Tyler Kolek, RHP

[Mainge]

Anecdotal but I've coached kids from ages 12 to 18, and seen hundreds of other amateur games in between, and I've seen only a handful of kids throwing all fastballs, and none of them were older than 14. I'd call it extremely uncommon.

[Jay]

Mainge would know better than I but I would think the level of competition would dictate the need for offspeed pitches when a fastball is so overwhelming.

Mainge what percentage (approximately) would you say pitches are offspeed offerings from 16-18 year olds

- - - - - - - - - -

Mainge would know better than I but I would think the level of competition would dictate the need for offspeed pitches when a fastball is so overwhelming.

Mainge what percentage (approximately) would you say pitches are offspeed offerings from 16-18 year olds

[Mainge]

That's hard to say but shot in the dark, 35%-40%? Certainly not significantly different from what you see on TV.

[HUGG]

He's only throwing fastball/curveball right now:

There will be a day when pitching five innings is no longer a milestone for Tyler Kolek, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's Draft. There will be a day when he'll need more than just a fastball and curveball to make that happen. There will be a day when fanning more than one batter per inning will feel commonplace.

Wednesday was not yet that day, however.

The Marlins' top prospect notched the first win of his professional career by leading Class A Greensboro to a 6-0 win over Lakewood in a matinee at NewBridge Bank Park. He set career highs with six strikeouts and five innings, allowing two hits and two walks in his first scoreless outing of the 2015 season.

Those marks would all be noteworthy on their own, but particularly so given Kolek's struggles in his first two full-season outings. The 19-year-old right-hander began the day having allowed seven earned runs on eight hits, four walks and two hit-batsmen (compared to only four strikeouts) in just 7 1/3 frames. Wednesday's start reduced his season ERA from 8.59 to 5.11.

"Today, everything just felt more consistent," Kolek said. "Things just came together better, and that was a result of putting in work and making things as consistent as possible."

That consistency hadn't quite arrived in the early going Wednesday -- both of his free passes and a hit-by-pitch came in the first two innings. But a 5-4-3 double play in the first and a caught-stealing in the second limited the BlueClaws threat and gave the 6-foot-5 hurler a boost of confidence going forward.

"A big thing was just focusing on throwing strikes and doing what I can do best," Kolek said. "These guys have my back, and I have to trust them. Just get a couple of ground balls, and let them help me out, which they did."

After allowing a single to start the third, Kolek retired six straight Lakewood batters -- three on punchouts. He struck out a pair in both the fourth and the fifth, and despite hitting his career high for innings, that momentum had Kolek brimming with confidence.

"I felt great right there," he said. "I felt like I could've gone all nine, really, if they let me. But I understand we have to build up to that, and there are limits and all that. But yeah, I felt awesome after that."

Perhaps most impressive -- although not surprising given scouting reports -- was that Kolek used only two pitches to put up all the zeros. The Marlins grabbed the Texas native with the second overall pick last June largely on the merits of his 80-grade fastball. During his time in the Lone Star State, Kolek repeatedly hit triple digits -- he wasn't sure of his velocity Wednesday -- leading scouts to dream of further projectability. The Marlins worked with their new prospect on a 60-grade curveball to give him two plus pitches right out of the gate. What's lacking are a quality third offering (in this instance, a changeup) and control (a common problem among young fireballers). The latter was there Wednesday. The former didn't need to be, according to the hurler.

"Just the curve," Kolek said. "I had thrown changeups some during the warmups and bullpens and stuff, but I didn't feel like I needed it today. Obviously, if I felt like I needed it, I would have thrown it. But no, today felt good, so I stuck with what was working."

The day will come at higher levels when Kolek will certainly need that third offering to keep hitters off-balance and away from sitting dead-red on his heater, no matter how many radar guns it lights up. But for now, there is the positive of a strong outing, and that's good enough for Kolek.

"I'm building momentum, really," he said. "I felt good going into today. I feel good coming out. Now, it's just about keeping this feeling rolling into the next one."

