PEN
Blake Walston, P
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Scouting report
Walston was a young for his draft class pop-up arm who made a rapid ascent up team boards during his senior spring. He was ultra projectable, an above average athlete, and already had a plus curveball. He also had feel for a changeup and command, and his fastball has life that enables it to compete for swings and misses in the zone even though it isn't all that hard yet. He was up to 94 in the 2019 AZL after he signed and was the same at the 2020 alternate site, sitting 90-92. Then Walston came out of the gate throwing harder during instructs before his velocity backed off into the low-90s again. Had he held that kind of velo throughout the Fall, Waltson would be on the Top 100 list. How Walston develops physically, and how those gains counterbalance the coming full-season workload, will dictate when he rises and how much. But he's really just consistent, impact velocity away from being a very good pitching prospect, and velocity is the thing the industry is becoming the best at developing. Walston's secondary/command foundation gives him a chance to end up with three plus pitches and command. He's as risky as any teenage pitching prospect, perhaps riskier when you consider the velocity fluctuations he has now shown since high school. One scout's upward trajectory is another's recency bias. (Alternate site, Fall Instructional League)