Prospect Pulse: Righthander Tyler Pill Is Seeing His Stock Rising Fast

TYLER PILL, RHP

Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6’1″ Weight: 185 lb.
Position: RHP
Age: 22
ETA: 2014
MMO Top Prospect Rank: #28

Background:

Here is a brief profile on Tyler Pill from the recent 2013 MMO Top 25 Prospect series:

Pill’s fastball basically sits in the high-80s. Pill also tosses a curveball out there, which I feel is pretty underrated, and a slider and change-up. The slider is extremely inconsistent and hittable, but could potentially be worked on. Logically, it would seem more useful for a guy like Pill to keep a fourth pitch, but it does more harm than good at times. The change-up is a good pitch, and I like the movement on it.

Pill’s success as a pitcher is directly related to how good he can control his pitches, because he just does not profile as a power or dominating pitcher. The issue built in here is that his stuff does not exactly look like a prime fit for the bullpen either, so its going to be a long road for Tyler Pill. A 2.30 ERA in 113 innings is a start, and the numbers that are more important are the 22 BB/105 Ks. Tyler Pill is trying and I am rooting for him. We have seen stranger things.

Analysis:

Everyone is boasting about all the right-handed power arms in the Mets system right now, and Pill is often not mentioned because he is not what you would consider a power pitcher. As stated earlier, his fastball sits in the high-80s and touches the low-90s. However, the impressive thing about Pill was that even though he does not have overpowering stuff, he is practically striking out one batter per inning. His career strikeout rate is 8.5 per nine innings, which is a solid ratio. His career 2.34 ERA is also very promising. The key for Pill’s success will be keeping guys off balance and keeping them off the basepaths, which he has done a good job of doing thus far in his career. He will throw strikes, and as long as he continues to do so, will have a chance to continue progressing through the system.

Best case scenario is that Pill is a back-end of the rotation starter at the big league level in a couple of years. Worst case scenario is that he is a Triple-A pitcher that will be called up now and then for spot duty. We have yet to see him pitch against advanced hitters, so the big test will be in 2013, where he is projected to make that jump to Double-A Binghamton. If he continues to dominate hitters by keeping them off-balance and throwing strikes, then he could be pushing for a call-up sometime in 2014.

Pill tends to get lost in the shuffle when discussing right-handed pitchers in the Mets organization because everyone is drooling over the power arms in the system right now. However, guys with power arms have a tendency to suffer arm injuries (not wishing for it, just stating a fact). A guy like Pill will continue to fly under the radar, but out of all those promising right-handed pitchers in the Mets organization, Pill may be the first one to crack the Mets starting rotation in the next couple of years due to his consistency and ability to throw strikes. Pill is definitely a pitcher that fans will want to monitor over the course of this summer, as he often gets overshadowed by other pitchers in the system.