Overall in 2012, Torres went just 3-8 with a 6.72 ERA, a 12.1 K/9, a 7.5 BB/9, and a 0.7 HR/9 in 18 starts, 12 relief appearances, and 80.1 IP, with 26 of his games coming at Triple-A Durham and the others all the way down in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. Why was down in the GCL? Not for an injury, but because he was just so out of sync. Torres’ stuff is about as good as it gets. He throws a fastball that touches that touches the mid-90′s with devastating late bite and a changeup with good arm action to go along with good sink. He has also thrown a big high-70′s curveball. Torres has always been able to generate swings and misses with all his pitches, which are even more difficult to pick up thanks to a deceptive delivery, but the problem is that he has never been able to throw his pitches for strikes. That was something I saw in person back in spring training. Here was a line I wrote there out of pure frustration watching Torres struggle to throw strikes with any consistency.

At the end of the day, I don’t think Torres even needs the deception because his pitches have such dynamic movement. If he could simply throw strikes with any consistency, he could be an excellent pitcher. But there’s a good chance it’s already too late.

In the GCL (completely unrelated to my writing, of course), Torres finally stopped worrying about deception and worked on simply repeating his delivery and throwing strikes. As Adam Sobsey wrote for Indy Week, Torres removed the head tilt in his delivery, removing deception but helping him to repeat his delivery. He also stopped throwing his curveball, which featured the great break but also a slightly different release point that threw Torres off and made it hard for Torres to throw it for a strike, in favor of a low-80′s slider with sharp downward break (a pitch I saw him throw in spring training). What did the change in Torres’ delivery and the dropping of his curveball in exchange for a slider do? Torres got just 2 starts in at Durham after returning from the GCL and in his final start of the season finally put it all together. He went 5.2 innings allowing just 3 hits, striking out 10 while walking just 1. It was his first 8-strikeout game of the season and just his second 7-strikeout game of the season after five games of 8 or more K’s and twelve games of 7 or more when he led the International League in strikeouts in  2011. It was also the first time all season that he walked only one batter while throwing 5 or more innings. It was just one start, but Torres appeared to make definite progress.

What is Alex Torres doing right now? He’s working in Port Charlotte with the pitching coordinator, Marty DeMerritt, who helped transform him. He hopes that his start to finish the season at Durham is the start of a major turnaround that ends with him being a good big league starting pitcher. There is still work that needs to be done. One start can’t be more indicative of Torres’ future performance than the rest of the 2012 season. But Torres is still very much a promising starting pitching prospect for the Rays, even as he turns 25 in December.

This September, Torres, a member of the Rays’ 40-man roster, will return to the big leagues. And especially after his turnaround, he has the ability to pitch well and make the same type of impact that he did in 2011. Torres’ September 2011 performance helped the Rays win just one extra game. But as we saw in 2011, you never know when one game will make the difference.

Carroll has a lot of promise, but there is a lot of work still to be done before he can even think about fulfilling it. (Credit: Washington Post)

Damion Carroll, 18, is a 6’3″, 198 right-hander who was the Rays’ 6th round draft pick in 2012. Carroll’s results in his pro debut in the GCL were very mixed as he went 1-0 with a 2.33 ERA, a 9.3 K/9, an 8.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 10 appearances and 19.1 IP. His groundball rate was a nice 56.5% per Minor League Central*, but his walk rate was crazy-high as Carroll could not consistently find the strike zone. Carroll throws a fastball that reaches 95 MPH that shows nice nice run away from right-handed batters along with solid sink, although Carroll struggles to locate it in the zone. The bigger problem for Carroll is that he throws three secondary pitches, a curveball, a slilder, and a changeup, and all of them are complete works in progress as Carroll can’t throw any of them for strikes. Carroll may flash the good velocity on his fastball right now, but he’s extremely raw in terms of his other pitches and that is really holding him back right now. His curveball is the best of his offspeed offerings, featuring good 11-to-5 break when Carroll can get on top of it, and the Rays could scrap Carroll’s slider as they look to develop the curveball. Carroll is talented, but he really needs everything simplified now, so look for the Rays to take Carroll slowly through the minors developing one pitch at a time as Carroll looks to translate his raw ability into results. Carroll’s lack of control in his pro debut had to be disconcerting for the Rays, but Carroll is just getting his career started and the Rays knew the moment that they drafted him that he was going to require a lot of work. They’ll continue moving Carroll’s development along next season as they look to ease Carroll into the high-upside pitcher he has the ability to be.

