You want to walk? Take a hike!
TEXAS PROSPECT: Nothing worse than giving batters a free pass, says Gabryszwski
There’s risk in his last name. There’s little of it in his performances.
Vancouver Canadians right-hander Jeremy Gabryszwski (pronounced Gab-ah-risk-ee) rarely gets himself into trouble on the mound.
Going into Thursday action, Gabryszwski had walked a mere nine batters in his first 66 innings with the C’s, and said of it ever so bluntly, “I hate walking people. It’s one of my pet peeves.”
The native of Crosby, Texas, has undoubtedly become a pet peeve of a few opposing batters in the Short Season Single A Northwest League this summer. Prior to Thursday, he had a 5-1 record, a 2.59 earned-run average and opposing hitters were batting a paltry .230 against him in his 12 starts.
The 20-year-old Toronto Blue Jays prospect doesn’t pitch his age.
“For a kid that young, he’s very poised,” said C’s manager Clayton McCullough.
“He doesn’t get rattled. It’s a big factor in how quickly guys can develop. He can start to take his game to another level, because he’s got that mental side of it down.”
Crosby is about a 30-minute drive from Houston and Gabryszwski went to Astros games as a youngster. He remembers trying to show up for Roy Oswalt starts because he liked the way the right-hander worked games.
There’s a connection there. Oswalt, in his Astros heyday, didn’t give up many free passes.
In Oswalt’s 20-win season in 2005, he walked just 48 in 241 and two thirds innings.
“Why sit here and give a guy a free base? I don’t get it,” Gabryszwski said.
On the flip side, a common ratio for a high-end pitching prospect is a strikeout per inning, and through those first 66 frames Gabryszwski had K’d only 35.
Gabryszwski’s fastball maxes out at about 94 mph, but it sits mostly in the 88-91 range, and that will become easier for hitters to digest as he advances up the ranks.
McCullough does think he can add velocity as he gets older, thanks to his 6-foot-4, 195-pound frame and his smooth throwing motion.
“He’s got an easy, clean delivery,” he said.
“His fastball plays up right now because of his command. He moves the ball back and forth. He gets people swinging at pitches early in the count. His slider is better than last year, and his change-up is improving. He’s got a lot of things going for him.”
Before he was drafted, Gabryszwski had committed to the Lamar University Cardinals, an NCAA team in Beaumont, Texas, which is about an hour’s drive from his home.
Oddly enough, C’s infielder David Harris was also part of that same recruiting class.
The Blue Jays used a secondround selection in the 2011 draft on Gabryszwski, and coaxed him out of his college commitment with a $575,000 signing bonus.
“I didn’t even think about the pro side until my junior year of high school, when I started playing in big showcase tournaments in Houston,” said Gabryszwski.
“Pro scouts started approaching me and I started doing some workouts and I thought, ‘This could be a possibility.’ ”