Adrian Morejon Scouting Report & Game Video

Dates Observed: June 9, 2018

Team/Organization: Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego Padres)
League/Level: California League (High-A)

Scouting Notes: One of the top pitching prospects moving quickly for the San Diego Padres, Adrian Morejon was signed as a 17-year-old out of Cuba and has reached High-A before his 20th birthday. Big-time arm with likely mid-rotation upside; poised kid with three potential above-average pitches and an understanding of how to use them … Well-built for his age with strong, thick lower half; repeatable delivery with high three-quarters release and good downward plane to plate; command profile to live at the knees with entire repertoire, work side to side on the plate with consistency. Mechanics did get a bit haywire from the stretch in my look here, particularly in the middle innings after cruising through several frames working exclusively from the windup; struggled with leaking out to the plate and leaving his arm behind to drag through late, altering release point, affecting command, flattening some of his stuff, and leaving it up in the zone. Extension suffered from the stretch, too; showed some recoil and lacked the pinpoint feel for the corners he’d had from the windup; work to do here to make mechanics more repeatable in high-stress/high-leverage situations with runners on base so he can execute big pitches … Fastball sat 92-95 in my look here; paired it with an 80-84 changeup and a 78-81 curve. Had him 1.50 – 1.59 to the plate with a runner on first base; holds runners OK and looked fine getting off the mound to field his position, though late to get over to cover first a couple times … Fastball is no-nonsense pitch, pretty conventional with above-average velo to the plate. Fairly straight without exceptional late life, but velo and command are generally good enough to make it work; perfect pitch to establish early/first time through against a lineup with enough power to keep going back to late when spotted up. Flirted some with a two-seam fastball in warm-ups and between innings that showed considerable, late arm-side run, but didn’t see significant usage in game that was executed too differently from four-seam fastball … Advanced feel for curveball in my look here; pitch is sharp with 12-to-6 break and consistent depth; good, tight spinner out of the hand that he can use a lot; trusts the spin. Really loves it against LHH with good look there, but showed some feel to backdoor it to RHH, too. Curve could be a big out pitch — potential plus — for Adrian Morejon if/when mechanical consistency comes; will execute curveball even more often … Didn’t appear to see the purported knuckle changeup in this look, but regular changeup works just fine; tumble to arm-side with run, tunnels OK with fastball, some utility here against RHH. Should work well enough as a third pitch and could become above-average at ceiling … Adrian Morejon is methodical and very calm on the mound; takes his time and just looks like a big leaguer, as dumb as that sounds. Directs pace with his sets and his tempos to the plate; doesn’t try to go too fast, nor does he waste time out of rhythm; just calmly directs tempo on the mound and puts hitters on his schedule … Overall, he’s polished and consistent with an above-average repertoire, and for me—and many other evaluators—that means mid-rotation upside is ahead, especially considering the context of his age and competition level right now. There are some mechanical inconsistencies to iron out that’ll help the repertoire, particularly while working from the stretch with runners on base, but Adrian Morejon is at least a solid 55 FV at ceiling. I’d like to see him a few more times this summer or next, if possible, but you could probably even make a legitimate case that he’s a 60 FV if you so choose; regardless of specific OFP grade, his future is bright.

Game Video:

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