Isaac Gil, 20, was drafted by the Rays in the 31st round of the 2011 MLB Draft. Gil, who is a big 6’5″, 230, put together a good performance in his first extended look in pro ball, going 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA, a 7.7 K/9, a 2.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 2 starts, 10 relief appearances, and 34 IP. Gil may have been a pretty late draft pick, but he has some potential as a prospect. Gil doesn’t have any projection remaining, but he throws a fastball around 93 MPH with good movement away from right-handed batters to go along with a solid curveball. Gil was much better against righties than lefties in a limited sample, holding them to a .485 OPS with 19 strikeouts versus 7 walks compared to a .692 with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks versus lefties. He currently doesn’t have any weapons to deal with lefty batters, and the Rays are sure to teach him a changeup in the near future. But he has the ability to be a solid relief prospect moving forward, and considering he’s pretty young as well, it will be interesting to see if he could be a late round steal for the Rays.

Lefty Brett Blaise, 22, was a non-drafted free agent signee by the Rays this year but is a little more interesting than your average NDFA. Blaise did struggle in his pro debut, going 1-1 with an 8.36 ERA, 10.3 K/9, a 7.7 BB/9, and a 1.3 HR/9 in 8 appearances and 14 IP. But he’s a projectable 6’3″, 180, and his current stuff is pretty interesting. He throws a fastball in the 90-92 MPH range along with a sharp curveball that hitters had an awfully hard time making contact with. The problem is that Blaise has no idea where his pitches are going. If he ever does, he could be a pitcher who could move quickly as a relief prospect. Chances are that it won’t happen, but when you have an NDFA who has a chance to make the big leagues someday, it’s always nice.

Lefty Lucas Goodgion, 23, was the Rays’ 33rd round pick in 2012 and is another late round pick who isn’t the biggest longshot to be a big league contributor someday. In his pro debut, Goodgion was great, going 0-1 with a 1.80 ERA, a 7.9 K/9, a 2.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 12 appearances and 25 IP. Goodgion has good size at 6’4″, 220 and nice stuff to go with it, throwing a low-90′s fastball with late bite along with a solid slider that shows flashes. Goodgion’s control and command have a long way to go, but the inexperienced hitters of the GCL continuously swung and missed at Goodgion’s pitches, posting a 17.0% swinging strikeout rate compared to the 14.7% league average. But he couldn’t locate anything anywhere and only had such a low walk rate because hitters were swinging and missing like crazy at his pitches. More disciplined hitters won’t fall for his tricks. Goodgion’s stuff is good, but he has a long way to go and at his age (he turned 23 in July), we’ll have to see if he will ever put it all together. The good news is that between Gil, Blaise, and Goodgion, the Rays may end up with a solid big league middle reliever.

Alex Moshier, 23, was another NDFA signed by the Rays this season. Moshier had a solid pro debut with the GCL Rays, going 1-3 with a 2.82 ERA, a 6.4 K/9, a 4.0 BB/9, a 0.4 HR/9, and 4 saves in 14 appearances and 22.1 IP. He has since moved to Short Season-A Hudson Valley, where he has been excellent in 2 appearances spanning 4 IP, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 4 while walking none. Mosher, 5’11″, 200, throws a low-90′s sinker along with a halfway-decent slider. He doesn’t generate very many swings and misses at this point, managing just a 10.9% swinging strikeout rate compared to the 14.7% league average and he doesn’t force groundballs either, posting a 40.9% groundball rate. Moshier needs to improve his command and control for him to even think about continued success. Moshier has been much better against righties than lefties, holding them to a .529 OPS compared to .864 versus lefties in a limited sample. He’s going to need to add a changeup to handle lefties. Moshier has a little ability, but he has a lot of development still to do and at 23 years old, he’s running out of time.

