They come from worlds apart, but are both wild cards in the Angels system, lottery tickets that will either make the Angels an even more wealthy team in terms of pitching, or trade chips to be used as currency to buy Major Leaguers. Either way, Chris Ellis and Victor Alcantara carry an inherent value that is rare for any minor league system. The way in which they’ve acquired such value however, is completely different.
Alcantara signed with the Angels in May of 2012, which is certainly an odd circumstance. Why? He was 19 years old when he signed. That may not seem odd at all, but when you consider that the best Domonican and Venezuelan players sign their first major league contracts at either 16 or 17 years old, it makes Alcantara’s signing a bit of a head-scratcher. Here is a kid who is firing the baseball at 100 MPH and no one signs him, not even when he’s 18. Why? We aren’t sure entirely. It’s possible he was heavily overlooked in the talent-rich Santo Domingo area of the Dominican Republic. It’s possible he was hurt before. It’s possible he hadn’t fully grown into his body yet and wasn’t throwing hard at the time. It could also be that he couldn’t find the strike zone, which is still a bit of a problem.
Whatever the reason, the Angels were in a sense the “last chance” for Alcantara. You see, between the years of 2007 and 2014, the Angels were pretty much the black hole of the Latin American scouting world. Scandal rocked their Dominican scouting department and led to dismissals, jail time and a lot of lost money for young Latin American prospects. Rarely would any decent ball player sign with the Angels because of the reputation they had gained, but also because after the scandal came out, the Angels had to hire an entirely new staff, which no one was familiar with and they essentially had to learn the ropes. This took a long time. On top of which, the Angels facility in the Dominican Republic had grown old and dilapidated. So signing with the Angels, not advantageous, not unless they overpaid.
Alcantara arrived with the Angels, and with a little bit of professional coaching, he turns in one of the better pitching performances in the Dominican Summer League and in the process turns some heads as well. Once he arrived stateside and the organization got it’s first full look at this kid, jaws were dropped. Easy 100 MPH fastballs with movement. That just doesn’t happen. Well they were partly right, it doesn’t happen. The 20-year old Alcantara went to the Pioneer League and it was quickly realized: 100 MPH out of the strike zone isn’t as effective as 95 MPH in the strike zone. An ERA over seven tends to do that. Some refinements were made, Alcantara dropped the windup and went exclusively from the stretch, he developed a nifty slider and scaleed back his triple digit hits to find the strike zone more frequently.
The end result: his ERA is cut in half and is now in the high three’s, his BB/9 drops, his hits per nine drops and curiously, his K/9 rises. Also, an appearance in the Future’s Game. So far this year, Alcantara’s been almost the same pitcher, but his ERA has risen to a still-respectable 4.34 due to the California League’s hitter friendly confines. You’d think that 95+ MPH heat, an electric slider and further developing change up would be cause for attention, yet Alcantara has been written off by most sources as a future reliever. Understandable as this may be, why aren’t said sources then excited about his future as a reliever? Think about it, 95-98 on the radar gun across seven innings may suddenly turn into 98-101 in one inning stints. The Angels still intend to use Alcantara as a starter for as long as he can get away with it, but pitching exclusively out of the stretch and essentially using only two pitches is basically a reliever’s recipe for success.
Chris Ellis though, he’s a different cat from different beginnings. He came from Alabama, which is basically the exact opposite of Santo Domingo, D.R. Not exactly a baseball mecca. Still, he was impressive enough on traveling teams and whatnot to be drafted by the Dodgers in the last round of the MLB draft coming out of high school. He wisely passed on the opportunity to turn pro and instead accepted a scholarship to Ole Miss. Though Ellis’ freshman campaign produced impressive numbers, he just didn’t have the fastball or build of a major league pitcher.
His sophomore year was a disaster though. Ellis struggled to find the strike zone and had looked like things weren’t working out on the diamond. But something magical happened between his sophomore and junior year at Ole Miss. He started throwing strikes, lots of them, and he began to grow into that tall 6’4″ frame of his.
Ellis had transformed from mediocre reliever to staff ace in only one year. Most Major League teams took notice of Ellis, whose fastball now worked in the low-90’s consistently and had shrunk his BB/9 rate. He’s toyed around with his changeup and found a way to make it more effective and even tightened up the spin on his slider to make it at least an average pitch. Still, this looked too good to be true for most teams. Here was this kid with the makings of three quality major league pitches, set on a major league frame, with a fresh arm and not too many innings logged on, just waiting to be picked up. There were some evaluators that saw him going in the first round of the draft. Others noticed a lack of strikeouts and recommended maybe a 10th round pick.
The Angels were fortunate enough to select Ellis in the 3rd round, clearly buying the changes he made at Ole Miss. But like any smart Major League team, the Angels drafted Ellis with the idea that they could help him grow into an even better pitcher than before. Ellis pitched well enough in the spring to break camp in Advanced A Ball, skipping over Class A Burlington entirely. The fastball has been clocked between 90-94 MPH so far, settling in at 92-93 with wild movement that would even make Garrett Richards grin, his curveball has been knee-buckling, giving hitter fits and growing into a plus pitch and his changeup is still considered the second best in the system behind Nick Tropeano. His BB/9 has dropped down to a miniscule 2.8 and his K/9 have jumped up to 11. Not bad at all!
While Ellis has been plagued by the Cal Leagues friendly environs, it would seem the Angels correctly placed him, as there are a few small refinements to be made before Ellis can fully realize his potential. First, while he is throwing strikes, he absolutely must learn to spot his pitches. Leaving them out and over the plate is a recipe for disaster. Second, he also needs to learn to hold runners on. His delivery has been slow but deliberate toward the plate, allowing teams free reign over the bases. Still, it’s hard not to get excited over a pitcher than now has what are considered three “plus” major league offerings. Had more major league teams knee he could make this jump, they may have tried to bag him in the first round.
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