Ian Churchill, LHP, Santa Barbara City College

Fastball 85-89 (86-88) … Curveball 72-75 … Changeup 80-82 … To plate with runner on first: 1.60, 1.61, 1.64, 1.64, 1.64, 1.66, 1.66, 1.66.

Fastball is fairly straight; modest arm-side life late on occasion; very good downhill plane from tall frame. Pitch plays up the further down in the zone he lives. Bit of sneaky velo in upper 80s; will get on hitters quickly. More arm strength undoubtedly coming; raw right now; fastball started 86-88, touching 89, and dropped to 83-87 from the fourth inning on; curveball dropped to 70-73 in same time frame. More velo coming … Struggled to feel curveball early on; didn’t finish pitch early and left too many hanging up and away to arm side; steadily got better as the game wore on, but room to improve here. Second outing I’ve seen of his with curveball inconsistent; could be decent look from his height/arm slot, but must make depth/break consistent and establish it early down in the zone; haven’t really seen wipeout potential yet … Flat, firm changeup; didn’t throw it as much, looks more like a show-me against RHH. Modest need for improvement to use as a third pitch in rotation role, but fastball/curveball combination will be bread and butter when he perfects execution and sequencing … Struggled to get ahead of hitters early; consistently working behind in count and played down to lesser hitters early; acquitted himself well by surviving traffic, though; steadily adjusted to attack strike zone as game wore on … Works pretty slowly between pitches, particularly with runners on base; deliberate; encouraging maturity here that he can slow the game down when he gets into trouble instead of speeding it up … Good underlying athleticism with a ton of physical projection and upside in tall, thin frame. Natural deception and a bit of funkiness in his delivery, but he repeats mechanics pretty well all things considered … Looking way, way down the road, feels to me like Ian Churchill will be a situational left-handed reliever at ceiling in pro ball; natural funkiness to his delivery that’ll flourish in pro game; hunch his curve will become a good, sharp slider that’ll be a nice complement to an upper 80s/low 90s fastball, the combination of which can wreak havoc on LHH in high leverage situations … If that ever happens, it won’t be for at least a few (3-5) years; for now, Ian Churchill will be best served starting games and building innings, arm strength, and feel for his repertoire. Probably a little too raw to be an MLB Draft candidate this summer, and would do well to return to Santa Barbara City College and eat innings next year, but there’s real pro ball upside and projectability here. Long term follow who bears checking in six and twelve months from now to track growth.

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