Kyle Pelchy, 22, is one final NDFA that played for the GCL Rays. Pelchy posted just a 5.25 ERA in 12 appearances and 24 IP in his pro debut, but the interesting thing was that he posted a 7.1 K/9, a 1.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9. Pelchy, who is 6’0″, 210, throws in just the high-80′s with his fastball but he does throws a nice curveball that he commands well. Pelchy is another pitcher who struggles against opposite-handed batters, as they tagged him for a .980 OPS and 7 strikeouts versus 4 walks compared to just a .628 OPS and 12 strikeouts versus 1 walk by righties. Pelchy has an extremely uphill battle ahead of him, but with one plus pitch and hopefully further development in his arsenal, he’ll give it a shot.

And we close with lefty Dayne Quist, 23, who was the Rays’ 28th round pick in 2012. Quist had a really nice start to his pro career with the GCL Rays, going 1-2 with a 2.55 ERA, an 8.7 K/9, a ridiculous 0.5 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 11 appearances and 17.2 IP. His groundball rate was an impressive 56.1%. Quist, who is just 5’10″, 180, doesn’t have great stuff, throwing a high-80′s fastball, a decent curveball, and a fringy changeup. But he stands out thanks to superlative command of all 3 pitches. Quist’s pure stuff isn’t great, but he’s able to keep the ball down and get groundballs and because of that he has a chance to be a lefty reliever someday. Quist turns 24 in January so time is definitely not on his side, but his great command could take him to the big leagues, especially as a lefty.

That’s it for our look at the 2012 GCL Rays. All in all, we see that there’s a lot of talent, most of it yet unfulfilled, but there are plenty of players to watch moving forward as we see who’s going to figure it out and who will not. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about some of the Rays’ lowest-level minor leaguers.

Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, and Part 3 is here.

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*All groundball rate, line drive rate, swinging strikeout rate, etc. data in this article is courtesy of Minor League Central.

The GCL Rays couldn’t hit at all, but their pitching was excellent. Their 2.97 ERA was second in the GCL and what was really interesting was how they posted a 7.6 team K/9, a 2.6 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 compared to the league averages of 8.1, 3.2, and 0.3. They walked the fewest batters in the league and allowed the second-fewest home runs. We’ll have to see whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing that they traded a little pure stuff for control- although considering GCL hitters swing at everything, you never really know.

Lefty Geisel De La Cruz, 19, was signed by the Rays out of the Dominican Republic back in 2009. De La Cruz was the only pitcher on the GCL Rays to make double-digit starts, and he really impressed in 10 starts after coming over from the Dominican Summer League. De La Cruz went 2-5 with a 4.20 ERA, a 7.0 K/9, a 2.2 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 10 starts and 45 IP. De La Cruz is just 6’0″, 139, but looking at the stats, he was able to keep the ball down really well, posting a 56.2% groundball rate per Minor League Central, and miss a good amount of bats as well. (Note that every mention of groundball rate, flyball rate, line drive rate, swinging strikeout rate, etc. is courtesy of Minor League Central.) De La Cruz missed a fair amount of bats, but the interesting thing was that he struck out an above-average amount of batters swinging and a well below average amount looking. De La Cruz’s 2.2 BB/9 seems to have a lot more to do with his command than his control as he kept the ball down and was able to utilize some breaking pitch (my guess is a slider) to get a fair amount of strikeouts. (If you asked me to guess De La Cruz’s arsenal, I would guess a low-90′s sinker, a solid slider that has its moments, and a changeup that he’s just starting to throw, although the Rays usually prefer fastball-curveball to sinker-slider.) De La Cruz’s his ability to keep the ball down and force groundballs makes him a player to watch as we learn more about him.

