Ryan Weathers Dominates in TinCaps Loss

Ryan Weathers made a brief appearance in Fort Wayne at the end of 2018.: (Photo: West Michigan Whitecaps)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Despite a stellar, one-hit performance by Ryan Weathers, the TinCaps fell to the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays) after unraveling in the top of the ninth.

Weathers came out sitting 92-93 mph, striking out two with his new slider and inducing a fly out in his first face off with Rays’ top prospect Wander Franco.  Over the rest of the first trip through the order, Weathers struck out three more batters, walked one, and faced the minimum number of hitters.

Ryan Weathers strikes out the side, dialing it up to 94-95 mph in the inning. He has 6K through three and has faced the minimum ( 1 BB) pic.twitter.com/9HV4zQ3wfg

— Travis Barnett (@tabarnett89) April 22, 2019

“I went inside with the fastball a lot,” Weathers said of his success early in the game. “I was starting to spot it really well. Tonight for some reason, my [velocity] was up and I got some bad swings on the inside. … Then just playing my slider off that fastball, I felt like I had good rotation on the [slider].”

Weathers held the first ten Bowling Green batters hitless until Franco ripped a groundball single to break up any chance of a no-hit bid.

Round 2 goes to Wander Franco as he hits a groundball single. Franco has just a 3.9% swinging strike rate and Weathers hasn't induced one yet. pic.twitter.com/SV8425ojnP

— Travis Barnett (@tabarnett89) April 22, 2019

While Weathers didn’t record any more strikeouts over his final three innings, he induced grounder after grounder and made it through six innings on 76 pitches. It appears the Padres have about a 75 pitch target for him early this season, which I wouldn’t anticipate to rise for a couple more games.

“It was best start that I’ve seen overall,” manager Anthony Contreras said. “He controlled all three pitches and he (faced) the minimum. That’s what you expect from a number one draft pick.”

It was my first opportunity to see Weathers in person, so I would like to see more before providing much analysis. However, a few observations.

Weathers’ fastball worked primarily in the 91-93 MPH range but occasionally touched 94-95.  His command of it was excellent for his age, and he had little hesitation attacking up and inside.  While it doesn’t have the life or velocity of Luis Patiño or MacKenzie Gore’s fastballs, it is still an effective pitch that I would peg a 55 future value on and it could play up because of his command.

The new slider is certainly an upgrade to his curveball. It flashes plus, though he clearly needs some more time to develop consistency with it.  If so, it may give him the “out pitch” he desperately needs to actualize the mid-rotation potential he possesses.  It mostly sat in the low-80s and had more slurve movement than a traditional slider. He would also occasionally knock a couple of ticks off of it to give hitters a different look.

Overall, he looks every bit as polished in his delivery and approach as was advertised, and I’m anxious to see how he does when he has the opportunity to face an order a third time through.  There’s plenty to get to excited about in the meantime, but like most 19-year-olds, he still has a lot left to prove and needs substantial time to continue sharpening his craft.