Far from the sexiest of pitching prospects, Daniel Hurtado carries a certain amount of intrigue as the starting pitcher who continues to have success despite seemingly being hittable and not having flashy stuff. Sound familiar?
Daniel Hurtado
10 words or less: Boring but effective. Can he keep going? Next Shoemaker maybe?
Position: SP Born: 7/25/1992
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6’3″ Weight: 180
2014 Rank: Unranked
2014 Season Stats
[table id=37 /]
PITCHING
Fastball – B-. Hurtado pumps fastballs in around 90-92 mph, which is right around average. What gives Daniel an added bonus is he has a bit of a hitch or jerk in his pre-release motion which can throw off the timing of a hitter. He also has a bit of a short-arm, three-quarters release, which allows him to hide the ball behind his body for as long as possible. He’s also shown a sinking and cutting fastball so it’s hardly ever staying in one spot. Translation, Hurtado’s making the most of what he has to work with, making an otherwise average velocity for fastball into a legitimate above average pitch.
Off-speed Pitches – C-. Hurtado has a “get-me-over” slurvy slider and an equally as unimpressive change up. But again, Daniel made it work to his advantage by hiding the ball well and locating his pitches. I really don’t see a lot of improvement coming in this area as he’s already walking a bit of a tight-rope.
Control – A. Here is Hurtado’s bread and butter. It’s what makes him a semi-interesting prospect. Within the last couple of years, Daniel has figured out how to keep the ball in the strike zone and how to manipulate his pitches. In essence, he learned how to become a pitcher. It’s a good thing too because with sub-par stuff and little command comes a plane ticket back to the island. Not only was Daniel able to generate weak contact and find himself in advantageous counts, he also found a way to miss bats.
Command – A. Command typically comes and goes with pitchers, but Daniel showed us in his age 21 season that he can apply all the lessons the coaches have been trying to teach him. With the polish and consistency of an MLB veteran, Daniel mowed through A-Ball hitters. I really hope he’s figured it out for good because as we’ve seen with guys like Matt Shoemaker and Jered Weaver, command can negate a lack of velocity or off-speed pitches and turn a mediocre pitcher into a good one.
Mechanics – C. I’m not particularly bullish on Hurtado’s mechanics. He seems to rush himself and his arm-slot and release just scream shoulder problems to me. Typically, I’d rate him lower than this, but whatever he’s doing, it’s working, why change?
OVERALL
Performance – B. Hurtado found success in both relief and starting. Repeating the Midwest League at age 21/22 meant it was time to put up or shut up. Hurtado put up, and now he should find himself in High-A ball next year, testing his advancements in pitching against the hitter-friendly confines of the California League.
Projection – D. Daniel still has a bit of projection left in him. He’s gone from tall and lanky that might be good in the future to more muscular and is for sure pretty decent right now. But it doesn’t look like he’ll be adding any more ticks to his fastball or developing a wipeout breaking ball any time soon. We basically just have to hope that his command continues to be every bit as effective against upper-level hitters as it was against the kids in A Ball. Again, we’ve seen in other pitchers (Smith, Roth, Shoemaker and Weaver) that deception and command can be effective at any level.
Estimated Time of Arrival – 2018. I can’t picture the Angels putting Hurtado on the fast track any time soon, he just doesn’t seem like that sort of prospect. More than likely, he’ll get the Shoemaker treatment, a year-plus at each level, making him absolutely earn his spot in the major leagues. But again, If Hurtado can keep doing what he just did this past year, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Grade as a Prospect – C. He hasn’t set himself apart as anything truly special yet, but with another year of dominance, we could see him pushing up into the B range. You can’t succeed in the Cal League without doing a few things right.
2014 in Review*
Hurtado’s stuff isn’t anything special, but his deception and command have allowed him to stay ahead of hitters. In fact, he is generally a hard guy to figure out. In particular, his platoon splits are just fascinating.
In some respects, Hurtado’s splits are normal; his walk and whiff rates are a bit worse against lefties, as you’d expect from a righty. His splits are totally abnormal in other respects. Despite the higher contact rates against lefties, they aren’t hitting him hard. LHB have a .080 ISO against him in his minor league career versus .139 against RHB. That isn’t a blip either, that split was even wider in 2014. What’s truly amazing is how much he suppresses homers by lefties having allowed just one dinger to a left-handed batter in his entire career while righties have hit 15. Keep in mind that he is an extreme flyball pitcher and his batted ball profile platoon splits are virtually identical except for the fact that the balls just don’t leave the yard against lefties.
Looking Ahead*
Hurtado dabbled in relief last year, but there is little reason to believe he shouldn’t stay in the rotation. That ability to shutdown left-handed hitters is a very useful skill as a starting pitcher. The big test for him though will be pitching a full season, likely at the Inland Empire. Hurtado looks like he could be a workhorse type, but he also has never logged more than 74.1 innings in a minor league season yet.
*As we do every year, the scouting reports and grades are provided by Scotty Allen while Garrett Wilson provides the 2013 in Review and Looking Ahead sections.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
