Shorebirds lefty Hall showing progress
2017 first-round draft pick realizing potential in Low-A with improved composure
SALISBURY — Low-A Delmarva lefthander DL Hall completed the best month of any pitcher in the Orioles system, and likely one of the best stretches anyone has had in the minors this year, with a start Tuesday that shows the most promising part of that progress.
Hall, the Orioles’ 2017 first-round draft pick and currently their top pitching prospect, was hardly the dominant pitcher he’d been in earning organizational pitcher of the month honors for July, but got through four scoreless innings and plenty of jams anyway. Being able to stay competitive without his best stuff was a marker both Hall and Shorebirds pitching coach Justin Lord said shows he’s more than just potential but is realizing that potential in real time.
“Games like tonight are great for young pitchers because you get out there and kind of find out what you’re made of,” Lord said Tuesday. “I think he walked four guys in four innings, so he had runners on in each inning, I believe. But he pitched out of it. You find ways to get guys out. That’s what it’s about.”
Said Hall: “You’re going to have those days, especially being a starting pitcher, so you try and go out there and compete every time. Even though that’s your job, you can’t bank on having tour best stuff every night. Tonight was just a showing of that. I didn’t have my best stuff, but you’ve still got to try and grind through it and put up zeros.”
Early in Tuesday’s start against Lakewood, a rival scout who had seen Hall’s previous start — in which his fastball was up to 96 mph and he struck out nine in five, two-hit innings — noted he didn’t have that extension or the finish in his delivery of that start.
But he was still 92-95 mph with his fastball and showed a plus breaking ball at 76-78 mph and much-improved changeup with plus potential that he threw fearlessly to both sides in any count.
Even if there’s more in there, the way he pitched with what he had was an indication of just how far the 19-year-old has come from just being able to overpower young hitters as an amateur. Lord noted how far Hall’s come in collecting himself after he issues a walk or two and loses his command, or how he doubles up on pitches that he “Something that I’ve been focusing on all year is just trying to trust my stuff more and not giving too much credit,” prospect DL Hall said. sees are working, and pitches to the situation often.
In the first inning, he issued a two-out walk and a stolen base put the runner on second. Hall left him there with a 94 mph fastball for a swinging strikeout to end the inning. In the second, he lost a nine-pitch battle for a leadoff walk, then allowed a single on the next pitch, but lived low in the zone with his fastball to get a double play, and was out of the inning a total of four pitches later.
The third saw another leadoff walk erased by a smooth pickoff move, which saved a run considering he allowed a two-out double.
And in 28-pitch fourth inning, he battled for a pair of strikeouts — one on a changeup and one on a fastball, but had to work around a pair of base runners to leave the game scoreless, having thrown 74 pitches.
Hall said a night like Tuesday went much differently from a day when he wouldn’t have had his best stuff before he was drafted because of what the level has taught him as a young pitcher in full-season ball.
“You learn a lot more about yourself, and something that I’ve been focusing on all year is just trying to trust my stuff more and not giving too much credit,” Hall said. “When you get in situations like that, you need to focus on that. Even when you don’t have your best stuff, you have to really bear down and trust that what you do have can still grind you through those innings you need to throw.”
Part of that mindset comes with the knowledge that he’s preparing better than ever. Hall said in high school, bullpen sessions were mostly to keep his arm loose, not to hone his stuff.
“One of the biggest things for him is as the year has progressed, he’s started to mature as a pitcher, and what I mean by that is his preparation has gotten better,” Lord said.
“His routine has gotten better. He’s more deliberate about what he does now. He’s a young pitcher, he’s going to make mistakes like everybody does. But over this last month, that’s the one thing that has really stood out — his preparation has gotten more deliberate, he’s gotten more specific about what he’s working on. His routines have gotten better. He does things with a purpose in a little different way now, and he’s been able to carry that over to a game.”
Nowhere is that more apparent than Hall’s changeup, the crucial third pitch to the young left-hander’s development. His fastball gets easy velocity and hops on hitters as it arrives at the plate. His curveball was considered the best of any high school pitcher in last year’s draft, and he’s shown the ability to throw it for strikes and for swings out of the zone. But his changeup was a pitch that was a clear point of developmental need when he was drafted last year, and Lord says the progress on it is evident.
“It has developed because he’s made it a point in his work in between outings,” Lord said.
“He’s made it a point to work on it, and I’m sounding like a broken record using the word deliberate here, but he’s been very deliberate. ‘This is a pitch I’m going to work on.’ He’s throwing it ahead in the count, early in the count, behind in the count, and it’s been a pitch that’s very successful for him. And I think it’ll continue to be. He’s right where I want him to be.”