DET

Clarke Schmidt, P

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Scouting report

Schmidt's breaking ball spin rates in 2020 were about 300 rpm higher than what I had on record from him in 2019 and he also threw substantially harder, though that might be because he was deployed in a couple of relief outings and a short start. He works with what amounts to four different pitches: a high-spin two-seamer that he works to his arm side, a four-seamer that he locates up and to his glove side, a nasty two-plane breaking ball, and a changeup. It's a slam dunk starter's repertoire in a vacuum, but Schmidt has one of the longer, gnarlier arm actions in baseball and already has one surgery under his belt. He also shows pretty significant release variation depending on pitch type, with his breaking balls coming from a lower, wider point while his fastballs, especially the four-seamer, comes from a vertical one. All of his release points viewed at once look more like a crescent rather than one tight, circular cluster. It's possible hitters will be able to pick up on this, but it's also possible Schmidt hides the ball so well that they won't. It's something we'll just have to learn by watching big leaguers face him. The confluence of arm action length, release variance and injury history all create substantial relief risk here, but even if Schmidt ends up in a role of that sort, I think his repertoire depth will enable him to either close or work in a valuable multi-inning role. (Alternate site, MLB)