Baseball Prospect Report

By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
March 25, 2010

Taijuan Walker has a great right-handed frame and untapped natural arm speed and power. As far as projection pitchers go, Walker is an imagination’s delight. His frame is the first selling point. Long, loose, lean and fast, there’s clearly an abundance of physical projection. Translation: he touches 93 today, look for him to pitch at 94 tomorrow.

Beyond that, Walker is in the infancy stages of developing himself as a pitcher, but all the building blocks are there for him. These parts include the beginnings of a power curveball. There’s also one other aspect about Walker. You have to see it in a game, but the guy shows the ability to figure out how to make a pitch when he needs to. You wouldn’t put a grade on it and the gun won’t tell you. Nobody will text it to you. Better be watching.

Taijuan Walker, RHP
6-4, 190
Yucaipa HS, Yucaipa, CA
Games Seen: 3, Innings: 6

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Great frame. Tall and lean, high hips, rangy arms and legs, easy athletic actions, loose body.

STRENGTHS: Long, lean and loose arm with whippy action. FB high 93, low 88, average 90-91, sink & tail vs. RHH. CB occasional hard rotation and bite, avg. 76, two-plane look, have seen him throw for strikes. Great frame, above-average athlete, still growing and learning coordination. Throws high ¾, occasionally lowers slot.

WEAKNESSES: Lacks experience and overall consistency; needs innings. Overall fastball command needs to come up. Should work on change-up command and deception; can see the arm slow down. Needs to learn to have confidence in CB and bring into game.

SUMMARY: Untapped young power arm with ceiling. Shows building block ability to execute when he needs to make a pitch. Should develop strength and power in coming years and have ability to pitch consistently at 93-94 in big leagues. Curveball should be out pitch if he can continue to develop confidence and consistency. Threw mostly FBs and CHs in game today, does good job of getting speed separation. Best is yet to come from this guy.

GRADES (Present/Future):
Fastball        50/70
Curveball    20/60
Change-up  20/50
Control        20/50
Command   20/50

Overall Future Potential: 56

What the Grades Mean

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Categories: '10 Scouting Reports
Tags: Taijuan Walker, Taijuan Walker Report