Post by JohnM on Nov 20, 2023 17:59:36 GMT -5
How Yankees’ ‘unique’ pitching prospect turned advice from teammate into breakout season
Updated: Nov. 20, 2023
By Max Goodman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
You won’t find too many pitchers in the minor leagues right now that are more unique than Yankees prospect Danny Watson.
A towering figure on the mound, the 6-foot-7 right-handed reliever practically has his back turned to the hitter while toeing the rubber. When Watson kicks and delivers, the 23-year-old slings the baseball across his body, recoiling and releasing from a strikingly low slot.
Watson’s unorthodox mechanics and the continued development of his arsenal on the mound gave hitters fits all season. The 15th-round pick out of VCU had a 1.58 ERA across 62 2/3 innings pitched with High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset. In 45 games across those two levels, Watson had an 0.88 WHIP and an 11.78 strikeout-per-nine ratio, holding opposing hitters to a .138 batting average.
In one year, the native of Nassau, New York, had transformed from a lanky arm with a 4.01 ERA and untapped upside in Class-A Tampa to a high-leverage reliever that’s in position to help the Yankees as early as next season, the No. 29 prospect in the organization (per MLB Pipeline).
“I like being unique because it has advantages,” Watson told NJ Advance Media before the end of Somerset’s season. “I feel like guys are uncomfortable hitting against me no matter what because they’ve never seen anybody throw quite like I do. You’re expecting somebody to throw over the top and use their height to throw really hard, but my whole body moves completely different than anybody else.”
Being unique comes with its flaws as well.
With such a distinctive motion and body type, Watson hasn’t had an exact precedent to reference when he runs into trouble with his mechanics. That made fixing command issues more of a challenge during his first full season in pro ball. It was something he and pitching coach Grayson Crawford focused on all season long in Tampa, a year before both were promoted to Somerset.
“I think he has some of the best raw stuff maybe in the entire organization from a reliever standpoint,” Crawford said. “We kept searching for what deception gave him the best success, dropping his arm slot even lower, then working our way back up. Now he’s closed off more, creating deception with the beginning of his delivery.”
Closing off to the hitter to this extent was a breakthrough for Watson. He had thought about it previously, but didn’t give it a shot until he watched Yankees reliever Greg Weissert throw during spring training.
“I asked him for his two cents with it, what worked well and why he did it,” Watson said. “That’s when I realized that the reason Greg did it was the exact same reason I was thinking about doing it. He gave me some critiques, what I should do instead. I implemented it the very next day, really liked how it felt and kept it from there.”
Weissert can empathize with Watson’s journey, another late-round pick and New York native that’s reliant on deception and horizontal movement. He’s far from a finished product — Weissert has his own command issues, posting a 4.60 ERA in 29 appearances with the Yankees over the last two years — but his nastiness stems from his cross-body release. It allows him to generate over 21 inches of horizontal movement on his sweeper, more than any other right-handed pitcher in all of baseball in 2023.
“I always watched Chaz Roe, Adam Ottavino and Tanner Houck because they throw a lot of similar stuff to me,” Weissert told NJ Advance Media. “It’s nice to know that there’s guys out there, to watch how they go about at-bats and all that. It’s super important. I think it’s nice to have somebody you can look at and say well, he’s doing it so why can’t I do it?”
Weissert’s willingness to help a younger pitcher is a testament to the collaborative nature of the Yankees’ pitching department. At all levels, pitchers in pinstripes are sponges, picking the brains of those around them while doing their best to help others, even arms that are competing for the same roster spots.
“The fact that these guys are taking information from each other and helping each other is a great sign,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I think the best organizations — and I think we’re in that conversation from a development standpoint — should be a good feedback loop for players about what they’re working on, how they’re using information, how they’re going about their craft. If guys have good four-seam fastballs and they want to talk to Gerrit [Cole] or Carlos [Rodón] about how they practice it and what targets they look for, all of those things should be happening.”
That’s one cog in the Yankees’ well-oiled pitching machine. Even as the club sunk to a new low in 2023 at the big-league level, the organization continued to thrive in churning out highly-touted pitching prospects, getting the most out of each arm by catering to their strengths.
“The development here is crazy, I’ve always said that from the beginning,” Weissert said. “I’m so thankful I came up in this organization. They take guys that do all types of different stuff and they never put you in a box. They let you do what you do, just tweaking things or teaching you the right pitches to throw off your best pitch.”
If Watson can continue to develop, dominating with deception, he has a chance to make an impact in pinstripes in 2024. He’ll need to build on his breakout season, with a tall test looming in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he’s eager to continue paving his own path to the big leagues, setting an example for other unique arms that will follow in the future.
