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The numbers belie his anonymity. Unranked and flying effectively under the radar, Ben Harris has fanned 91 batters in 46 innings this yr between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and Excessive-A Nice Lakes. Boasting a 17.8 Ok/9, which ranks highest within the minors amongst hurlers with no less than 40 frames, the 22-year-old southpaw might be the perfect pitching prospect you’ve by no means heard of.
It might solely be a gentle exaggeration to say that he got here out of nowhere. Drafted within the eighth spherical final yr out of the College of Georgia by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Harris threw simply 39.2 innings as a collegian, virtually all of them in his junior season. Previous to that, he was a two-way participant who not often noticed recreation motion. The concept that Harris may emerge as one of many most-overpowering pitchers in skilled baseball was unimaginable to anybody not in possession of a crystal ball.
His capacity to overpower hitters doesn’t come courtesy of smoke and mirrors, however neither does it come by way of elite velocity or nasty breaking stuff. The Alpharetta, Georgia native excels thanks largely to a fastball that’s distinctive in its deception.
“I don’t throw super-hard,” mentioned Harris, whose heater sits 92–94 mph and tops out at 95, and whose repertoire at present includes roughly 70% fastballs and 30% sliders. “Fortunately, there’s one thing with the way in which I throw. It’s a little bit bit tucked behind — I throw from behind my head — so it’s a little bit extra hidden than regular. I’ve by no means confronted off towards myself, however that’s what I’ve been instructed. I consider [the effectiveness] comes from a mixture of some completely different metrics, as effectively.”
Nice Lakes pitching coach David Anderson agrees on that time.
“He has a novel capacity to cover, and journey, the ball,” he mentioned. “It’s a very environment friendly throw. I believe he most likely benefited from being an outfielder in faculty — there are components which have transferred from an outfield throw — and it’s a fast arm. The best way he sequences his physique down the mound places him in a very good place to let the ball bounce on hitters.
“It’s extra spin than strategy angle,” he added. “A few of it’s the pace of the arm, however he does benefit from the strategy a little bit bit. He’s sort of bought an entire package deal with the fastball [and] with outlier traits. A part of what makes him distinctive is that he didn’t design the throw to do what it does. It’s all pure to him.”
The gaudy strikeout numbers are each bit as pure. Once more, the under-the-radar left-hander is comparatively new to his craft. Final yr was his first as a full-time pitcher, and the power to induce swings-and-misses was there from the outset. Harris fanned 66 batters over these 38.2 innings his junior season, permitting simply 16 hits. Command was the lone subject, as he walked 6.5 batters per 9 innings — a charge that’s gone down however to a still-too-high 5.9 this yr. He’s trending in the correct course, although, with simply 5 walks — and 27 strikeouts — over 16 innings in a dozen appearances since he was promoted to Excessive-A.
Harris’ junior yr at Georgia was preceded by a paucity of alternative when he was a freshman on the College of Virginia, adopted by him having to take a seat out the truncated 2020 COVID marketing campaign as a consequence of switch guidelines. Then got here his Georgia expertise, the place circumstances labored firmly in his favor.
“We had some accidents on the mound, and we additionally had all of our outfielders again,” Harris mentioned. “I wasn’t going to get many alternatives as a hitter, however there was an actual alternative to pitch. Strikeouts and walks have been my story that yr, however fortunately, Georgia was high quality with the walks together with all of the strikeouts. They gave me the prospect I wanted.”
Large league organizations weren’t precisely clamoring to provide him an opportunity. Solely a handful of groups confirmed greater than cursory curiosity in bringing him on board; together with the Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies had conversations with him previous to the draft.
A dialog along with his coach at Virginia had already altered his profession path. It got here throughout his exit interview after his freshman season, and it influenced his choice to switch.
“He requested me if I nonetheless needed to pitch or if I simply needed to hit,” Harris mentioned. “My pitching had been up-and-down, and my hitting had been going fairly effectively in intra-squads. At Georgia, the coaches gave me an opportunity to do each. My pitching actually began coming round, in order that they let me simply pitch.”
Trying again, there’s a very actual probability that Harris’ pitching days would have been over had he remained at Virginia. As a substitute, he’s thriving with the Dodgers as one of the vital intriguing under-the-radar pitching prospects within the recreation.
“That’s the loopy half,” he mentioned. “It’s the cool a part of a narrative that has sort of weaved collectively into the place I’m now.”
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