Robert Gasser is rising as some of the promising pitching prospects within the San Diego system. Over his final six begins with the Excessive-A Fort Wayne TinCaps, the 23-year-old southpaw has fanned 47 batters whereas permitting simply six earned runs in 36-and-two-third innings. On the season, Gasser has a 3.76 ERA to go along with a 3.09 FIP; the latter is the third-best mark within the Midwest League.
He isn’t the identical pitcher the Padres drafted 71st general final summer time out of the College of Houston. Gasser nonetheless throws from a low three-quarters slot, however his arsenal has modified, and to a sure extant, so has his assault plan. Armed with a extra numerous combine that features tweaked grips, the 6-foot-1 El Dorado, California native doesn’t imagine in being bland.
Gasser — No. 13 on our San Diego Padres Top Prospect list — mentioned his evolving arsenal in late June.
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David Laurila: What’s your M.O. on the mound? In different phrases, how do you get guys out?
Robert Gasser: “Truthfully, simply maintaining them off steadiness. I believe that’s a very powerful factor for me. Throwing all of my pitches within the strike zone persistently offers me a possibility to overlook barrels whereas I’m altering speeds and site.”
Laurila: Which of your pitches grade out one of the best?
Gasser: “My cutter and my slider each have actually good spin. The cutter has extra induced vertical and just a little little bit of horizontal, whereas my sweeping slider has round 17 inches of horizontal break. That’s actually good, particularly if I can get it on the skin a part of the plate and produce it throughout to get beneath bats.
“My changeup works very well towards righties. It’s obtained good separation from my fastball, and I’m in a position to tunnel these fairly nicely on the skin a part of the plate. I’m throwing the cutter backdoor off of these. I really feel like these pitches emulate one another fairly successfully.”
Laurila: Are you able to elaborate on the motion profiles of your cutter and slider?
Gasser: “The sweeping slider is round zero to 6 vertical break. It’s positively not damaging, however it does get just a little little bit of depth. The cutter is a pitch the place I’m normally attempting to get to the inside a part of the plate towards righties and simply miss a barrel, get it on the thin a part of the bat. I’ll additionally throw it attempting to get a back-foot swing-and-miss, as a result of I’m throwing quite a lot of fastballs inside. It’s late, onerous, and sharp, so I can get these swings and misses.”
Laurila: It virtually sounds such as you’re describing a brief slider, and never a cutter…
Gasser: “Yeah. That’s type of what it’s, however since I throw the sweeping slider, I prefer to name it a cutter. With the motion profile, it in all probability may very well be thought of a slider.”
Laurila: Which of the 2 pitches have you ever been throwing longer?
Gasser: “Man, they’re actually each pretty new. My arsenal has modified loads since school. A few of it’s discovering what grip is comfy. I might say the cutter is an older grip, though when it comes to ‘discovering’ the pitch — how I would like it to maneuver and the way I wish to use it — that’s come extra just lately. The slider is a brand new grip that I obtained throughout the spring. From the second I picked it up… I’ve all the time had the power to spin the ball fairly nicely, however holding that grip and simply pulling on it, it strikes a lot. I’m in a position to create a lot horizontal.”
Laurila: You have been drafted final yr within the second spherical. Is it possibly just a little stunning that your arsenal has modified as a lot because it has?
Gasser: “No, actually. As a pitcher, it’s a must to evolve. You’ll be able to’t simply keep the identical. To develop, it’s a must to change. If I keep the identical individual, with that very same repertoire, it’s virtually like I’ve turn out to be bland. I must hold every little thing sharp and all the time be refining my instruments. If I can add a weapon, that’s nice. The extra the merrier.”
Laurila: And once more, the adjustments have been this spring, not at instructs or over the winter?
Gasser: “Sure, simply this spring. We’ve got a brand new minor league pitching coordinator, Rob Marcello, and he got here in with quite a lot of new concepts. Pitch grips is certainly one of them. He feels that lots of them will work. Some stick for some guys, some stick to others. It’s all simply trial and error with grips, so it’s all about what’s comfy.”
Laurila: Arm slots can think about, as nicely…
Gasser: “Understanding that my arm angle is fairly low three-quarters, I had a fairly good concept that I used to be in want of a sweeping horizontal pitch. That’s what I might naturally get throwing a breaking ball. Throwing a gyro is fairly onerous, and I believe that’s the place my cutter is available in. I assume I’m getting considerably near a gyro pitch, however actually, pitch grips are type of, ‘What the ball does, it does.’”
Laurila: Is there something distinctive about your changeup?
Gasser: “It’s fairly onerous, to be trustworthy. Some individuals say it’s virtually like a hybrid sinker, an influence sinker. Earlier this yr I used to be attempting to work on taking some velocity off, type of tinkering with the grip and attempting to really feel out what’s going to work finest. Nevertheless it’s a good pitch for me. I believe it averages round 18 inches of horizontal break. I’ve quite a lot of pitches which can be shifting sideways. Mainly, I’m attempting to start out them within the center and have all of them transfer off one another, some a technique, others the opposite means.”
Laurila: Leaping over to your fastball, do you throw a four- or a two-seamer?
Gasser: “I throw each. The four-seam is extra distinguished than the two-seam. With the uptick in throwing fastballs excessive within the zone, I’ve began to depend on the 4 loads. In school, it was predominantly two-seams — two-seams and sliders. Now that I’ve come into professional ball, I’ve discovered that the entire arsenal is effective. 4-seams up, two-seams down and away, cutters down and in, sweepers off of that, changeups down and away. It’s about utilizing the entire arsenal.”
