Orioles First Round Draft Pick: Matt Hobgood

Today’s first round draft pick Matt Hobgood would of been a complete shock to me two days ago, he really climbed the boards fast. Hobgood is a big 6’4 right handed pitcher out of Norco HS in California. We all assumed that we would draft a high school pitcher, just not this one. His velocity on his fastball is decent and usually tops out around 92, but he makes up for it with a lot movement and life on both sided of the plate. I have a friend that I asked to watch Hobgood pitch one of his high school games and he was raving over how good his curveball ball is. He can consistently throw it for strikes and is a good out pitch. His superb curveball will really help compliment his good movement on his fastball. Hobgood also has a decent slider that he uses on occasion; however, he needs to learn better control on it to be more useful.

To add with his two good and one decent pitch, Hobgood needs to add one more. His fourth pitch will probably be a changeup which they say he has, but doesn’t use. The fact he doesn’t use it either means it’s not the good or he’s not comfortable throwing it. He also needs better mechanics which will give him better control and more velocity on his pitches.

Overall, Hobgood probably has the biggest upside in the draft. He already has two good pitches and with a few small changes in his mechanics they will become even better. When he learns to successfully throw a slider a changeup he will become a very dangerous pitcher. He has a real possibility to join the young rotation in the majors in three to five years. This is a really good pick and the scouts did an excellent job scouting.