6. Christopher Acosta, RHP, Dominican Republic
Acosta is a tall, lean right hander that projects well into a MLB rotation. Scouts love his easy arm action, and he has several pitches that project to be average or better at the Major League level. His fastball, which he throws with good command, sits between 88-92 mph and has some tail that will give right handed hitters some trouble. His curve ball has a lot of bend, and he can throw it for strikes. His best offering is his change up. Lots of movement and a pretty significant drop in velocity. His delivery needs some work, however, as he doesn’t always follow through and tends to remain upright throughout his pitching motion. Some scouts are turned off by his tendency to appear “disinterested,” whatever that means. It’s a stupid criticism when you assume what’s going on inside another person’s head. My opinion is that these scouts don’t see the typical “fieryness” in Acosta that they like to impose on Latin ballplayers. Whatever. The Red Sox are the front runners for his services.