A's Top Pitching Prospect Jamie Arnold Set to Debut Later This Week
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The A's have seen what Jamie Arnold has to offer. Heck, that's why they selected him with the No. 11 pick in the first round of last year's draft. A's fans on the other hand have been largely left in the dark, unless they watched his ascent in college. Arnold didn't pitch in the pros after he was drafted by the A's, so fans are patiently awaiting their opportunity to watch him throw darts.
They won't have to wait much longer. As we reported on social media earlier today, Jamie Arnold will be making his spring debut (and pro debut) on Friday afternoon against the Kansas City Royals. The left-hander out of Florida State is the A's No.2 prospect behind Leo De Vries, and is ranked as the No. 41 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.
Back in college, he pitched three years at FSU, going 21-10 with a 3.61 ERA across all three seasons, and held an 8-2 record with a 2.98 ERA in his final season. In 84 2/3 innings of work, he struck out 119 and walked 27, which led to him being ranked as one of the best arms in the draft. One common comp that was thrown around at draft time was Chris Sale, based on his delivery.
Scouting Arnold
Over at Baseball America, they're even higher on Arnold, ranking him No. 39 among all MLB prospects. The biggest thing for him as he develops will be how well he's locating his pitches, which could be the determining factor of whether he's a mid-rotation arm, or perhaps even better.
From Baseball America: "He attacks hitters with a plunging arm stroke and uncoils down the mound quickly, producing impressive extension and deception. His best pitch is a plus mid-80s sweeping slider that he landed for strikes more than 70% of the time as a junior and can manipulate against both righties and lefties."
They also note that his fastball averages 93, and he has a ground-ball-inducing sinker to pair with the four-seamer. His arm angle is unique, and will make hitters uncomfortable from the left side, which he'll be looking to use to his advantage.
Earlier this month, Driveline posted a video of Arnold hitting 96, so how that velocity holds will be something to keep an eye on.
What we're watching on Friday
The most interesting part of this spring is that there is more Statcast data available in every park. This basically means that we'll be able to see some of the pitch shapes and velocities that Arnold will be working with this spring, and into the beginning of his first full season in pro ball.
We're also interested to see how he uses his offerings against different hitters, and how he deploys that pitch mix in this first start. You know, how he pitches.
Last season the Kansas City Royals had the No. 22 ranked offense in baseball according to wRC+ (93, 100 is league average), so this could be an opportunity for Arnold to have a somewhat soft landing spot, while also potentially getting a chance to show what he can do against some regulars. He is expected to come on in relief after Jeffrey Springs and Elvis Alvarado on Friday.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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