Filed By: Pat Hickey
Filed On: January 24, 2010
Scouted:
Ohio State
at Georgia (Tallahassee, FL) May 29, 2009 (film)
Michigan at Ohio State (Columbus, OH) May 2, 2009 (film)
Ohio State
at Purdue (West Lafayette, IN) April 17, 2009 (in attendance)
Frame:
Wimmers has a strong and athletic frame. While he’s only average
in height, he has fairly broad shoulders, a developed core and a strong lower body. There is a little projection left in him,
as he could stand to gain some arm strength to increase durability throughout the game and season.
Motion:
Wimmers throws out of a true three-quarters arm slot, and
starts his motion tall and using a quick and high leg kick before entering his delivery. The high leg kick is effective in building momentum to the plate, but he doesn't always balance over the
rubber, leading to inconsistencies in his timing and variance in his release. This, in turn, can affect his control
and command of his pitches. Moving out of his leg kick, Wimmers flies open with his glove, which can also detrimentally affect
his control. He circles the baseball down below his waist before bringing his arm up, creating extra deception. During the
arm swing, his glove-side elbow rises up above his shoulder, creating extra stress on the UCL of the non-throwing arm. He
strides sideways towards the target, maximizing the force with which the hips pull the shoulders
around. Upon foot strike, landing properly with his glove-side knee bent, his arm is in good shape -- parallel
to the ground and even or slightly below the pitching arm-side shoulder. Wimmers keeps his shoulders back, creating good scapular
load and allowing his hips to rotate through first. He incorporates his trunk well, getting good drive off the rubber. He
concludes with his upper-body hunched over, but his pitching arm ends almost touching the ground, which shows remarkable follow-through.
He isn’t put in the greatest fielding position by doing so because he finishes towards first base, but hasn’t
appeared to have problems reacting to balls hit back up the middle.
Stuff:
Fastball - Wimmers currently
sits in the upper-80’s to low-90’s with his fastball, with a little room to add velocity as he increases arm strength
and improves his mechanics. The pitch has good arm-side run and average command that fluctuates when he struggles to find
a proper release point.
Curveball - Wimmers owns
one of the finest curveballs in the draft. He throws the pitch in the mid-70’s with plus 11-5 movement on hitters. With
improved mechanics, it could be a true Major League out pitch.
Change-up - Wimmers also
throws a decent change-up -- a 75-78 mph straight change that flashes good tumble and helps keep hitters honest. As he continues
to more consistently hit his release point, it will be a nice complementary piece in his arsenal.
Nick's Notes:
Wimmers will be closely
followed this spring after strong showings in 2009 with OSU and this summer with the Bourne Braves on the Cape. His curve
has excellent potential and the ability to overwhelm hitters already. His ultimate ceiling will be determined by the continued
development of a promising change and mechanical tweaks (as Pat steps through in his report). Wimmers could develop into a
solid mid-rotation arm, but he'll have to show he can continue to miss bats while working more frequently in the strikezone.
He won't blow professional hitters away, so it will be very important to prove to them he can throw all three pitches
in any count. Pat should get some good looks at the Buckeye righty during the spring, so we'll monitor his progress closely.
Projected Position: Back-end to Mid-rotation Starter
Suggested Draft Slot: Supplemental-1st to 2nd Round
Updates:
[To come this spring].
Video:
N/A
