Joan Gregorio, RHP, San Francisco Giants
Incredibly tall and lean when he was signed in 2010 as an 18 year old, Gregorio was already 6’7″, but he was barely 170 pounds. He was extremely raw, having just learned to truly pitch rather than just throw.
Gregorio has filled out to a still-lean 200ish pounds on the mound now, and he’s worked his way up the Giants system, building up arm strength to the point where he’s now working in the low-90s with a fastball that has excellent plane that can touch mid-90s as a starter, and would likely work up to more like sitting 93-95 and touching 96-97 with both his two-seam and four-seam fastball.
Gregorio has an excellent slider, though personally I’m more impressed with his change working off of his two-seam fastball, so he could work with a mix of his two fastballs and change to be very effective in a relief role while sprinkling in the slider.
Gregorio was suspended mid-season this year for performance enhancing substances, so even though he exhibited excellent numbers at AAA (3.04 ERA, 1.32 WHIP over 74 IP) as a starter, he’ll likely be looking at a bullpen role as he’s going to be 26 before he’s back on the mound again.
Gregorio will be eligible for minor league free agency this winter, so it will be interesting to see if the Giants choose to keep him with the suspension hanging over him or let him go. If he’s put onto the market, someone could end up with a very useful piece for their bullpen.