Ian
Villers

4/9/18 - Cal signee. No doubt that the 6-foot-5 225-pound Villers absolutely IS what they look like. Long and strong yet it's not hard to envision him packing on 20 more pounds of man-size in the coming years. He's got an overhand slot and a slow, controlled backside arm action that appears to be deliberately slow and controlled. It doesn't seem to hurt the fastball velocity or control much but it does affect the breaking pitches. He has a slight leak to his front hip as he moves down the slope but doesn't expose the ball too early. Does maintain good direction. Good arm deceleration and good finish to his delivery, gets against a stiff front leg which would suggest a good breaking ball but I'll get to that in a minute.a No issue with velocity, as he got up to 91 mph in the 5th inning well into the 90-pitch count in this game. Occasional steep fastball angle, some run/fade when getting out over his front leg. Slider is the breaking ball that should be his best one down the road. Often it was a coffee-can slider and allowed hitters a chance to survive. As he got into a highly competitive moment late in the game he ripped one that had good tilt and late action, the one that scouts need to see to believe that pitch is in there. He threw that one with some anger and it was good. The change is there and there is a semblance of a curveball. Big kid, big arm, likely will climb into the mid-90s at some point down the road. Certainly is under consideration for the 2018 draft.