Luis Cessa knows a thing or two about minor league baseball
and New York and it’s a good thing since he was just recently traded to the New
York Yankees in the Justin Wilson deal. This marks the second time that Cessa
was traded this calendar year as he was also traded to the Detroit Tigers by
the team who drafted him, the New York Mets, in the Yoenis Cespedes deal. Now
Cessa, along with teammate Chad Green, head to New York to give the Yankees
some Triple-A starting pitching depth, let’s meet him. This is Meet a Prospect:
The Luis Cessa Edition.
Cessa is 21-years old and has a natural right-handed
pitcher’s build. Cessa stands 6’3” and weighs 190 lbs. with plenty of room to
grow and fill out his frame. Cessa was considered an underrated prospect while
pitching in the same rotation as Steven Matz and Gabriel Ynoa but is still
considered to have less upside than a frontline starter. Cessa is the type of
pitcher to aggressively attack the zone and relies on his excellent pinpoint
control to survive. Cessa keeps batters off balance with his developing
curveball and is still considered raw since he was converted from the infield.
The Mets drafted Cessa as an infielder in 2008 and converted him to a starting
pitcher in 2011 so the 2016 season looks to be just his sixth professional
season as a pitcher. That equals upside.
Cessa’s downfall may be his durability and the fact that he
loses velocity the deeper he goes into games. Cessa doesn’t have electric stuff
by any means but he gets the job done and could be an excellent relief pitcher
eventually. Cessa is truly raw and the sky is the limit.
I was scouting around
on a Mets Minors and found these grades from before the 2015 season:
Fastball: 45/55 Change-Up: 55/60 Curveball: 35/50 Control: 55/60
Mechanics: 60/60
Cessa is not going to change an organization by any means
but at age 21 you never know. Justin Wilson was replaceable either inside the
organization or via free agency so it’s not the biggest loss. At worst Cessa could
become a serviceable relief pitcher, at best a decent starter.
He could be a long man out of the BP as he is better suited for one to three innings rather than a starter...when I don't know! He has to clean up his change-up and make it a very good pitch.
ReplyDeleteCessa will be deemed ready in 2016, either on Opening Day or by June at the latest. It's just whether he has the stuff to succeed. He was ranked 18th best in the Yankees system and the Yankees system is not great. It's good, and in my opinion underrated, but it's still not great. That says something.
DeleteYup, his numbers are not in his favor at all, but then again one more year and going to the BP has made many pitchers into stars.
Delete