AngelsWin.com Today: AngelsWin.com Top 30 Prospects Countdown: #14 Jaime Barria

[AngelsWin.com]

Prospect: Jaime Barria           Rank: 14

2015/16: UR                            Position(s): Right Handed Pitcher

Level: A Ball                           Age: Entering Age 20 season in 2017.

Height: 6’1”                             Weight: 210 lb.

   Present – Future

Fastball         50  55

Curve            45  50

Change         55  60

Mechanics    60  60

Command    70  70

Control         70  70

Overall         55  60

Floor: Fifth starter or swingman in the majors.

Ceiling: A #3 starter in the major leagues.

Likely Outcome: Reliable #4 starter in the majors.

Summary: Barria is one of those prospects every system should have.  Normally, when I think of a Latin American pitcher coming stateside, I think of a kid that was signed at age 16 from the Dominican Republic that pumps mid-90’s gas but has no idea what an efficient throwing motion might be, or what he needs to do to keep throwing strikes and getting hitters out.  Those guys are good.  They mostly end up as relievers, but there’s just a ton of room for error when you can throw 97.  Barria on the other hand is from Panama, he’s already physically mature, throws in the low-90’s with a beautiful throwing motion, and has the look of a starting pitcher in the long run.  He gets hitters out by locating his pitches in parts of the zone that hitters are forced to swing at, but can’t necessarily do a ton of damage with.  Furthermore, because he gets ahead in the count so often, Barria frequently forces hitters to hit the type of pitches they’ll tend to roll over on or pop up.

Jaime will pitch backward or traditional in the count, which is to say he’ll throw any pitch he wants at any time, and he’ll throw them for strikes.  While his fastball  sits 91-93, it’s the location and movement that have given hitters fits.  Barria frequently will spin off a curve ball, and while he throws it for strikes, it doesn’t strike me as anything more than a change of pace pitch.  It’s his change up that is the “plus” pitch.  Hitters spend 7 innings a night rolling over at the third baseman or first baseman because of this pitch, and while he doesn’t necessarily use it as a strikeout pitch, hitters are left so off-balance that Jaime will rank of a few K’s during the game.  The arm speed, angle and delivery all closely mirror his fastball, so it’s darn near impossible to detect when he’ll drop a change up.  To make matters worse for hitters, he’ll throw it whenever he thinks he can get an out, and not just with two strikes.

Now admittedly, at first, when Barria was on the Burlington roster, I didn’t give it a ton of thought.  He seemed like filler to me, someone that I’d seen a couple times but really didn’t separate himself.  But as a 19 year old in full season ball, once he started to get rolling, I began asking myself what it was about this kid that was generating such success especially against older competition.  The more I watched Barria, the more I became curious, why minor league hitters just couldn’t square him up.  This is what eventually made his starts that were broadcast on MiLB.tv a must see, at least for a few innings until the major league game came on.  It was in these starts that I began to acquire an appreciation for Barria.  Nothing shakes his nerves or gets to him.  He’s calm and collected at all times.  He goes about his business methodically, and gets a lot of 2-3 pitch at bats that result in outs.  He works quickly so as to stay in a rhythm and not bore his fielders and gets back to the dugout as quickly as he can.  He isn’t flashy, isn’t striking out 12 batters a night, he’s just getting outs, quickly, and a lot of them.

Typically, I avoid making specific playing comps, but this one is just so accurate, it’s hard not to make this connection.  Jaime Barria, reminds me a lot of Nick Tropeano.  Nick wasn’t exactly heralded when the Angels acquired him from the Astros, but his track record spoke for itself, and the longer you watch his starts, the more masterful you begin to see him as.  That’s the way Barria is.  He isn’t quite at Tropeano’s level in terms of quality pitches, but in a couple of years, he could go toe-to-toe with Tropeano and be a worthy comp.

What to expect next season: Barria should head to the Cal League as a 20 year old, and typically, this would be a recipe for disaster.  A contact heavy pitcher in a very friendly offensive league.  But Barria works so quickly, and doesn’t get rattled that I doubt he’ll be as torched as other pitchers when they reach Advanced A Ball.  In fact, after he turns 21 late in the season, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Angels bumped him up to AA.

