We’ve waxed poetic on MMO about how we believe Jeurys Familia can develop into a powerful weapon in the Mets bullpen beginning as soon as this season.
The hard-throwing righty has just completed a dominating performance in Winter Ball that had more than one scout raving about his 100+ MPH fastball.
Today, Bernie Pleskoff of MLB Pipeline, provides some validation:
“If he can control his best pitches, two-seam and four-seam fastballs and a slider, he will make a tremendous impact at the end of a ballgame. With his 95-96 mph velocity on his four-seam and sinking fastball, Familia has the pitch that can miss bats and induce highly desirable strikeouts when they are needed the most. Once the hitter is set up with the heater, his 82-83 mph slider buckles knees and has the hitter swinging at air.”
Pleskoff hits on the one thing Familia needs to improve on, that is his command. But the reports from the Dominican Winter League were promising on that front.
Familia, only 24, is big and strong at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds which makes his presence on the mound even more intimidating. Peter Anselmo recently ranked Familia No. 14 on our MMO Top 25 Prospects. He’s one of the young Mets we are very high on.
