work; the Ducks ultimately won their battle against the Stanford bullpen. He’s a good senior sign prospect and has been added to The Board. — TT

Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State Beavers

Pronounced “Jerpy,” the low-slot lefty made two starts in Arizona to begin the collegiate season, struggling with walks in the first and dominating in the second. Even though he only sits 88-92 mph, Hjerpe’s fastball is his best pitch because of its tough-to-hit angle. His delivery is more akin to that of a low-slot reliever than a traditional starter, and his fastball has a shallow vertical approach angle as well as an odd lateral one, which college hitters have had a tough time dealing with. His slider and changeup are both average and flash above, aided by Hjerpe’s funky slot and his ability to locate. He works the slider east and west, while his changeup is almost always in the bottom of the zone or below. At the very least Hjerpe looks capable of handling a multi-inning relief role in the big leagues, à la some of the funky lefties the Rays have deployed in that role. He’s been added to The Board. — EL

Victor Mederos, RHP, Oklahoma State Cowboys

A famous high school prospect since his days as an underclassman, the Cuban-born Mederos has a fastball that has been sitting in the mid-90s for nearly half a decade now, but he struggled to throw strikes in high school and was set to be a draft-eligible sophomore, so he matriculated to college. He transferred from Miami to Oklahoma State for this, his draft year. He has continued to struggle with control/command there, but still reaches back for 95-97 mph when he wants to while sitting 93-94. His fastball lacks any kind of impact movement, which, combined with Mederos’ loose command, makes it pretty hittable despite its velocity. His best pitches are his two breaking balls: a hard slider with big horizontal movement and a spike curveball that he can land in the zone. The two pitches are similar enough to one another that the scout section thought they might just be one breaking ball that Mederos was subtly altering the shape of, but high-speed video shows him using two different grips. He threw two changeups during the outing, both below average, one of which was well located. If Mederos can sit 95-97 out of the bullpen (where his control pushes him anyway) and liberally mix in those two breakers, he could be a good big league reliever. He slides from the 40+ FV tier into the 40 FV tier, as there doesn’t seem to be a real path to an impact role here because of the fastball command and movement issues. — EL

Anthony Hall, RF, Oregon Ducks

Hall was a Cape Cod League standout in 2021, ranking second in both home runs and doubles, and fourth in OPS. Over the summer, he made significant strides in refining his approach at the plate, walking more times (15) in his 34 games on the Cape than he did in the 50 he played as a sophomore at Oregon the previous season (13), while simultaneously lowering his strikeout rate. He got off to a slow start to the 2022 season in that regard, striking out eight times before he drew his first walk. But he’s tamped down the strikeouts since then, and his K’s this weekend were well earned by the pitchers, as opposed to being the result of free-swinging on Hall’s part. He generates incredible raw power with his swing, with his tremendous rotation causing him to whip his bat around so fast that the ball jumps off it when he connects, especially to his pull side, as he did last Friday for a low liner that got by the first baseman’s glove for a triple down the line. The rest of his hits over the first two games of the series demonstrated Hall’s ability to adjust his swing for up-the-middle and opposite-field contact rather than selling out for power. But as an athletic, left-handed corner outfielder, the power is the most promising part of his profile. He’s been added to The Board. — TT

Andrew Pintar, 2B, BYU Cougars

Pintar has a rare power/speed combination for an up-the-middle college player and crushed several piped, mediocre fastballs from ASU pitchers during the Cougars’ trip to Phoenix a couple weekends ago. He ran very well, posting several home-to-first times in the 4.1 to 4.2 range during my looks; those are comfortably plus, approaching plus-plus, run times. Pintar’s swing is grooved through the middle of the zone, and a shoulder injury might be contributing to issues with his arm strength, but even projecting a 40 hit tool here makes Pintar an strong early Day Two prospect because the showcase tools (power and speed) are so big. He’s been added to The Board. — EL

Brycen Mautz, LHP, San Diego Torreros

A scout who was with me at Saturday’s Missouri/San Francisco game (the Tigers original series was canceled due to weather and they parachuted into Phoenix) tipped me off to Mautz, who was scheduled to start later that night at Grand Canyon. He carved the Lopes up that evening, and has now amassed 45 strikeouts in 25 innings this year. Mautz’s meal ticket pitch is his plus slider, of which he has surgical glove-side command. It has depth and two-planed break that plays away from lefties and to the back foot of righties, and Mautz has gotten a ton of swings and misses on this slider low-to-mid-80s breaker. He is primary fastball is a low-90s sinker that hitters seem to struggle to pick up out of hand. He fills the zone with this pitch, which has been enough against college lineups, but a sinker with 40-grade velo might get hit in pro ball. The lack of college pitching in this draft class will likely buoy Mautz’s stock. My inclination is to project him as a reliever in pro ball because of his sparse repertoire (I saw just one changeup on Saturday), but the command to start is here. He’s been added to The Board. — EL