Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on RHP Jason Hursh
Scouting Report
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Size/Delivery/Control
Size – Hursh is listed at 6’3″ and 200 pounds. I could see perhaps another 10-15 pounds, but he’s an athletically-built guy on the mound with a solid frame overall.
Delivery – Hursh works out of the delivery now that he’s in the bullpen permanently.
He brings his knee straight up to just past his belt, and then comes to the plate with a high, over-the-top release.
He tends to be very repeatable in his delivery, though he did notably push himself a bit and get off in his arm slot to more of a high 3/4 slot, and that tended to not be a good thing.
Control (55) – Due to the repeatability of his delivery, Hursh is a guy who has solid command of his pitches, though he does intentionally work out of the zone at times with his excellent movement on his pitches.
I was impressed with his improvement in his command this year, and I did find it surprising, to be honest, when I crunched the numbers and found his walk rate to be over 10% as he’s frequently around the zone.
Pitches
Fastball (55) – Hursh uses traditional grips on his fastball, but he uses it like a sinker, getting incredibly heavy feel to his 92-94 MPH fastball that can touch 97-98 at absolute top end.
He does mix in both a four-seam and two-seam fastball, but he primarily works both down in the zone, using the different movement on both pitches to create weak contact.
His four-seam in the low zone gets very good arm side run and a bit of late dip, while his two-seamer gets solid sink.
Change Up (45) – The change is a solid offering in velocity differential and arm speed deception, but he does not get a ton of movement on it, which led to it being a pitch I often saw him scrap in tough situations.
Curve Ball (55) – Hursh’s curve and slider really are both similar pitches. His curve does not have a ton of loop coming to the plate, but he gets excellent drop on the pitch with 12-6 movement, making it very difficult to drive the pitch.
Slider (55) – Hursh’s slider gets a solid bite more straight 12-6, which is odd movement for a slider, leading to weak contact or swing and miss.
The slider is where Hursh gets most of his swing and miss in the minor leagues, and by far his best swing and miss pitch in the majors as well.
MLB Player Comp
Hursh has a much more “pedigree” physical look to him, but he and Matt Albers have a similar pitch mix, including movement and velocity.
Hursh gets a ton of weak contact, resulting in weak fly balls or ground outs, and Albers has been a guy with a 52.3% ground ball rate over his career.
Albers has never been an elite reliever, with a 4.38 ERA, and not once posting a full win above replacement, according to Fangraphs, but he has thrown 604 major league innings over 452 games.
While this doesn’t sound like a huge future for Hursh, I do believe he has a tick more ability due to the chance he has to go multiple innings and be a guy who makes 40-50 appearances and throw 70ish innings, saving the bullpen innings.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
Hursh should be competing for a major league bullpen spot, but he’ll definitely be in the Gwinnett bullpen for sure with a quick call to Atlanta should he be needed.