Jesse Johnson-Imagn Photographs
Bailey Ober wasn’t extremely regarded when our Minnesota Twins High Prospects record was printed in December 2019. The towering 6-foot-9 right-hander was ranked no. 40 with a 35+ FV. And our prospect-analyst staff on the time wasn’t alone in having comparatively low expectations for him. Baseball America’s 2020 Prospect Handbook didn’t embrace Ober in its 30-deep rankings of the Twins system, nor did MLB Pipeline discover room for him in its personal high 30.
But regardless of the shortage of hype, Ober is now a mainstay in Minnesota’s rotation. A Twelfth-round pick of the Faculty of Charleston in 2017, he made his main league debut in Could 2021, and he’s since gone on to log a 3.76 ERA and a 3.89 FIP over 95 begins comprising 510 innings. Up to now this season, Ober has toed the rubber seven occasions and has a 4-1 file to go together with a 3.72 ERA and a 3.85 FIP.
What did his FanGraphs scouting report seem like on the time? Furthermore, what does he give it some thought all these years later? Wanting to seek out out, I shared a few of what Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel wrote, and requested Ober to answer it.
———
“There’s little or no precedent for somebody with Ober’s velocity having huge league success, nevertheless it’s clear why his mid-80s fastball has been dominant so far.”
“That was the 12 months my velo dipped approach down,” Ober stated. “I used to be 92-94 earlier than that. My mechanics have been horrible. We have been making an attempt to work on some stuff and it simply went within the fallacious course. However I additionally had one of the best success I’d ever had, stats-wise. My ERA was (0.69) that season, which is why nobody was in a rush to alter something. I used to be in a position to blow guys up with 88 mph.”
“His measurement and misleading overhand launch level create robust angle on his stuff.”
“Yeah, I used to be throwing a little bit bit extra excessive,” Ober defined. “I had a little bit little bit of a funkier supply. My extension was enjoying an enormous a part of that. My fastball was getting on guys. They weren’t anticipating it to actually keep true and carry, so it might beat them.
“In 2020, I clearly didn’t get to play due to the COVID state of affairs,” he added. “I spent that entire 12 months revamping, fixing the mechanical stuff and getting my velo again to the place it was earlier than. I used to be in a position to take action, and was fortunate sufficient to get added to the 40-man roster.”
Requested if his launch level dropped down, the analytically savvy righty stated that it did, though he doesn’t know the precise quantity. In line with Baseball Savant, it dropped to extra of a three-quarters slot moderately than the over-the-top launch level he’d had on the time of his FanGraphs scouting report. In 2021, Ober’s first season after dropping his launch level, his arm angle was 36 levels. His lowest seasonal launch level was 31 levels in 2023. Up to now this 12 months, it’s 34 levels.
“He misses bats on the high of the zone.”
“It was in all probability my strategy angle,” he reasoned. “My launch level, too, and the extension. With the ability to throw from that angle, at my top… guys simply don’t see that. They weren’t used to it, so 88 perhaps felt like 92-93-94.”
“Ober additionally has a plus changeup.”
“It’s nonetheless there,” he stated of his major offspeed pitch. “It’s a variation, however form of the identical grip. The way in which I throw it… it’s only a totally different a part of the ball. It’s spinning on a special axis, principally. Nevertheless it’s been my greatest pitch since highschool. I had it throughout the minor leagues, after which after I made these preliminary modifications going into 2021, I form of fought it. I form of misplaced it my rookie 12 months, however then I received it again towards the tip of 2022. I take advantage of my changeup rather a lot.”
“It’d work in a aid position.”
“I assume I’m (exceeding expectations),” Ober stated. “I believe that’s all the time been the case.”
——
Earlier “Previous Scouting Experiences Revisited” interviews will be discovered by these hyperlinks: Cody Bellinger, Matthew Boyd, Dylan Stop, Matt Chapman, Erick Fedde, Kyle Freeland, Randal Grichuk, Ian Happ, Jeff Hoffman, Matthew Liberatore, Sean Newcomb, Max Scherzer.
