Atlanta Braves fans will love their newest lefty Jared Shuster
By Fred Owens
The Atlanta Braves liked Shuster’s determination to improve, and the results.
Braves scouting director Dana Brown told David O’Brien of The Athletic (subscription required) that Shuster’s frame and big arm were factors in selecting him.
Evan Walsh, over at Last Word on Baseball, talked in-depth about Shuster in a pre-draft post.
". . ..In his last start of the season (he limited) one of the top offenses (2nd ranked Louisville) in the nation to just one run over 7 ⅓ innings, striking out 13 and walking just one."
"(the changeup) is around 80-82 MPH, more than 10 MPH slower than his fastball., , , he can throw it in any count. Tunneling extremely well with his fastball, its sharp movement down-and-away to righthanded hitters allows the 6-3, 210 lb. southpaw to keep hitters off-balance and miss bats consistently."
At Wake this spring, the lefty’s fastball sat 92-94, touching 97 at times, and a changeup that Fangraphs and BA both call a plus-pitch continued to impress. As Walsh said, he throws the changeup in any count, to anybody; this video will show you why.
Shuster’s arsenal lack a quality breaking pitch, but Brown told O’Brien that Shuster has the baseball instincts to feature three plus-pitches, and already spins a slider well but hasn’t mastered locating it yet; Brown called it a work in progress.
Jared Shuster’s improved with the help of technology
Former Tomahawk Take writer Carlos Collazo told me that Wake Forest has one of the most advanced pitching labs in college baseball, and Shuster told O’Brien that the coaches there helped him put what they learned into practice.
The big change was getting his hips turned to allow him to use his lower body more effectively and generate more velocity while improving location. A significant factor in implementing any change is a willingness and physicality to make the change.
Tom Glavine likes to say that pitchers are athletes, and Shuster certainly symbolizes that. His athleticism – he runs a 6.5 60 – and work ethic allowed him to make the changes to the way he used his body.