“I’m in a good organization to be so unique,” Watson said. “The Yankees have such a good track record with relievers, it makes me excited that I can be there one day too.”
Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.
Updated: Nov. 20, 2023
By Max Goodman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
You won’t find too many pitchers in the minor leagues right now that are more unique than Yankees prospect Danny Watson.
A towering figure on the mound, the 6-foot-7 right-handed reliever practically has his back turned to the hitter while toeing the rubber. When Watson kicks and delivers, the 23-year-old slings the baseball across his body, recoiling and releasing from a strikingly low slot.
Watson’s unorthodox mechanics and the continued development of his arsenal on the mound gave hitters fits all season. The 15th-round pick out of VCU had a 1.58 ERA across 62 2/3 innings pitched with High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset. In 45 games across those two levels, Watson had an 0.88 WHIP and an 11.78 strikeout-per-nine ratio, holding opposing hitters to a .138 batting average.
In one year, the native of Nassau, New York, had transformed from a lanky arm with a 4.01 ERA and untapped upside in Class-A Tampa to a high-leverage reliever that’s in position to help the Yankees as early as next season, the No. 29 prospect in the organization (per MLB Pipeline).
“I like being unique because it has advantages,” Watson told NJ Advance Media before the end of Somerset’s season. “I feel like guys are uncomfortable hitting against me no matter what because they’ve never seen anybody throw quite like I do. You’re expecting somebody to throw over the top and use their height to throw really hard, but my whole body moves completely different than anybody else.”
Being unique comes with its flaws as well.
With such a distinctive motion and body type, Watson hasn’t had an exact precedent to reference when he runs into trouble with his mechanics. That made fixing command issues more of a challenge during his first full season in pro ball. It was something he and pitching coach Grayson Crawford focused on all season long in Tampa, a year before both were promoted to Somerset.
“I think he has some of the best raw stuff maybe in the entire organization from a reliever standpoint,” Crawford said. “We kept searching for what deception gave him the best success, dropping his arm slot even lower, then working our way back up. Now he’s closed off more, creating deception with the beginning of his delivery.”
Closing off to the hitter to this extent was a breakthrough for Watson. He had thought about it previously, but didn’t give it a shot until he watched Yankees reliever Greg Weissert throw during spring training.
“I asked him for his two cents with it, what worked well and why he did it,” Watson said. “That’s when I realized that the reason Greg did it was the exact same reason I was thinking about doing it. He gave me some critiques, what I should do instead. I implemented it the very next day, really liked how it felt and kept it from there.”
Weissert can empathize with Watson’s journey, another late-round pick and New York native that’s reliant on deception and horizontal movement. He’s far from a finished product — Weissert has his own command issues, posting a 4.60 ERA in 29 appearances with the Yankees over the last two years — but his nastiness stems from his cross-body release. It allows him to generate over 21 inches of horizontal movement on his sweeper, more than any other right-handed pitcher in all of baseball in 2023.
“I always watched Chaz Roe, Adam Ottavino and Tanner Houck because they throw a lot of similar stuff to me,” Weissert told NJ Advance Media. “It’s nice to know that there’s guys out there, to watch how they go about at-bats and all that. It’s super important. I think it’s nice to have somebody you can look at and say well, he’s doing it so why can’t I do it?”
Weissert’s willingness to help a younger pitcher is a testament to the collaborative nature of the Yankees’ pitching department. At all levels, pitchers in pinstripes are sponges, picking the brains of those around them while doing their best to help others, even arms that are competing for the same roster spots.
“The fact that these guys are taking information from each other and helping each other is a great sign,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I think the best organizations — and I think we’re in that conversation from a development standpoint — should be a good feedback loop for players about what they’re working on, how they’re using information, how they’re going about their craft. If guys have good four-seam fastballs and they want to talk to Gerrit [Cole] or Carlos [Rodón] about how they practice it and what targets they look for, all of those things should be happening.”
That’s one cog in the Yankees’ well-oiled pitching machine. Even as the club sunk to a new low in 2023 at the big-league level, the organization continued to thrive in churning out highly-touted pitching prospects, getting the most out of each arm by catering to their strengths.
“The development here is crazy, I’ve always said that from the beginning,” Weissert said. “I’m so thankful I came up in this organization. They take guys that do all types of different stuff and they never put you in a box. They let you do what you do, just tweaking things or teaching you the right pitches to throw off your best pitch.”
If Watson can continue to develop, dominating with deception, he has a chance to make an impact in pinstripes in 2024. He’ll need to build on his breakout season, with a tall test looming in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he’s eager to continue paving his own path to the big leagues, setting an example for other unique arms that will follow in the future.
“I’m in a good organization to be so unique,” Watson said. “The Yankees have such a good track record with relievers, it makes me excited that I can be there one day too.”
Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.