Mar 4, 2015; Bradenton, FL, USA; A general view of the pace of play clock in center field at McKechnie Field before the spring training baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates . Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2015; Bradenton, FL, USA; A general view of the pace of play clock in center field at McKechnie Field before the spring training baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates . Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
The Atlanta Braves drafted a number of small school relievers this year, and lefty Corbin Clouse may be the best of the bunch.
Who Is He?
Clouse was drafted out of Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by the Atlanta Braves in the 27th round of the 2016 draft. He was a starter in college, using a four-pitch mix of a four-seam fastball, a two-seam sinker, a wipeout slider, and a curve. As a pro, he focused on just two pitches out of the bullpen – the sinker and the slider.
The Braves initially assigned Clouse to advanced rookie Danville in the Appalachian League. He only needed 4 appearances to convince the team he was too advanced to be in Danville, as he threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing no runs, a 0.30 WHIP, and a 2/16 BB/K ratio over 4 games.
He was promoted to Rome, where he was not utilized as a LOOGY but was given the chance to face all hitters, and he continued to thrive, throwing 23 2/3 innings with Rome, posting a 1.52 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with a 13/37 BB/K ratio.
In total, Clouse pitched in 19 games, actually going 5-0 in those games, collecting 5 saves, throwing 30 1/3 innings. In that time, he tallied a 1.19 ERA and 0.92 WHIP along with a 15/53 BB/K for a 12.8% walk rate and 45.3% strikeout rate.
Just to show he wasn’t a guy who just dominated lefties, he gave up a .442 OPS to right-handed hitters and a .350 OPS to left-handed hitters. He was even better with runners on base, allowing a .108 batting average against with runners on base. Obviously this is all in small samples, but to say Clouse dominated his first season would be drastically underselling his performance.
Clouse is listed at 6′ and 230 pounds. He pitches exclusively out of the stretch. Clouse throws from a pretty standard stretch delivery, releasing the ball from a low 3/4 slot.
He showed some struggle in keeping his hand over the ball, especially on his slider, and when he would get more on the side or behind the pitch, he would see the ball drift up in the zone, and it became much more hittable up in the zone.
Clouse gets good extension toward the plate with a big step from his lead leg. This does get him off balance, however, and he is not able to resolve this balance until he falls off to his glove side after each pitch. A number of hitters mentioned his falling off as distracting to their swings, but that isn’t a deception that he can count on going forward for sure. The falling off, however, can lead to some control struggles, so working on finding a consistent follow through could be a big help in shoring up his control, which had moments of wavering last season.
Pitches
Clouse in college worked with a four-seam fastball that ranged into the 93 area, a two-seam sinker that topped out in the low-90s, a wipeout slider, and a curve. He has thrown a curve, but he scrapped that in college before ever getting to pro ball.
The two pitches he focuses on in his work out of the bullpen are his two-seam sinker and his slider. The sinker is a pitch that sits in the 88-91 range most frequently, and he gets tremendous life on the pitch. He seems to be able to get run on both sides of the plate, but works best when he can get it thigh-high or below and let the natural movement of the pitch take it lower, inducing swing and misses and also inducing plenty of weak contact.
The slider ranged in the 81-85 range in the games I could find with a gun reading as part of the broadcast. The action he gets on the pitch, however is incredible. It almost looks like a curve, he gets so much depth on it, but he’s got no “hump” on the way to the plate like a curve. He tends to get run most frequently toward the toes of a right-handed hitter, but he can get more 12-6 movement as well.
Video
Next: Future outlook
Future Outlook
Clouse has the build and repertoire of a reliever that has been a thorn in Braves fans’ sides for many years now, Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo is listed at 5’11 and 200, but I’d say he may have last seen 200 in rookie ball (which was 2006 for him). From 2009-2014, Bastardo was the lefty uber-reliever for the Phillies before he was traded to the Pirates. After signing with the Mets, he was traded midseason again back to the Pirates.
In spite of not having high-90s velocity or anything like that, Bastardo has posted a 1.11 WHIP and a 10.8 K/9 against the Braves in his career, so Braves fans are quite familiar with watching their heroes flail away at his stuff due primarily to his excellent life on his pitches. Bastardo took his time to get to the big leagues, but he’s averaged 10.8 K/9 in his entire career.
Clouse’s work from the left side will certainly give him a quicker shot at the next level than the same situation righty, but he’s definitely earned it as well. Clouse is a guy who has a great attitude about the game and any interview I’ve found on him from Braves blogs to college papers all discuss his easy going nature, though he does have a tick of intensity on the mound (which is more than healthy). We’ll likely see Clouse at Brevard County to start 2017, but he’ll be able to move quickly.
