Albuquerque, New Mexico —— At the top of this post, watch our scouting video of Colorado Rockies right-handed pitching prospect Zach Jemiola, taken way back from some of his March 2016 spring training work as a member of the Colorado Rockies.
To read Cameron Goeldner’s feature interview with the Colorado Rockies’ Zach Jemiola that was also published today, please click here.
Zach Jemiola scouting report notes
There’s no question Zach Jemiola tries to pitch to contact. The man has 374 strikeouts in 546.2 innings of professional baseball, with his high coming in 2015 when he whiffed 121 in 153 innings (still just a 7.1 K/9 rate, which relative to sample size was his career high). The righty from Temecula, California has the stuff that typically induces weak contact more than swing-and-miss hacks, with his changeup leading the way and getting both-handed hitters out on their front foot with remarkable consistency. That changeup will be tested in 2017 in Triple-A Albuquerque, though, as Jemiola will soon find he can’t pitch to contact with a fly ball offering or two in a place just slightly higher in altitude than Denver. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old has more than earned his way to Triple-A with good pitching performances across the organization coming up, and his consistent ability to eat innings and make his starts every fifth day ought not go unnoticed.
With his lack of putaway stuff, though, and his penchant for drawing the bat to the ball on purpose, Jemiola’s long-term profile in the big leagues probably won’t be quite as rosy as his achievements thus far in the minors. He has back-end starter written all over him in a best-case scenario, with the far more likely options of long reliever or up-and-down roster filler looming large. That said, Jemiola did flash more velocity in the Arizona Fall League in 2016, working up a couple ticks to consistently touching 95 mph. He also (in a limited sample size) struck out 7.7 batters per nine innings at the AFL. That would be his career rate high had it been extrapolated over a full year.
Was last fall’s AFL season a preview of a new leaf to be turned over by Zach Jemiola? Is he going to continue to throw 95+ mph like he did in Arizona last October? Only time will tell — and the baseball gods will surely test him along the way in Albuquerque.
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For our feature interview with Colorado Rockies pitcher Zach Jemiola, please click here.
To visit Zach Jemiola’s player page, please click here.
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Zach Jemiola scouting report: 140 characters or less
A pitch-to-contact RHP who has added velocity, Zach Jemiola’s best-case is a back-end starter, but more likely a long relief ceiling calls.
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Zach Jemiola scouting report video
Below, here are four scouting report videos of Zach Jemiola, taken during his spring training tenure in at-bats against other Colorado Rockies prospects:
Zach Jemiola video vs. Yonathan Daza, OF
Zach Jemiola video vs. Eric Toole, OF
Zach Jemiola video vs. Chris Keck, OF
Zach Jemiola video vs. Daniel Montano, OF
Zach Jemiola scouting report GIFs
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In this Colorado Rockies / Zach Jemiola baseball scouting report:
Arizona Fall League | Colorado Rockies | Albuquerque Isotopes | Hartford Yard Goats | Salt River Rafters | Zach Jemiola
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