Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on LHP Cesilio Pimentel

Scouting Report

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Size/Delivery

Pimentel is listed at 6’2 and 185 pounds. I’d wager he’s probably more like 200-210, but the weight is primarily in his lower body, so he holds it well.

As a reliever, he is a rarity in that he uses his full delivery when there are not runners on and goes to the stretch with runners on, whereas most relievers are out of the stretch exclusively.

He has a short, quick delivery out of the full delivery, with a waist-high lift of his knee, then a quick turn of his hips as he steps hard toward the plate.

He does have a similar approach from the point of lift out of the stretch, which does reflect in his numbers as he did well with runners on or clean bases.

He stays compact in his delivery and comes with a high 3/4 delivery to the plate after tucking his lead shoulder just a hair to help hide the ball for an extra second to hitters.

Pitches

Pimentel works with a fastball/slider combination.

His fastball works in the low 90s primarily, peaking around 94. His high arm slot and keeping good plane in his delivery allows the sinking action to play up.

He compliments his sinker with a slider that showed some of increasingly-popular slider/cutter hybrid action, making it very difficult to square up.

His location low in the zone is a big part of his success, and I noted in the game I found where he struggled badly that he was having a tough time with his landing spot and hung his pitches up in the zone. (Interestingly, the game was against the Braves’ Rome affiliate)

Next: Future outlook