The impact of JUCO pitchers on this year's staff

Through most of the last recruiting cycle, we had two JUCO pitchers committed: Cam Sanders and Nate Pearson. Both were considered flame throwers with control issues that needed to be sorted out. Pearson successfully sorted his out while at the College of Central Florida and was drafted near the end of the first round by the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s now considered the top pitcher in their minor league system. (Hitting triple digits with your fastball helps, throwing three pitches for strikes also helps)

Cam Sanders was drafted by the Padres in the late rounds but didn’t sign. His velocity and his plus curveball landed in Baton Rouge. Sanders follows in what seems to be a long line of JUCO high velocity lottery tickets we’ve signed over the years. Some have panned out (Nick Goody, Will LaMarche) have panned out. Some (Hunter Kiel, Riley Smith) have flamed out. Sill, their velo and stuff got them all drafted after one season with the Tigers.

Sanders seems to be mirroring Riley Smith’s production right now. He’s not so wild that he’s disappeared altogether like Kiel did. But he’s not been reliable enough to take over a specific role like Goody did as the closer in his year. He is still striking out over 1 batter an inning, but he’s walking just under 1 an inning too. But those are averages. He hasn’t performed in averages. He’s performed in extremes. When he’s on it, it’s a lot of fun to watch. He can push the mid 90s with his fastball, but to borrow from Ben McDonald, his curveball will hurt your feelings. I hope that we see more of the good Sanders than the bad over the rest of the season.

Late in the recruiting cycle we secured a commitment from Taylor Petersen. He was the closer for his Arizona JUCO team as a lefty that touches the low 90s. He struck out a ton of people and didn’t walk a whole bunch. He pitched important innings. He pitched back to back days. He threw in two of three games on weekends. I thought he would come in and be an important bullpen piece for us this season based on his stuff and the way he was deployed in JUCO. We’ve not gotten quite the production I expected from him this season. He has flashed good stuff, but he’s not been consistent enough to be relied on. He’s struggled with throwing strikes, which has led to him overcompensating and leaving balls over the middle of the plate. If he can regain what he had in JUCO, he can really help down the stretch.

We added two JUCO transfers over the summer after the draft (and an injury) took its toll on the roster and the recruiting class. Brandon Nowak was a JUCO performer from the Midwest that was previously committed to Miami. A lefty with decent stuff, he had good numbers as a starter for his lower level JUCO team. Clay Moffitt came in as a walk on to replace the roster spot vacated by Eric Walker due to his off season surgery. Moffitt came in as a redshirt junior from LSUE, where he was okay but never one of their top line guys. I had higher expectations of Nowak than has transpired. Moffitt has been about what I expected. I don’t see major contributions from either down the stretch. Moffitt may continue to be used as an innings eater in blowout situations. The only time I’ve heard Nowak’s name mentioned lately is when he and Will Reese threw a simulated game to one of the injured infielders (maybe Broussard?) to help them get ready to return.

Combined stats from JUCO transfer pitchers:
34.2 IP, 8.83 ERA, 9.61 K/9, 7.79 BB/9, 1.875 WHIP

FanGraphs recently profiled the Blue Jays prospects, Pearson is number 5 on their list: LINK

We currently have one JUCO pitcher committed: Aaron George from San Jacinto. George was high school teammates with Jake Slaughter. He's been a key reliever for San Jac the past two seasons. STATS