Today was a camp day at Pirate City. The Pirates did a workout in the morning, then played two inter-squad games. Top Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia pitched in one of the games. I noticed he was pitching during his first batter, and was able to quickly react and get video of his next two batters. Heredia struck out the first two hitters he saw, and had a two strike count on the third hitter, but the inning was called when he reached his pitch count after two foul balls.
Heredia was throwing 92-94 MPH in the two at-bats where I had a radar gun on him, and I was told that he ranged from 91-96. The biggest thing I noticed was how effortlessly he throws the ball, while still getting the high velocity. It’s hard to believe that he’s only 16 years old. There’s also talk about how good he could be when he fills out, but when you look at him, he already looks like he is filled out. He was dominating the opposing hitters today. They were mostly lower level players, which is about the talent level he should face this year. Here is the video from his last two batters, along with some pitch readings in the lower right hand corner.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Good stuff. I’m excited!
he looks really good, impressive with the velocity at 16 years old
Outside of the first at-bat, which I saw from the other field, what you see in the video above is what I saw. The third pitch was a slider, in the low 80s, although I wasn’t sure of the exact reading (i think 82).
Did he pitch from the stretch the entire time, or did you get to see him pitch from a windup. It’s nice to see him hitting 94 from the stretch. Was that third pitch a slider? Hard to tell from the video, but looked like it had some nice movement.
Thanks for posting this!