Futures Game Quick Hit: Mat Latos

As with Kyle Drabek, there have been some disagreements over the mechanics of Padres pitching prospect Mat Latos, who the Padres are soon to call up.

We start with John Sickels’ take of Latos after watching his appearance in this year’s Futures Game:

I didn’t like Mat Latos’ delivery at all. It just screamed “arm problems” to me…

We then contrast view with this quote by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus:

His straight up-and-down delivery is easy, repeatable, and has a bit of deception.

This is a change from what Goldstein said about Latos prior to the 2008 season:

I understand the reasons behind the fear, his third pitch [straight changeup] still lags behind, and his mechanics aren’t the cleanest. On the other side, he is a big-body pitcher and the last thing you want to do is give up on him as a starter.

To be fair, Latos has cleaned up his mechanics since that time, which I’ll get to in a bit.

You also have Jason Grey of ESPN.com giving his take on Latos:

A 6-foot-5 righty with the prototypical pitcher’s frame, Latos can get a good downhill plane with his clean “tall-and-fall” delivery that allows him to have good command potential.

From a personal standpoint, I’m not a big fan of Latos’ mechanics because I don’t like tall-and-fall deliveries. I like pitchers that lead with their hips and use more body in their motion.

*Credit to MLB Advanced Media

Latos’ mechanics are a bit, well….mechanical. They aren’t as athletic as I’d like to see and he’s too upright for my liking. BUT…as I’ve said before, I’m not a cookie cutter guy. Latos’ mechanics clearly work for him in terms of both stuff and command. Plus, he clearly repeats them well.

I think his arm action is solid. He breaks his hands early and tucks the arm behind his butt, achieving “dangle”, which is a term for a loose and tension free arm.

Latos has also cleaned up his front side mechanics, keeping his glove more out in front of the chest instead of down by his hip like he had in high school. I think that’s helped him improve his command as a professional.

Do I think Latos’ mechanics raise his risk of injury? Not really…the only red flag I have is that he uses more of his arm to generate his velocity and not enough of his body. Plus, the fact that he throws for a high velocity is a risk in itself.

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