2020 MLB Draft: Scouting Colorado Rockies third-round pick Sam Weatherly

Hopefully, the main difference between the Colorado Rockies left-handers will be fixed in the near future.

The only key difference I could find between Rolison and Weatherly was control and Ryan also has a more easily repeatable and cleaner delivery (which also lends to the control differences between them). This has been the bugaboo for Weatherly since he stepped foot on campus at Clemson.

Although, he has dropped his BB/9 rate every year since his freshman season (7.6 BB/9) to his junior season (5.6 BB/9). This is not a huge jump, and he will need to cut that number in half at least to stick as a starter, but it is a positive trend.

That is especially the case when you consider he has actually risen his K/9 rate at the same time going from 7.5 K/9 as a freshman two-way player pitching out of the bullpen to 17.1 K/9 as a senior while winning the Friday Night Starter role in the Clemson rotation.

The two-way player lends itself to the above-average athleticism he shows on the mound as well continuing the proud tradition of pitchers that refuse to be easy outs in LoDo. To continue the positive trends he showed in an abbreviated 2020 season was the fact he went 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA, 43 K’s, and 14 BB’s in just 22.2 IP.

Again, the walks are a bit concerning, but the fact he has racked up the K’s with pretty much only a 2 pitch mix as he admitted he only threw his changeup “maybe 5% of the time” so given time to complete the development of his third offering and harness that fastball command, he can no doubt stick as a starter with a middle-to-back end of the rotation ceiling. Being a lefty set-up man as the floor makes this yet another solid pick for the Rockies.