Baseball Beginnings

By John Klima
June 15, 2009

Tyler Skaggs is ambitious. When Baseball Beginnings bumped into him on the field at Angel Stadium on Saturday evening, a few days after his favorite team had made him the 40^th overall pick in the draft, Skaggs was taking in his surroundings and putting himself on the psychological fast track. He wasn’t there to sign just yet, only to step on the field and shake a few hands.

The Angels’ scouting staff was clapping its hands when Skaggs fell to them at 40. It is true that they had been on him all year. Their enthusiasm never waned, even after Skaggs had moments that had some scouts hot-and-cold on him.  

Here’s something I’ll almost never do: quote directly from a press release: Skaggs, 17, was 2-3 with a 1.60 ERA (11 ER – 48 IP) and two complete games as a 2009 high school senior. He recorded 11 walks and 76 strikeouts, striking out 12 batters three times in nine appearances. As a 2008 junior, he was named the Ocean League MVP, Baseball America All-American second team, 2008 All-CIF Southern Section first team and 2008 All-State second team. Skaggs committed to play at Cal State Fullerton.

You have to be pretty talented to warrant getting the Ocean League mentioned in a major league team’s release. I might be halfway sold right there.

The Angels are sold on Skaggs’s projection. At 6-5 and 17 years old, it’s all about one of those old scouting Dr. Frankenstein terms – words that exist in the scouting dictionary but not in the English language dictionary. That word is projectability.

It’s right next to the other red-underlined non-existent word, signability. Skaggs has the commitment to Cal State Fullerton, but it’s hard to imagine that this is going to be an acrimonious negotiation. Player wants team and team wants player. No reason to call the whole thing off.

When Baseball Beginnings first caught up with Skaggs, it was after a start at Hawthorne High. It’s pretty hard to get fired up about pitching at Hawthorne, but that game was lost to history two seconds after it ended. The video, on the other hand, lives forever. We’ll always have Hawthorne. Skaggs talked about the future, standing on the field he hopes to leave his own cleat marks on one day.

Baseball Beginnings: You’re 17. When do you turn 18?
Skaggs: July 13.

Baseball Beginnings: No (kidding). That’s my birthday, too. You can look up Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Coveleski. That’s his birthday, too. Look him up. I knew the Angels loved you for a while and I’m sure you did too, but the thing you always hear is that because you’re a year younger it adds to the projectability. So forget for a second what other people think you are going to be, what are you for you?
Skaggs: I project myself to be here in a year or a year and a half up here pitching.

Baseball Beginnings: That quick?
Skaggs: I feel like I’m that good. Once I gain the weight that I’m already gaining – I’m like 195.

Baseball Beginnings: What are you pitching at for strikes right now?
Skaggs: Consistently at 93 right now. Hawthorne wasn’t a good start.

Baseball Beginnings: I know, but I had to go on what you had that day.
Skaggs: It’s OK.

Baseball Beginnings: How much more is in you, do you think? When you get to the big leagues, what do you think you’ll be able to reach for strikes, velocity wise?
Skaggs: I don’t know. It depends how I grow, what happens when I lift weights, what happens in spring training.  It could be a couple of more miles or it could be a lot faster. You don’t really know until you start.

Baseball Beginnings:  What do you think is the best secondary pitch you’ll take with you into pro ball, assuming you sign?
Skaggs: The slider is a big league pitch for me. Some days it’s on and some days it’s off.

Baseball Beginnings: Most of the stuff out there on you is that you’re supposed to be a fastball-curveball guy at the next level, but are you saying you see yourself as more of a power fastball-slider guy?
Skaggs: Yes. There’s the loopy curveball, but there’s a hard slider. The curveball is more of a third pitch. The change-up is developing.

Baseball Beginnings: That’s OK, isn’t everyone’s change-up developing at age 17?
Skaggs: A lot of guys. It’s kind of how does it feel today.

Baseball Beginnings: Sources close to you – well, OK, your Mom – say that the Angels are your favorite team. Is that true or is this a draft choice statement?
Skaggs: No way, they have been my favorite team since I was like five.

Baseball Beginnings: Well you were only five 12 years ago.
Skaggs: It’s not that long, but they’ve been my favorite team. I was really happy I got to them.

More on Skaggs:
Tyler Skaggs Drafted by the Los Angeles Angels
Read Tyler Skaggs Q&A
Read Tyler Skaggs Scouting report
Read Tyler Skaggs Scouting video

Categories: 2009 Draft
Tags: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Tyler Skaggs