Atlanta Braves Scouting Report: Adam McCreery
Atlanta Braves Left Hander Adam McCreery
Who Is He?
McCreery was a big time high school prospect coming out of Bonita High School in La Verne, California in 2011, projected at one point to go as high as the back end of the first round or beginning of the second round. Instead in his senior year, he injured his elbow and though he avoided surgery, it scared away teams, and he fell to the 14th round where the Minnesota Twins selected him.
McCreery chose to go to Arizona State, but after his freshman season led to injury that kept him out for over a month, he chose to leave ASU following his sophomore season to go to Azusa Pacific University in the NAIA. There, he began rebuilding his mechanics, having mixed successes, and the scouting reports varied widely depending on when you saw him. Baseball America’s pre-draft report on McCreery was extremely bleak, stating that he may never recover his once mid-90s velocity.
The Angels drafted McCreery in the 22nd round of the 2014 draft, and in his first pro season, he showed the struggle with regaining his velocity, sporting a 4.66 ERA in 15 games over 19 1/3 innings. He also added a 1.60 WHIP and a 19/21 BB/K for the Angels Arizona Rookie League squad.
The Angels returned McCreery to their ARL team in 2015, and he showed that he was getting his feel back, putting up a 2.41 ERA in 16 games and 18 2/3 innings, adding in a 1.29 WHIP and 14/28 BB/K ratio.
Next: McCreery's scouting report
Scouting Report
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I have very little to go on with McCreery, so I talked with a few folks I knew had seen McCreery last season and reviewed the few YouTube videos of his pitching that I could find. I also consulted a few pay sites to read what others had seen on him. This may not be the in depth report that you’re accustomed to around here, but I’m working with what I have!
McCreery is listed on B-Ref as 6’8 and 195, but none of the reports I find back that up, and the videos I find of him look much more like the report I found through Scout.com, which listed his weight at 245. The reports were from 240-260, but in looking at pictures and video, it’s not bad weight by any means.
He’s adjusted his pitching slot from almost a side arm in high school and at Arizona State to a more typical 3/4 delivery, and at his height from the left side, that’s a lethal angle to throw from for the hitter to pick up. His fastball has ticked back up to the mid-90s, even touching a reported 97 in one scouting report I found. He has two breaking balls, a slider that runs in the low 80s with late-breaking slider that works well in the low part of the zone and a sharp late-breaking curve that sits well in the middle of the zone. His change has all but been scrapped at this point as he has struggled to throw it well.
In the video I was able to view, it was obvious that the change in mechanics still is not natural for McCreery. He hit multiple landing spots in the videos I saw, but the bright spot is that his arm angle stayed consistent. When he does lose that good foot placement, however, the control goes with it, and he’s seen his control be an issue in the past.
The Braves will likely need to work with McCreery some, but this is a very nice template to start with, to say the least.
Next: Future outlook
Future Outlook
Many fans were disappointed to hear that the Braves not only got “just” a reliever for Jhoulys Chacin from the Angels, but even worse, a reliever that hasn’t worked his way out of rookie ball yet. I think you’ll agree with me that based on what data is out there, the future is definitely bright for McCreery.
I would imagine that the Braves will start McCreery at Danville, but he’ll likely quickly make his way to Rome, and I could see him working his way up to Carolina by season’s end if he can perform well as there are not a lot of lefties in front of him in the system with his same level of stuff. The most fun thing would be to get he and Chase Johnson-Mullins paired together at the same level. McCreery’s 6’8, 250ish frame and CJM’s 6’8-6’9 (depending on who you believe), 275ish frame would be an intimidating pair of lefties to toss at any opposition.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
This is likely the first of many acquisition pieces that we’ll write up this summer, and I can only hope I have a bit more video to give you, the reader, more of my personal take on McCreery, but based on those I trust and the other sources I’ve read, Braves fans should be excited to have this arm in the system.