Jorge Rodriguez, 20, was signed out of the Dominican by the Rays in 2010 and pitched well in his US debut with the GCL Rays in 2012. Rodriguez went 2-3 with a 3.54 ERA, a 4.8 K/9, a 1.3 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 8 starts, 3 relief appearances, and 48.1 IP. Rodriguez was also promoted to the Rays’ more advanced Rookie squad, the Princeton Rays, to start their season finale, and he tossed 4.1 innings allowing 2 runs, striking out 3 while walking 1 and surrendering his first homer of the season. Rodriguez is another small pitcher at just 5’11″, 187, but other than that he’s almost a polar opposite pitcher to Cruz. He’s a right-hander, and the big difference is that he’s an extreme flyball guy, posting just a 37.3% groundball rate. He actually got hit pretty hard, allowing a 21.2% line drive rate. Rodriguez didn’t strike out anybody swinging, striking out batters swinging at a rate barely half the league average. Rodriguez sounds like a pitcher with great control but otherwise unimpressive stuff (my guess would be a high-80′s fastball, a decent changeup, and a fringy curveball). It’s interesting that he has good control at a pretty young age, but Rodriguez doesn’t look like much of a prospect based on what we know.

Luis Cabrera, who turned 22 on August 14th, is old for the level but is an interesting story. Cabrera signed with the Rangers out of Venezuela way back in 2007 as an outfielder, but after struggling for two seasons, the Rangers tried him as a pitcher in 2010 and released him after one disastrous outing. Cabrera caught on with the Rays as a pitcher and has improved every season. Cabrera, who actually features pretty good size at 6’2″, 185, had a nice season for the GCL Rays in 2012, going 3-3 with a 3.30 ERA, a 5.8 K/9, a 2.1 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 7 starts, 4 relief appearances, and 46.1 IP. His groundball rate was decent 41.6%, although he didn’t strike out very many batters swinging. Cabrera doesn’t look like anything too special right now, but his good control right out of the gate is a good sign, and we’ll have to see whether his stuff will continue to improve as he pitches more often.

Finally a pitcher with a scouting report! Jordan Harrison, 21, was the Rays’ 25th round pick in 2012 and had himself a great pro debut with the GCL Rays in 2012, going 1-2 with a 1.52 ERA, an 8.8 K/9, a 1.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 5 starts, 5 relief appearances, and 29.2 IP. He has since been promoted to the Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades, where he has a 5.14 ERA in 3 appearances spanning 7 innings, striking out 5 while walking 3. Harrison, 6’1″ and 180 pounds, shows decent stuff, throwing a fastball around 90 MPH, a solid curveball that occasionally flashes plus, and a developing changeup. College pitchers are supposed to dominate the GCL. The Rays challenged Harrison to do just that and he passed the test, with his curveball being especially effective. Harrison looks like a lefty reliever moving forward, although improvement to his changeup would be a huge help to him.

Matthew Ramsey, who turns 23 in September, might be the most interesting pitcher on this team. Ramsey, the Rays’ 19th round pick in 2011, didn’t make his pro debut until 2012 following Tommy John Surgery, but he started off on a good note, going 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA, a 5.9 K/9, a 1.3 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 5 starts, 6 relief appearances, and 13.2 IP. Ramsey is still working his way back but is a very interesting relief prospect. Pre-surgery, Ramsey  threw in the mid-90′s with his fastball with dynamic late life and also threw a curveball that flashes plus to go along with a fringy slider. If Ramsey could get that type of stuff back, he could move quickly through the minors as a middle reliever, maybe even a setup man. Ramsey got his rehab off to a good start in the GCL this season, and hopefully he can head to full-season ball in 2013 and get back on the fast-track to the big leagues.

Lefty Oscar Armenta, just 18, joins De La Cruz as the two GCL Rays pitchers we wish we knew more about. Armenta, another little lefty at 5’11″, 170 who was signed by the Rays out of Mexico back in 2010, was dominant in 4 starts and a relief appearance for the GCL Rays, going 0-1 with a perfect 0.00 ERA, an 8.9 K/9, a 0.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 21.1 IP. Looking at the stats, Armenta’s groundball rate was only 36.4%, but he forced swings-and-misses at a great rate while showing outstanding control as well. Not much is known about his stuff (he’s definitely fastball-curveball, but that’s all I know), but we’ll have to hear more about Armenta and see how he does at higher levels.

