Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on LHP Tyler Pike

Scouting Report

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Size/Delivery

Pike is listed at 6′ tall and 180 pounds. That looks pretty accurate, if maybe a hair light on the weight, but he is built quite athletically on the mound.

Pike starts his delivery with a slight pause after taking his initial step back from his set position. He then goes into a high knee left to just below his numbers.

He has a very fluid and easy delivery, doing an excellent job of repeating his arm motion.

Where I noted some issues that can lead to his control problems is that he has a very inconsistent landing spot out of his delivery. The problem is even worse out of the stretch.

He works from a 3/4 arm slot.

Pitches

Pike works his fastball in the 88-91 range. The pitch has some late glove-side run when it is on its best. He touched 93 in the starts I watched, but he was reported up to 94-95 at absolute peak velocity, but he definitely works much better when he’s right around 90.

His best off speed pitch is his change. The pitch is incredibly good in arm deception and gets a solid 8-12 MPH of velocity separation. However, as former pitcher Brian Bannister has been preaching, movement is the key to an elite change, and when he’s on his best, Pike gets tremendous late glove side movement that mimics the fastball.

Pike’s primary breaking pitch is his slow-breaking curve. The pitch is an average pitch that he does struggle to locate in the strike zone, but it can absolutely be a knee-buckling sort of pitch. I noted that the pitch can break both in 12-6 fashion and in 1-7 fashion, which is another asset of the pitch.

With that pitch mix, you’d expect more success, and Pike’s big calling card coming out of college was his control and feel for his change. Instead, it seems that what the Cal League has done to his approach is lead him AWAY from the zone instead of toward it.

That sort of approach when you don’t have elite velocity or a killer hard breaking pitch can lead to a rough overall mix.

Next: Future outlook