Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) right-handed pitcher John Curtiss has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. Curtiss saved three games for the Lookouts, pitching 3.0 scoreless innings with one walk and six strikeouts in three games. The Dallas native was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Texas and signed for a reported $266,900 signing bonus.
Here is what one scouting report has to say about John Curtiss:
The former Texas Longhorns closer put together 61 strong innings in 2016, primarily at High A Fort Myers, and followed-up his regular season campaign with a solid AFL performance that saw him strike out almost two batters per innings pitched. Curtiss can work 95-to-97 mph with good life down in the zone and will also show a mid- to upper-80s slider that will flash. The arm generally works well and our looks in the AFL prompted a Joe Nathan (RHP, Giants) comp on the strapping righty. While control has been an issue in the past, Curtiss tightened up his execution in 2016. If he can maintain that his momentum heading into 2017 he could emerge as a quality late-inning arm for the Twins, logging innings in Minneapolis as early as this upcoming summer.
In 2017 the 6’4″ Curtiss has pitched 17+ innings and allowed just one run (unearned), allowed 10 hits and struck out 25 batters. The downside about Curtiss is that he has walked 10 batters. Unless he falls apart or gets hurt, you have to figure on seeing John Curtiss at Target Field this year, at least for a cup of coffee in September.
Medi-facts – Underwent Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2012 and sat out the entire 2013 season while at Texas. Missed much of the 2015 season with a concussion.
Twins Minor League Report 05292017
An interesting read about Rochester manager Mike Quade and batting orders today in the Democrat & Chronicle: Baseball managers use Sabermetrics to construct batting order