Kolek's offensive support came from center fielder Mason Davis, second baseman Aaron Blanton and first baseman Austen Smith, each of whom went deep in the Grasshoppers' win. Shortstop Rony Cabrera went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp..._milb&sid=milb

[emkayseven]

No mention of him throwing away the baseball on a pickoff attempt either. Threw it right in the dirt. But yeah, that's in line with what I saw.

[HUGG]

MLBPipeline #1 Prospect, #27 Top 100, #9 Top 10 RHP

Scouting grades: Fastball: 80 | Curveball: 60 | Changeup: 40 | Control: 45 | Overall: 60

Kolek made waves before the 2014 Draft, thanks to his powerful fastball. He consistently threw the pitch 100 mph or more, making him one of the hardest throwers in Draft history. That was enough to make him a candidate to become the first high school right-hander to go No. 1 overall, and the Marlins were ready to grab him with the second pick of the Draft when the Astros ultimately passed on him.

There's more to Kolek than pure velocity. He gets heavy sinking life on his fastball, creating lots of groundball outs. He's refined his breaking ball since being drafted, giving it 12-to-6 break. He still needs to work on his secondary offerings, as he's largely been able to rely on his fastball to this point.

As is the case with most young power pitchers, command remains a work in progress for Kolek. He'll need to improve it to reach his ceiling, but his size, stuff and arm strength give him top-of-the-rotation potential.

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=mia

John Sickels #1 Prospect, #46 Top 175

1) Tyler Kolek, RHP, Grade B+: Age 19, probably the fastest high school fastball of the draft era and perhaps since Bob Feller, clocked as high as 102. He did not throw that hard in pro ball, reportedly limited to 91-95 by a minor back injury and mechanical glitches. Posted 4.50 ERA with 18/12 K/BB in 22 innings in rookie ball. Could become a number one starter, or a terrific closer, or Jeff Juden, or a Colt Griffinesque Jungian archetype nightmare of scouting directors in the year 2020.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/...pects-for-2015

[HUGG]

righties hitting .200/.302/.218
lefties .333/.415/.444

bases empty .326/.426/.435
runners on .204/.290/.222

so he needs a pitch to get lefties out and to pitch from the stretch, apparently

[marlinsfan24]

GREENSBORO, N.C.—With the second pick in last year’s draft, the Marlins could have gone with Carlos Rodon, a lefthander from North Carolina State who had to the potential to shoot to the majors quickly and pair with Jose Fernandez to form a 1-2 punch of Cuban heat at the top of the rotation.

The Marlins passed on Rodon and selected Tyler Kolek, a Texas-bred righthander who, at 18 years old, had already pushed his fastball into triple digits. Rodon went off the board one pick later, and is already in the rotation with the White Sox.

Kolek, on the other hand, entered his first full pro season at low Class A Greensboro, where he’s slowly being built into what the Marlins believe will be a pitcher well worth the second pick in the draft and the $6 million it cost to sign him away from a commitment to Texas Christian.

Kolek was asked to focus on fastball command to start the year, and to do so threw almost exclusively fastballs in his first few outings. After that, he moved on to breaking pitches. But instead of the signature slider from his days on the showcase circuit, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Kolek was spinning a curveball with 12-6 break.

“Spinning the curveball, getting it to be kind of an out pitch and throwing it for a strike when I need to,” Kolek said when asked about what he’d been working on this season. “It’s just mainly developing my secondary pitches. (The curveball) has come a long way. I’m just getting the right spin on it, the right 12-to-6, and then once you get the right spin it’s just throwing it for a strike.”

The curveball Kolek threw against Delmarva showed promise. It generally stayed true to its intended 12-to-6 shape, and at times flashed bite hard and late. It occasionally loosened, but more often than not showed the makings of a quality offering down the road, when he’ll also start incorporating a seldom-used changeup into his arsenal.

