Sunday, February 2, 2014

Meet A Prospect Ian Clarkin


The Yankees used one of their three first rounds picks, this time the 33rd overall, to pick Ian Clarkin out of Madison High School. His Yankees career did not start off as well as he would have hoped after previously that night stating that he hated the Yankees and enjoyed watching us lose the 2001 World Series. Little did he know that he would be apologizing later that night after the Yankees drafted him and the fans back lashed a bit. The big 6'2" 190 lb left hander has huge upside and was considered to be a huge steal for the Yankees even after quotes of him not signing unless he got "life changing money" although I wonder when over $1,000,000 was not life changing but maybe that's the poor guy in me speaking. Either way Clarkin signed above slot and is now a proud member of the Yankees organization.


We all have to remember that Clarkin was drafted due to his upside and not his readiness to step in and dominate now. Clarkin is still considered to be raw with sketchy command but his upside and high ceiling make him worth the risk in the end. Clarkin's fastball velocity sits around 90-92 MPH but will probably sit around 95 MPH when he fully develops physically. While he is considered to be below average with his command, even with his fastball, he still shows signs of life with his command from time and time. His curve ball is considered to be his best pitch right now and will be a plus plus pitch for him if he fully develops it. His 12-6 curve ball right now still needs work as sometimes it buckles knees and other times bounces a few feet in front of the plate. His projection is that he will be a power pitching above average command pitcher but right now he is still fine tuning all of these things.


In my opinion Clarkin's ceiling is as a #2 starter although I see a comparison with Phil Hughes when he is right. Clarkin is a big guy who repeats his delivery well but changed his arm angle and release point too much right now to consider him in the ace range. Then again he is so far away from the majors right now and so much can change between now and the time he will reach the majors so it is anyone's guess at this point.



Clarkin's professional debut was delayed due to, what else, injuries and kept him from playing in every game this year but three. Clarkin had obvious rust issues while putting up a 10.80 ERA in his three starts for the Gulf Coast Yankees 1 rookie team while only logging five innings. In those five innings Clarkin allowed five hits, six runs, two home runs, four walks, four strike outs, and a whopping 1.80 WHIP. Obviously not the start Clarkin wanted to have in his professional and Yankees debut but we have plenty of time for Clarkin to work with our instructors and coaches and get it right. In my eyes I see Clarkin coming up sometime during the 2017 season and full time in the 2018 season. Clarkin projects now to be a top of the rotation starter so the Yankees should do everything they can and have to in order to keep it that way because you cannot teach the skills and stuff that Ian Clarkin possesses.

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