 

Estimated Time of Arrival: 2019, as a 22 year old. .

Grade as a prospect: C+

 

Grades are given from the 20-80 scouting scale.  20-being non-existent ability, 80-being the best I’ve ever seen.  MLB average is 50.

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[Chuck]

I'm digging the last three SP prospects. 

The more I look at this list, I believe we're deeper and have way more talent than what the pundits think. 

[Second Base]

2 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

I'm digging the last three SP prospects. 

The more I look at this list, I believe we're deeper and have way more talent than what the pundits think. 

That's become the norm for the Angels system. Every year we hear about how terrible our farm is, and every year someone new from the farm steps in and makes an impact. Without invoking personal feelings, the truth being told, our system is very deep in terms of pitching, and has been for some time. We're still on the light side in terms of position prospects, but we've injected some serious upside into the organization with the last two drafts.

[Hubs]

3 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

I'm digging the last three SP prospects. 

The more I look at this list, I believe we're deeper and have way more talent than what the pundits think. 

I agree. They might be lacking in top end talent, but they have just as deep of a system with average or average plus talent as anyone else has. Add in 2 A or A- rated guys and the whole system moves from low 20's to low teens or high single digits. They need to get like 4 tier 1 guys total, but I think Jones and Thaiss move to tier 1 after their full season debuts. And I personally am high on Ward and Marsh as well, but Ward needs to hit and Marsh is a bit of a project.

[Second Base]

1 hour ago, Hubs said:

I agree. They might be lacking in top end talent, but they have just as deep of a system with average or average plus talent as anyone else has. Add in 2 A or A- rated guys and the whole system moves from low 20's to low teens or high single digits. They need to get like 4 tier 1 guys total, but I think Jones and Thaiss move to tier 1 after their full season debuts. And I personally am high on Ward and Marsh as well, but Ward needs to hit and Marsh is a bit of a project.

If Thaiss hits like I think he will, Jones does what he did last year, one of Nonie or Marsh breaks out, Chris Rodriguez pitches as well as I think he will, and we draft wisely with that #10 pick, you're potentially looking at 5 Top 100 prospects in one year. 

If things break right, we could be one of the top rated farms a year from now. 

Thats how much those rankings mean, squat. They're a bias, opinion based ranking of systems as of one particular point in time. I think ranking systems across a 5-year period is much more accurate, and if it's 5 years, I stack us up with anyone. 

Trout, Calhoun, Cron, Richards, Skaggs, Shoemaker, Bedrosian.....

[Hubs]

1 hour ago, Scotty@AW said:

If Thaiss hits like I think he will, Jones does what he did last year, one of Nonie or Marsh breaks out, Chris Rodriguez pitches as well as I think he will, and we draft wisely with that #10 pick, you're potentially looking at 5 Top 100 prospects in one year. 

If things break right, we could be one of the top rated farms a year from now. 

Thats how much those rankings mean, squat. They're a bias, opinion based ranking of systems as of one particular point in time. I think ranking systems across a 5-year period is much more accurate, and if it's 5 years, I stack us up with anyone. 

Trout, Calhoun, Cron, Richards, Skaggs, Shoemaker, Bedrosian.....

In another set of rankings (FOX SPORTS), it said we had zero guys in the top 125 now, and only one was considered. I think we need to get studs with the first and second round picks in June. Someone like Tanner Houck, Tristan Beck, Tyler Wright, and someone rated in the latter half of the first round slips to #47. Then we can take a high school kid in the 3rd, for depth.

[Hubs]

Scotty, do you have a list of breakout candidates in our system, or guys you think fit the organizational philosophy in the upcoming draft.

[Second Base]

I'll do breakout candidates once the top prospect list is over here in a few weeks. But off the top of my head, Thaiss will break into the Top 100, Nonie Williams, Greyson Long, Sherman Johnson will all see their stock go up.