Schmidt excited to finish season with Thunder
TRENTON >> Clarke Schmidt feels like his stuff is as good as it’s been at any point in his career.
Armed with that, the No. 5 prospect in the Yankees’ organization is ready to take on Double-A.
Schmidt was promoted from High-A Tampa last week and made his Thunder debut on Aug. 16 in a 7-5 victory over Reading.
“My stuff was coming out real good and I was getting a lot of swing and misses,” Schmidt said from outside the home clubhouse prior to the Thunder’s series opener against New Hampshire on Monday night.
Schmidt finished that outing allowing five runs on nine hits, walked one and struck out five in 5.1 innings.
“It was good to be able to pitch in front of a big crowd like that,” he said. “It was a fun Friday night crowd. It’s a very tough place to pitch. I went back and looked at the video, and some of those hits carried a little bit farther than you would expect.”
Now that the first one is out of the way, what can Thunder fans expect from the former firstround pick?
“You got to keep it in perspective. It’s not like I’m trying to go out here and win a World Series or end in the big leagues this year,” Schmidt said. “I’m trying to go out there, and it’s more so getting the innings, getting the experience for next year just so I know what’s it’s like to face guys with talent like this. I’m a guy that thrives off of big crowds and big games.”
The University of South Carolina product was considered one of the best prospects in the 2017 draft, and the Yankees made him their first-round pick despite Tommy John surgery that would rule him out until 2018.
He’s slowly worked his way back to top form, logging 23.1 innings in 2018 and jumping up to 77 this year. He was briefly set back by some forearm inflammation in May, but said his velocity is as good as it’s ever been after shortening his arm motion.
“Not a drastic change, but a change in itself,” he said. “My average velo has taken a jump and I’m happy with where everything is at.”
Schmidt was consistently at 9596 mph during his debut, while also featuring a two-seamer, change-up and curveball. He varies his curveball, throwing it with depth early in the count and harder later in the count so “it’s a little bit sliderish.”
The 23-year-old talked confidently about throwing all four of his pitches for strikes.
“Not afraid to put it in the zone,” he said. “One of the things I’ve been working on this year is trying to command the two-seam (fastball) better. Not just control it, but command it to both sides of the plate.”
Schmidt is scheduled to make his next start Wednesday night in the series finale against New Hampshire. Manager Patrick Osborn wants to see him formulate a game plan and execute it against more advanced hitters than he saw in the Florida State League where he went 4-5 with a 3.84 ERA in 63.1 innings.
“That’s something that Clarke can do, but it’s something that he’s going to get better at pitching here,” Osborn said. “I think that should be a goal of his in however many starts he gets to end the year — formulating a game plan with scouting reports and executing it. It’s one of the biggest differences I’ve seen with pitchers against our hitters this year coming from the Florida State League. Guys are able to execute pitches and attack weaknesses.” Schmidt is ready.
“This is going to be real fun for me,” he said. “I definitely fell I’m ready stuff-wise. This is the best my stuff has been in my career.”
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Chris Gittens matched a career-high 21 home runs when he went deep on Aug. 14 at Akron during the Thunder’s six-game road trip.
Gittens leads the Eastern League in home runs (21), RBIs (73) and OBP (.393), is second in OPS (.894) and slugging (.501) and seventh in batting average (.279).
“His numbers are the best in the league and he’s on a team that’s in the playoffs and has a chance to win a championship,” Osborn said. “You take him out of this roster and we’re not the same team. He’s gets my (MVP) vote.”
The 25-year-old also hit 21 homers at Low-A Charleston in 2016. He has 69 homers in 398 career minor league games.
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The Thunder took two out of three from Reading over the weekend to cut the deficit in the EL East race to three games. Trenton already pipped the Fightin Phils to the first-half title and the two rivals will meet in the ELDS for the second time in four seasons unless Hartford (4 games back) or Portland (4.5 games back) charge to the second-half crown.
The Thunder are 6-4 against Reading and close out the regular season with a four-game series vs. the Fightin Phils.
Games 3, 4 and 5 of the ELDS will be played at Arm & Hammer Park on Sept. 6-8.