Scouting Report: Ubert Mejías

Scouting Grades (20-80 Scale)

Mechanics

Ubert Mejías works from an overhand arm slot, having the same release point for all three of his pitches. This creates ideal tunneling, helping to keep hitters off balance as they do not know what pitch is coming. He firmly plants his foot in his follow through to establish balance and harness power from the high leg kick. The high leg kick allows him to generate velocity with his fastball resting in the mid-90s.

Furthermore, Mejías utilizes a deceptive delivery, hiding the ball behind his body as he initiates his motion. This prevents hitters from picking up his release until the last possible moment. This obfuscation combined with his tunneling, throws off the timing and approach of opposing batters.

The compact, repeatable delivery appears to minimize stress compared to more elaborate high-effort mechanics. As such he is able to throw more innings without strain on his body or overexerting himself. He has thrown the third most innings on the San Jose Giants pitching staff thus far this season. While that showcases a lack of quality pitching amongst their other prospects, it more importantly demonstrates the organization’s trust in his ability to pitch in many different situations.

His delivery is reminiscent of 9 year MLB veteran Michael Pineda. Like Pineda, Mejías throws strikes with consistency and properly executes as shown by 38 strikeouts to only five walks so far this season. This elite command, paired with his ability to soak up significant innings, identifies him as a “secret weapon” currently being underutilized by the low level Minor League rotation structure. Pineda also had excellent K/BB ratios over the course of his big-league career. The similarities in Mejías’ delivery and strike throwing ability provide a useful stylistic comparison to Pineda.

Pitch Types

Mejías features a three-pitch mix consisting of a fastball, changeup and slider. He uses all three pitches effectively, establishing his fastball in the strike zone early in the count, before pulling the string with a changeup. The changeup perfectly complements the slider; the differential in break and velocity catches hitters off balance, resulting in swings and misses or weak contact.

He is able to run a fastball inside to jam right-handed hitters and because his pitch tunneling is effective he can come back with a slider; by the time the pitch breaks, hitters are helpless to try and hit it. He does a great job sequencing his pitches to keep hitters in a constant state of uncertainty.

Executive Summary

The primary critique of Mejías is his age relative to the A-ball level. However, this is not a reflection of his developmental ceiling, but a byproduct of his journey after defecting from Cuba. The prolonged process delayed his professional career.

There should be a longer leash for him as he has proven he can perform well. While a normal 25-year-old who has only reached the Low-A/High-A ball would end up being released, Mejías deserves more time to prove himself. He has quality upside evidenced by his repeatable delivery, consistently throwing strikes, excellent tunneling and a good feel for all three of his pitches.

His ERA in his professional career to this point does not accurately convey his ability. Since he is a relief pitcher, his workload consists of a smaller sample size. A poor outing throws his ERA out of whack when compared to a starting pitcher who logs more innings over the course of a season. The strikeout to walk ratio of 7.6, K/9 of 9.16 and a 1.02 WHIP this season display that there is more to his game than meets the eye.

Mejías will be best utilized by strategic deployment, specifically in high leverage situations that demand precise strike throwing to escape innings. While his current role has seen him log significant innings, his future value is maximized by transitioning into a high leverage, short burst relief role where his stuff will play up. While he is capable of pitching over multiple innings, he is at his most effective when limited to 3-6 outs per appearance. The deception of his delivery, sequencing and high strikeout rate will aid in run prevention.