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Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: #96 Jorge Zavala

By Benjamin Chase

Jul 31, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; General view of the outfield scoreboard and bullpen at dusk in a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 31, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; General view of the outfield scoreboard and bullpen at dusk in a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 22, 2014; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Tommy Hanson (19) pitches against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2014; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Tommy Hanson (19) pitches against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

Scouting Report

More from Tomahawk Take

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.

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