Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: #96 Jorge Zavala
Atlanta Braves Right Hander Jorge Zavala
Who Is He?
The Braves signed Zavala out of Honduras in January of 2012. Honduras is a country that has thus far produced one major league player, Gerald Young, but he even played high school ball in the USA, so there really has been no player signed from Honduras to play in the major leagues. Zavala pitched for the Braves team in the DSL in 2012, making 16 appearances, 3 of them starts, pitching 41 innings, with a 3.07 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 17/38 BB/K rate.
The Braves moved Zavala stateside in 2013, and his struggle with a third pitch became evident as he was still utilized in a long-relief/spot starter role for the GCL Braves, making 11 appearances, 5 starts, and throwing 41 2/3 innings. His ERA was 4.54, WHIP was 1.32, and K/BB was 13/39.
Zavala was moved to full time bullpen work in 2014, repeating with the GCL team before making a pair of appearances with Danville. Overall, he made 20 appearances, recorded 7 saves, pitched 26 1/3 innings, and put up a 0.68 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 8/31 BB/K ratio.
Next: Zavala's scouting report
The Braves moved Zavala past further time with Danville straight to full season A-ball with Rome this season. He pitched extraordinarily well and was promoted to high-A Carolina for the remainder of the season. Overall, he made 33 appearances, threw 43 1/3 innings, and recorded 5 saves. Even with some struggles at Carolina, he finished with a combined line of 2.28 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and a 26/55 BB/K ratio.
Scouting Report
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To watch Zavala throughout the year, I caught two games in each month of the season other than September. In total, 10 games. In those 10 games, Zavala pitched 17 innings, with a 2.65 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and 12/21 BB/K ratio.
Zavala’s Baseball Reference page lists him at 6’4 and 200 pounds, and he may have a few pounds on that number, but he does have an imposing presence on the mound. He works from both the wind up and the stretch, something not every reliever does, but he seems to find effectiveness with it. He has a pretty standard motion, though he does pull his glove hand and shoulder toward himself just a touch before coming toward the plate.
It’s when he comes to the plate that Zavala makes the change from “standard” to difficult, from a hitter’s perspective. He releases his pitches from a 3/4 arm slot, but what’s unique is that Zavala is on top of the ball from that angle the way a guy who throws more top arm slot, similar to the way former Brave Tommy Hanson released the ball. It gives a tough look for Zavala’s pitches, though for me, it does look like he could be putting more stress than needed in his arm, whether it be shoulder or elbow. He’s not had any issues to this point, but I’m not sold that he won’t have in the future. Part of that slot/look issue is that he’s not consistent with the extension
Zavala attempts to feature a three-pitch mix, but he really has a two-pitch bread and butter. He operates with a sinking fastball that sits upper 80s to low 90s, topping out at 93 in the games I saw. He then compliments that with a 12-6 curve ball that breaks from letters to knees and functions like a Bugs Bunny pitch, coming in from the upper 60s to mid-70s. He does have the pitch finishing below the knees frequently, and while it got some tremendous swing and miss, when hitters don’t swing, the ball is out of the zone and gets more walks.
Zavala has tremendous sink on his fastball, moving arm side as it sinks. His ball, when he’s keeping his location, is heavy in the lower part of the zone, and he allows very few hits, especially hits in the air, so even if he walks more than you’d like even when he’s “on”, the hit rate is such that he keeps batters off base. Zavala seems to try to dial up a number of ticks in velocity at times, and it definitely flattens out the fastball.
Next: 2016 outlook
Zavala’s third pitch is honestly baffling to me. I’ve seen documentation calling it a change up, but the break it has makes me think slider more than change, though of course, he could be experimenting with both in order to iron out a third pitch. If it was two different pitches, they stayed in the same velocity range, upper 70s, topping out at 81 in the games I saw. The struggle he had with the pitch (or both pitches as it were) was location.
2016 Outlook
Zavala’s inconsistency with his release angle is the biggest issue that could hold him from really pushing forward in 2016. He’ll likely start at AA Mississippi, and if he retires batters at the same pace as he did in the 2015 season, he’ll be moving up to AAA Gwinnett quickly. If he can get his release spot consistent, he’ll be a force in the late innings for the Braves.
Next: Braves Top 100 Prospects Updated
Zavala has an opportunity to be a trail blazer for Honduras ball players, but most of all, he has an opportunity to be an integral part of the bullpen. He’s not the type of guy who blazes a fastball 100mph, and that could mean that his stuff fades as he moves up the ladder comparative to other relievers in the system, but thus far that ridiculous curve ball and heavy sinker have been impossible for hitters to solve when utilized in a short spurt. We’ll see how his 2016 results either vault him forward or expose that low-90s velocity.