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Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on RHP Josh Graham

By Benjamin Chase

Jun 25, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; An Atlanta Braves throwback hat is seen in the dugout during a game against the New York Mets in the fifth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; An Atlanta Braves throwback hat is seen in the dugout during a game against the New York Mets in the fifth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Scouting Report

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Size/Delivery

Graham is listed at 6’1 and 215 pounds. That looks accurate to the eye, if even a bit on the heavy side.

Graham comes from the stretch as most relievers do. He has a pretty simple motion toward the plate, with a knee lift and solid stride toward the plate with a big follow through after he explodes toward the plate.

The notable thing in his delivery is his arm action. Graham releases the ball from about a 3/4 slot, but he gets there in a lot different way than most do. He has an arm motion that many Braves fans may remember with former hurler Tommy Hanson, seemingly shot putting the ball toward the plate.

His delivery is easy and repeatable, which is one reason you see such excellent control numbers from Graham. When he misses, it tends to be more of a matter of a ball not breaking or moving the way he expected, not a matter of being in a bad mechanical position.

Pitches

Graham works with a three-pitch mix, utilizing a fastball, slider, and a change. The fastball is fairly straight, but it does run up to 97-98 while sitting in the 93-96 range. The fastball has played up in average velocity as a pro, and I had reports of 99 this year from folks I talked with, but no radar readings in any of the games I watched ran that high.

The fastball works at its best when he is working it in the lower part of the zone, and his arm motion gives him a similar effect to a taller pitcher by giving the ball some “weight” as it comes to the plate, with most hitters getting on top of the ball.

The slider has some cut action to it at times and other times it’s more a straight slider. Interestingly, he seems to use the depth slider more as a strikeout pitch and the cut-action slider early in the count when he is seemingly looking for weak contact.

Last is the change, which he doesn’t use a ton, but it is an effective third pitch out of the bullpen. I was impressed with the way he spotted the change, and I did find that he had very good results throwing the change high as his eye-level pitch, which really seemed to tie up hitters as they were expecting a high fastball and swung either right under the pitch or way ahead of the pitch.

Video

Next: Future outlook

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