With the minor league season winding down here in the waning weeks of the summer. I headed out to Pawtucket, RI on Wednesday, in order to get some first hand looks at a pair of pitchers with the potential to be called-up when rosters expand in the coming days. The first was Phillies AAA ace Enyel De Los Santos, the right-hander with the mid-90’s fastball was the Phillies return for Freddy Galvis this winter, and has been very solid during his time in the Phillies organization. He debuted in the majors earlier this summer, making two starts in mid-July, before heading back to Lehigh Valley. He was back up for a relief appearance earlier this month, but has spent the majority of his season in the International League. The other arm was the Red Sox Mike Shawaryn, another arm I’ve discussed a little in my articles and on the podcast over the last few months. This was my second look at Shawaryn this season, and first in AAA. Both the Phillies and Red Sox are in the playoff push, and each of these arms could fill a variety of roles this season, and going forward. Let’s discuss what I witnessed.
Enyel De Los Santos, RHP | Philadelphia Phillies | Age: 22 | 2018 Stats: 10-5, 126.2 IP, 110 Ks, 43 Bb, 2.63 ERA, .221 BAA, 1.16 WHIP, 4.04 FIP | Grades: FB 50/60 | CB 45/50 | SL 50/55 | CH 55/60
I was pretty excited to see Enyel, as he’s an arm I’ve been keen on dating back to his Padres days. So it’s a treat to see an arm like this when he’s truly on the cusp of the big leagues. Physically De Los Santos has a prototypical build of an MLB rotation arm. About 6’2 – 6’4, with a long, lean, but filled out frame. Not overly athletic in his motions, Enyel doesn’t extend that well, or really have any deception to his delivery. His arm slot is a higher ¾ delivery, but he repeats fairly well and throws strikes. He works with a four pitch mix, blending a mid-90’s fastball with an above-average slider, an average curveball, and an underutilized changeup that flashes plus. It was a rough first inning for De Los Santos, as he yielded 3 runs in the first frame on Wednesday. Granted it was against a Pawsox lineup featuring two rehabbing major leaguers in Rafael Devers, and Christian Vazquez, each of whom got to Enyel in the first. He settled down later in the inning to get Aneury Tavarez on a 96 MPH fastball to end it. He cruised over the next 3 innings, not seeing any real threats until he got to around 90 pitches in the 5th. One of the things that stuck out to me the most about Enyel was his ability to get groundballs even against fly-ball hitters. He had 6 of his 7 outs in play off of the groundball, and might have had more if not for the extremely poor play at the hot corner from Mitch Welding. It wasn’t the best outing for the righty but he showed the ability to battle back after a long inning, driving a fair amount of swinging strikes on his four pitch arsenal. He’s certainly been more of a pitch to contact guy this year in Lehigh Valley, but he has the pitch mix in his fastball, slider, changeup for his stuff to play-up in a pen-role down the stretch. Looks like a solid number four starter long term.
A 95 MPH fastball for a swinging strike to end a rough first for Enyel De Los Santos.
Sat 93-95 on the FB/T 96
Threw a few CU at 81-82
Curveball 80 pic.twitter.com/ITd15n83Pn
— Prospects Live (@ProspectsLive) August 29, 2018
Mike Shawaryn, RHP | Boston Red Sox | Age: 23 | 2018 Stats: 9-9, 143.2 IP, 127 Ks, 38 Bb, 3.45 ERA, .232 BAA, 1.13 WHIP, 3.57 FIP | Grades: FB 50/55 | Slider 50/60 | Changeup 45/55
This was my second time catching Shawaryn this season, but probably the fifth or sixth time I’ve watched him. As I catch a fair amount of Portland and Pawtucket games on MiLB.TV. So far in AAA the righty has made 5 starts, and one relief appearance. Other than his last turn on Friday of last week, Shawaryn has been solid, going five to seven innings in his other four starts. He mixes a low 90’s fastball that runs off the plate to righthanders and in on the hands of lefties, a nasty slider that plays up due to his low ¾ arm slot, and a changeup that was far more effective than I expected. Lance’s earlier looks this season, he noted a four-seamer and a two-seamer. The two-seamer is all I noticed on Wednesday, getting really nasty sink low in the zone, making it an effective groundball and swing and miss offering. I had the pleasure of sitting next to the Red Sox contingent at the game, and got some solid information on Shawaryn’s pitch mix and what they’re working on. Particularly, it’s the changeup, and admittedly the off-speed pitch seems to have taken a nice step forward throughout the season, giving him a legit third offering. Early in the start Shawaryn was mostly fastball/slider, but the second time through the order he unleashed the changeup, throwing it in any count to both lefties and righties, but was most effective in his opposite side matchups. Shawaryn takes his time between pitches, maxing out the pitch clock several times, tossing pitches at the last second. He did consistently throw strikes, and got lots of bad contact on sinkers early in the count. Shawaryn mowed down the Ironpigs lineup, only making a mistake on a hanging slider Dylan Cozens mashed out of the stadium to right. Seriously the hang-time on that dong was Ray Guy-esque. What Shawaryn potentially offers the Sox in September is an arm capable of starting, pitching a strong inning, or even filling a multi-inning role out of the pen.
Through two innings Mike Shawaryn is 23 pitches deep two strikeouts, no hits, no walks. Lots of weak contact.
FB sitting 91-92
Slider 85-86#Redsox pic.twitter.com/bVzTM8dErC
— Prospects Live (@ProspectsLive) August 29, 2018
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