Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on LHP Tyler Pike

Future Outlook

As I viewed Pike, one guy really stuck out as a similar pitcher based on their velocity, size, and overall mix of “stuff”.

While he relies on his curve as his better secondary pitch than his change, Gio Gonzalez has a similar velocity grouping on his three-pitch mix as Pike from the left side, and both have similar control issues.

Gonzalez has had struggles getting his sinking fastball to sit in the zone, while Pike uses more location on a four-seam fastball to make his fastball effective, but they have similar velocity on the pitch.

The thing I found very interesting is that Pike’s curve is not that different than Gonzalez’s, but Gonzalez has a better ability to get his near the zone, creating a swing and miss on the pitch. A little uptick in the quality of Pike’s curve would do incredible things for its performance.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

I would wager Pike will be part of the AA Mississippi rotation, and that could be interesting as he’ll have first-year coach Derrick Lewis as his coach with long-time Mississippi coach Dennis Lewallyn moving down to the Florida team.

Pike has the kind of stuff that projects well in the middle of the rotation, and with some work on his approach, I could see him exploding in his value. Do not be surprised if he has a season akin to Sean Newcomb‘s in 2016, where he spends time working with a new approach and possibly some alterations in his mechanics early in the year and has some early-year struggles due to this, but in the end, we’ll see him take strides most likely in 2017 toward his value as a mid-rotation inning eater from the left side.