Scott Baker Scouting Report

Name: Scott Baker
Number: 30
Position: Pitcher
Born: 9/19/1981
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 220
Debut: 5/7/2005

The man nicknamed "Big Spot Scott" has shown stretches of brilliance over his young career and has even served as the Twins ace on occasion. At times it has been difficult to figure out exactly what spot in the rotation Baker would be best fit for, but what is certain is that he has a very good idea how to pitch.

Baker has a sound delivery including a three-quarter arm slot that is very repeatable. Baker's fastball sits between 86-92 on average (at low and high peaks) but is deceptively sneaky as it seems to jump on hitters as it approaches the plate. He has the ability to work both sides of the plate effectively with his fastball making it all the more useful. Baker's secondary pitches include a good slider, a big curve and a fading change that is particularly nasty to lefties. The nice thing about his breaking pitches is that he can throw them for strikes at any point in the count.

When Baker is on, he is dominant and keeps hitters off balance. When he's off he struggles locating his fastball and can have problems leaving it up in the zone. He seems to have caught on to this and at the end of last season did a very nice job at keeping the ball low in the zone allowing him to have a long stretch of dominance that the Twins needed to capture the American League Central. I expect him to carry this over into the 2010 season and help head up the Twins rotation.

[Photo courtesy of twinscards.com]