Alex Wimmers
Pos: RHP
School: THE Ohio State University
Born: November 1, 1988
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 195 lbs
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Click here for the video scouting report on Wimmers.
From the same page, his scouting report:
Fastball: Wimmers wasn't quite as strong (understandable in his first start of the year) as he's been in the past, throwing his fastball 88-91 mph.
Fastball movement: He has good movement on his two-seamer.
Curve: He threw his curve 71-73 mph. It wasn't as sharp as it's been in the past, but should be at least an average pitch.
Changeup: He threw a solid-average changeup throughout his start.
Control: He's a strike-thrower. His command was solid-average and should get even sharper as the year goes on.
Poise: He has plus poise and mound presence.
Physical Description: Wimmers has a solid frame that reminds some of Scott Williamson.
Medical Update: Healthy.
Strengths: Good three-pitch mix, solid command and excellent presence on the mound. He should move quickly to the big leagues.
Weaknesses: His stuff isn't overwhelming in terms of how each pitch grades out; not a high-ceiling kind of guy.
Summary: Wimmers is setting himself up to be one of the safer college arm picks in the 2010 Draft. He has three pitches he can throw for strikes and he shows tremendous poise on the mound as Ohio State's Friday starter. While his raw stuff won't jump out at you and he might profile as a middle- to back-of-the-rotation pitcher, he's also the type whose sum is greater than each of his parts. Wimmers should shoot through the Minors and could be big league-ready by 2012, meaning he probably will not last very long on the first day of the Draft.
At different points of mock drafts, both Keith Law and Jim Calis picked the Twins to select Wimmers.
Here's Dave Coleman of SB Nation's Crawfish Boxes:
Summary
If Tanner Bushue had gone to college, he might have ended up like Alex Wimmers. If you scroll down after the jump, you'll see a video of why Wimmers' curve ball is so highly regarded. That's a sick pitch. The question is whether he has anything else to offer with his one breaking pitch.
Scouts and pundits have leapt to the Mike Leake comparisons, because they think Wimmers will be ready quickly. As in next year quickly. But, as Keith Law points out, they're different players. Wimmers probably has a higher floor but a lower ceiling. If Wimmers were a lefty, he'd be drafted in the Top 10. That's how his stuff profiles, as a command guy without overpowering stuff. I can name plenty of lefties with that description (Wandy, Jamie Moyer, etc.), but few right-handers fit that bill. The radar guns are clocking his fastball at 88-91 now, when he's pitching once a week instead of every five days. That's why the fastball is his biggest liability. He can't afford to lose much more velocity and be successful in the majors.
There's also the matter of where he went to college. While it would matter that he went to Ohio State in most sports, baseball is not one of them. The Big 10 was a veritable wasteland of baseball talent, for whatever reason (I'd blame the cold weather). Wimmers dominated this season, but he did it against mediocre competition. It leaves us hard-pressed to project him based on that.
Floor
As I said, his floor is pretty high. He's already got two pitches which are close to big-league ready in his curve and his changeup. Once he gets used to pitching on a five-day schedule, he's a good candidate for the back end of a rotation. The problem is he's not got much more potential that that, if his fastball doesn't improve. Without a fastball to keep hiters honest, they'll sit on the curve and won't chase the change. Worst case for Wimmers is that he washes out as a starter due to his fastball problems and ends up as a reliever, but not as a closer/setup man. As Brian Moehler.
Ceiling
Unless he can magically add 5 MPH to his fastball, I don't see him making a run at the top side of a big-league rotation. That leaves his ceiling as a No. 4 starter, which is nice. It could certainly help a pitching-starved team like Cincinnati or Arizona. It won't, however, help a deeper team. Plus, Wimmers would need a Wandy Rodriguez-type season to be an ace, and we have seen how the followup to those performances go. So, No. 4 starter it is.
From Wimmers' page at The Baseball Cube:
Control: 24
K Rating: 99
Efficiency: 75
VS Power: 44
- ravensfan3 has a scouting report over in the FanPosts section. Check it out.
- Red Reporter (SB Nation site for the Reds) has their own scouting report.
- From Project Prospect: Alex Wimmers from The Ohio State University has smooth mechanics and a big curveball that helped dominate big 10 action this spring, with another strong season he should garner lots of first round attention
- Wimmer's biography from the Buckeye's website.
- ESPN's Jason Churchill: Plus curve, plus change, above-average command. Have to like Wimmers here, and he's Minnesota's kind of pitcher -- he throws a lot of strikes.