“He didn’t have a real feel for it early (in the game), he didn’t have a real feel for it in spring training,” Greensboro manager Kevin Randel said. “The first couple outings, he didn’t really have a feel for it. The last two outings, I’ve seen some major league plus curveballs. The command of it is getting better every day, every outing out there.”

When you throw a fastball in the upper 90s in high school, life is easy. That pitch is more or less all you need to win games and impress evaluators. With that in the past, however, Kolek has to show he has more than just heat in his arsenal. A perfect example came in the first inning, when he threw almost exclusively fastballs and struggled to command.

Against Delmarva third baseman Jomar Reyes, Kolek started with a 95 mph fastball. Reyes not only got around on the pitch, he barreled it and pulled the ball into left field for a hard single. The next time Reyes came up, it appeared Kolek had learned his lesson.

This time, after seeing the disdain he showed his fastball in his first at-bat, Kolek attacked Reyes with a pair of curveballs. Neither pitch was crisp—the first low and in the dirt for ball one, the second up and on Reyes’ hands—but they were effective enough to coax a weak fly to right field from the aggressive 18-year-old.

“Early in the season, he didn’t have a breaking ball, so he had to learn to pitch with the fastball,” Randel said. “The command of the fastball got a little bit better just because it had to (in order) to make it through innings, to make it through outings. Now he’s got his breaking ball coming around and you see his pitch counts shrinking a little bit. Now we have some room to run him out for the sixth and let him run.”

Early in the outing, it didn’t appear that Kolek would make it to the second, let alone the sixth inning. Delmarva stroked three singles in the opening frame, and Kolek made it worse with a lot of deep counts and two wild pitches. There was action in the Greensboro pen when Kolek blew high heat past Riley Palmer to finish the frame.

“I think the first inning, I just got a little too amped up,” Kolek said. “I just couldn’t really find a rhythm. That second inning I just tried to go out there and throw strikes. It went in my favor, so everything started to get comfortable.”

With the first inning behind him, Kolek settled in and allowed just two more hits for the duration of his outing. His fastball dipped as low as 91-92 mph in the later stages, but finished his final strikeout, Delmarva’s Alex Murphy for the last out of the fifth, with 98 mph gas up in the zone.

Between his improving curveball, his ability to respond positively after early struggles and, of course, his huge fastball, Kolek looks well on his way to being what the Marlins thought he might when they drafted him. Even if it is a slow burn.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minor...tial-delmarva/

[emkayseven]

ranked #46 in BA's midseason top 50 prospects

The fastball has backed up a little from the triple digits he showed last year, and he needs refinement

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minor...prospects2015/

[Miamarlin21]

Here is some video that Baseball America posted of Kolek. To me, his delivery looks so hurried. I feel like his mechanics can get screwy any minute because of it.

[Bobbob1313]

ranked #46 in BA's midseason top 50 prospects



http://www.baseballamerica.com/minor...prospects2015/

Pretty shocked he's still that high, TBH. Was listening to a BaseballProspectus podcast the other day where they said he wouldn't be in their top-100 anymore. Pretty much every report they've had on him this season has been disastrous.

[marlinsfan24]

Pretty shocked he's still that high, TBH. Was listening to a BaseballProspectus podcast the other day where they said he wouldn't be in their top-100 anymore. Pretty much every report they've had on him this season has been disastrous.

Sickels said the other day he's not been hitting 100 this season and his secondary pitches haven't developed much.

[Mainge]

I am shocked that reports of 100 MPH were exaggerated. Shocked.

[NoNames7225]

...Was listening to a BaseballProspectus podcast the other day where they said he wouldn't be in their top-100 anymore.

BP didn't have Kolek in their top 101.

[Todd]

Pretty shocked he's still that high, TBH. Was listening to a BaseballProspectus podcast the other day where they said he wouldn't be in their top-100 anymore. Pretty much every report they've had on him this season has been disastrous.

What types of things have the reports been saying?