House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on Reliever Taylor Lewis

By Benjamin Chase

Jun 20, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators pitcher Taylor Lewis (16) throws against the Virginia Cavaliers in the sixth inning at the 2015 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Virginia won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 20, 2015; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida Gators pitcher Taylor Lewis (16) throws against the Virginia Cavaliers in the sixth inning at the 2015 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Virginia won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Mar 30, 2016; Peoria, AZ, USA; Fans look on as Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez warms up in the bullpen prior to the game against the San Diego Padres during a spring training game at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 30, 2016; Peoria, AZ, USA; Fans look on as Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez warms up in the bullpen prior to the game against the San Diego Padres during a spring training game at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Scouting Report

More from Tomahawk Take

Size/Delivery

Lewis is listed as a 6’1, 170-pound right-hander. He is certainly lean. I could argue for another 10-15 pounds on that frame, but not a whole lot more.

Lewis works out of the stretch exclusively as a reliever. He brings his knee up to about waist-high and twists his left hip back toward the shortstop before coming hard toward home plate. As he kicks toward the plate, he extends his lead foot seemingly “pointing” at home before placing it down. How intentional that move is, I do not know, but I do know that it allowed him to maintain his landing spot much better than most guys who have an exaggerated hip tuck like he utilizes.

The big thing for Lewis is his arm slot. It’s not a 3/4 slot, but it’s not a true side arm either. He releases from side arm height on the shoulder, but he has his hand on the top of the ball rather than slinging the ball as most side arm throwers do. He disguises the slot well with his hip tuck, which adds to the effectiveness of the position.

Pitches

Lewis works with primarily a two-pitch mix. His fastball works in the low-90s, but can touch as high as 95-96, depending on the report you read. I saw 94 max in the games I viewed. It’s not a terribly “active” pitch, but he spots it very well, which helps it to play better than a straight low-90s fastball typically would. His biggest issues with hittability and control were when he lost just a hair of location on the fastball because spotting it precise is a big thing for his success. Even so, when he misses a spot, he frequently doesn’t get completely smoked by hitters because the arm angle and hip tuck give enough deception that hitters aren’t perfectly squaring up his pitch, which is why you see only 3 home runs in nearly 90 minor league innings thus far.

His second pitch is a slider with solid bite that gets extra play due to his arm slot. It runs in the mid-80s with good depth. The slider has more vertical action than horizontal, sometimes having enough depth that one could even mistake it for a curve, but it does not have the loop on the front end, just the drop on the back end. Coming from the arm angle he has, the pitch worked best when he left it arm side to both hitters as lefties seemed to flail at the pitch outside and righties couldn’t pick it up in time to get good wood on it.

Lewis has worked multiple innings at times out of the bullpen, and when he knows he’s headed out for multiple innings, you will see a change mixed in, but otherwise, it’s a rare sight in his pitching out of the pen. In the spot start he made this year, I counted 7, and I don’t know if I saw seven the entire rest of the games I looked at of Lewis on the season. The change works in the low-80s, but does run up to mid-80s, and it has some arm-side run, but it seems to be run that Lewis struggles to control as he threw the pitch off the plate multiple times due to that horizontal movement of the pitch to arm side. If he wanted to work at the pitch, it could possibly be an average offering, but with how well the fastball/slider combo works for him, I’m not sure why you’d want to mess too much with that.

Next: Future outlook

Home/Braves Minors