Age: 19
Born: November 3, 1990, Simpsonville, SC
Height: 6'4
Weight: 195
B/T: Right
Drafted by the Red Sox in the 7th round of the 2009 draft
I was surprised to see there wasn't a thread on Madison yet. He is one of my favorite type of prospects, the young raw pitcher with tons of potential.
http://soxprospects.com/players/younginer-madison.htmSoxprospects on his repertoire
QUOTE
Younginer has an impressive array of pitches, including: (1) a 94-95 mph four-seamer with great arm-side movement, which gets up to 97 mph; (2) an 89-90 mph two-seamer with nice downward movement; (3) a 73-76 mph 12-to-6 curveball with sharp, late break; and (4) a developing low-80s changeup with late life
They also describe his delivery as "somewhat violent". You can judge for yourself. While I can't vouch for the veracity of the information, this website http://baseballinstinct.com/2010/03/05/prospect-instinct-madison-younginer/BaseballInstinct has a breakdown of his mechanics, as well as two videos of him pitching, one perspective from behind home plate, and one perspective from the first base side.
Going into the 2009 Amateur draft, Baseball America ranked him as the 45th best prospect, yet he fell to the 228th pick where the Red Sox got him (http://sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Madison_YounginerSOSH Wiki). There were a number of concerns about Madison. He was throwing in the high 90s in high school, but he also played predominantly in the outfield, and only pitched in relief. Scouts weren't sure he could maintain this velocity as a http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/MLB_Draft/entry/view/24981/madison_younginer_power_pitcher_but_as_a_starter_or_relieverstarter
QUOTE
For scouts, the difficulty has been in evaluating Younginer as a starter. His velocity was tracked at mid-90s every outing this season, but as a reliever. His pitches and velocity are consistent for a reliever, but scouts have had scant few chances to see Younginer in a starting role.
His high school had him closing at one point, which would allow Younginer to maintain his high-90s velocity.
The other main issue was that he had agreed to go to Clemson, where they would let him hit and play center field when he wasn't pitching. Madison talked about his decision to forgo Clemson for the Red Sox in an interview with http://www.overthemonster.com/2010/1/29/1271555/interviewing-red-sox-pitchingOvertheMonster
QUOTE
"To bypass Clemson was a very tough decision. They are one of the top baseball universities in the country and have a great coaching staff. I also had to bypass getting the opportunity to hit. I came up with an amount that I thought would be life-changing and worth signing. The Red Sox and I came to an agreement and I'm very happy with my decision."
In the interview Madison comes off as intelligent and articulate, with a reasonably objective perspective on his abilities. For his strengths he cites the quality of his fastball, curveball, and his mound demeanor. For his weaknesses, he talks about needing to improve his control by repeating his delivery better, as well as doing a better job controlling the tempo of the game.
Madison is currently pitching in Lowell, where in four starts he has put up the following http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=youngi001madline.
2-2, 3.63 ERA, 17 1/3 innings pitched, 11 hits, 0 HR, 7 walks, 13 K's, WHIP of 1.038
It's certainly a respectable line in it's own right. The interesting thing, at least to me, is the dichotomy between his one bad start, and his three good ones.
One bad start: 3 1/3 innings, 16.20 ERA, 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 K's
Three good ones: 14 innings, 0.64 ERA, 5 hits, 4 walks, 11 K's
It will be interesting going forward to see how often those bad starts crop up, and whether he can get those walk numbers down.
