RHP J.B. Bukauskas (University of North Carolina): 6', 195 lbs, born 10/11/1996
Overview
Fastball: 65. Slider: 60. Changeup: 50. Control: 50.
I got the chance to see Bukauskas pitch against Virginia Tech on May 13th, though it ended up being his worst start of the season as he walked five batters and failed to get out of the fourth inning. Still, the UNC ace is a very important pitcher to watch. Though he figured to go as high as the first round in high school after reclassifying and "skipping" his junior season in 2014 (when I actually had the opportunity to play against him), he asked teams not to draft him and ultimately ended up at UNC. After three years in which he has improved each season, he's a likely top ten pick with a blazing fastball, a wicked slider, and a track record of missing bats in college, though numerous questions abound.
Strengths
Bukauskas can straight up bring the head. He throws in the mid 90's, and that fastball is no straight offering. It has run and sink, making it a true plus pitch. His hard, mid 80's slider is another plus pitch, generating consistent swings and misses with its hard bite down away from right handers/down into left handers. With two plus pitches right now, he already has the floor of a high-leverage reliever (barring injury, of course), but he can hold his velocity into the late innings and he has every chance to start. He also has an emerging changeup that should be a useful pitch down the road. He has been compared to fellow undersized right hander Sonny Gray, who was drafted 18th overall by the A's out of Vanderbilt in 2011 and has been very effective when healthy. The A's pick sixth overall this year, and many mock drafts have had the A's picking the UNC right hander.
Weaknesses
Bukauskas can be inconsistent with his command, which hurt his chances to start. Also hurting his starting chances are his height and delivery. Bukauskas stands at six feet tall, which is certainly on the shorter side for a major league starting pitcher. He also doesn't have the smoothest delivery, as it features a short arm path and a lot of effort. Combine that with him being a smaller guy, and teams have very real concerns about his ability to start.
5/13/17 Report
@Virginia Tech: 3.1 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 6 H, 5 BB, 2 K's
As I stated in the overview paragraph, I did get the opportunity to watch Bukauskas pitch against a quietly good Virginia Tech offense on May 13th, and I have a nasty sunburn to show for it. He sat 93-95 throughout the game, touching 96 three times. He is usually a touch faster, but he did not have his best stuff on Saturday. He particularly struggled in commanding his slider, which he threw quite often. Sitting 84-87, it had the sharp bite as advertised and generated plenty of swings and misses, but Bukauskas missed his spots by a wide margin as often as he hit them. When it was placed at the knees, it was pretty much untouchable. However, he threw it in the dirt numerous times, missed wide, missed in, missed everywhere but up, often falling behind in counts and allowing runners to advance on wild pitches. Fortunately, he rarely missed up, which is the only time his slider actually flattened out and became hittable. Still, Hokie hitters were able to sit on his fastball, knowing that his slider would probably miss or even if it didn't, it was un-hittable and therefore not worth swinging at. By sitting on his fastball, they were able to square it up more than you'd expect, with senior shortstop Ryan Tufts blasting a 94 MPH offering over the left field stands and redshirt junior right fielder Tom Stoffel knocking a pair of doubles. I guess it would be important to note that Virginia Tech's baseball field is more than 2000 feet above sea level, but that is still nowhere near Coors Field in terms of altitude. I actually saw Bukauskas throw his changeup a couple of times while warming up between innings, and it looked pretty good, but I was surprised not to see him use it during the game, especially with his slider being all over the place. He obviously needs to build up his confidence in the pitch before it becomes a workable major league pitch.
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