Carlos Cedeno, who turned 22 in mid-July, finally made it to the US after 3 seasons in the Dominican Summer League and made count. Cedeno, signed by the Rays out of the Dominican Republic back in 2008, went 0-2 with a 3.82 ERA, a 7.6 K/9, a 2.5 BB/9, and a 0.5 HR/9 (finally a homer allowed!) in 4 starts, 8 relief appearances, and 33 IP. Cedeno also posted a nice 50.0% groundball rate. Cedeno, who is 6’2″, 180, posted a swinging strikeout rate above average while managing very few strikeouts looking. (It sounds like he throws a relatively unimpressive sinker around 90 MPH but a good slider.) We’ll have to see whether this is just a case of an older pitcher beating up on younger competition or whether Cedeno has really made a breakthrough.

Gannon has excellent upside, and he showed flashes of his potential in his pro debut for the GCL Rays. (Credit: North County Times)

The pitcher with the highest upside on this team could be right-hander Nolan Gannon, 18, who was the Rays’ 4th round pick in 2012. Gannon, an extremely projectable 6’5″, 195, had a nice pro debut with the GCL Rays, going 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA, a 9.7 K/9, a 4.3 BB/9 and a 0.7 HR/9 in 4 starts, 7 relief appearances, and 27 IP. His groundball rate was just 35.7%. Gannon is a long way from being the excellent pitcher the Rays know he has a chance to be, but it was great to see him strike out over a batter per inning in his pro debut, with a good distribution of strikeouts swinging versus looking. Gannon currently throws in the low-90′s with a fastball that features natural late sink. That late action makes Gannon’s fastball an effective swing-and-miss pitch even though its velocity could be several MPH away from where it could be when Gannon fills out his frame, although it also makes it harder for Gannon to control and command it. Gannon’s two secondary pitches are a curveball and a changeup, with a curveball being an interesting pitch while his changeup is in its infancy stages. Gannon’s overhand curveball is enigmatic in that at its best it’s a dynamic 12-to-6 curve but at other times it gets extremely slurvy. Gannon’s curveball got mostly got reviews over the course of his pro debut, showing the good break although he struggled to control it. Gannon’s talent was evident in his pro debut, and the Rays hope that as he continues to develop he blossoms into one of their best pitching prospects.

And we’ll close out this installment with lefty Stepan Havlicek, 19. Havlicek, who is 6’1″, 160, was the Rays’ first ever signing out of Europe, signing as a 16 year old out of the Czech Republic in January of 2010. In his third go-around with the GCL Rays (although he pitched just 19 innings from 2010-2011), Havlicek finally put it together, going 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA, a 7.0 K/9, a 2.0 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 in 3 starts, 8 relief appearances, and 36 IP. The bad news was that his groundball rate was a staggeringly low 27.4%. Still, 2012 was a big step forward for Havlicek. He more than doubled his swinging strikeout rate from 2011 to 2012. Havlicek throws a fastball around 90 MPH with good run but little sink and his best pitch could his big-breaking 1-to-7 curveball. Havlicek still has a ton of work to do moving forward, but he has the ability to be more than just a token signing.

We’ll stop here for today. We’re about halfway through the GCL Rays pitchers that we’re going to cover, but it’s pretty clear what’s going on here: there’s a ton of upside among these pitchers but the risk with almost everybody is about sky-high. The funny thing is to compare the GCL Rays’ hitters (see Part 1 and Part 2) and realize that while everybody is very raw, the hitters did terribly while the pitchers pitched very well. The GCL Rays did have an awful offense, but the Gulf Coast League is a very pitcher-friendly league so looking at the stats is certainly not the ideal (but we have to do it when we don’t know anything else).