Detroit Tigers: A look at 2017 first-round pick Alex Faedo

The Detroit Tigers have the 18th overall pick and the 57th overall pick on the first day of the MLB Draft. Here’s a look at the team’s first-round pick, starting pitcher Alex Faedo.

Detroit Tigers front office has a history of liking pitchers in early rounds in most years.

Round Number One

With the 18th-overall pick, Detroit selected Alex Faedo out of the University of Florida. The team scooped up the number 10 overall player in the entire draft according to Baseball America.

Faedo is a 21-year-old, right-handed pitcher who stands 6’5″ and weighs 225 pounds.

The coincidental part of this pick is that Faedo was selected by the Detroit Tigers out of high school in the 40th round of the 2014 draft, but elected to go to college.

Mechanical Breakdown

Anyone who has read my writing before knows I can get very nitpicky with mechanics, but for a pitcher it is important to have solid and repeatable mechanics.

It is hard to poke holes in a first round draft pick. In fact, there are not too many holes to poke with this pick. Mechanically speaking, Faedo is very advanced.

His best attribute is his ability to hide the ball during delivery. This is due to the quirky delivery style.

The best way to describe his deliver is to say he will tilt the front of his body up, then pulling it down. The pull down is the key for him to get over his front knee. Think about him throwing over his front shoulder.

Here is where he needs work. He has what is known as loud hands. This means when he reaches his balance point, the hands are not still, they are still moving upward.

This is not a huge issue, but it leads to one of two things. An inconsistent arm path or an arm path that is not fluid. Both are not huge issues.

In the case of Faedo, at times he has a non-fluid arm path.

The Stuff

For a more in depth breakdown of his pitches, you can look on MLB Pipeline. That site has Faedo as the number 11 player in the draft.

Pipeline pegs him as a three-pitch pitcher featuring a fastball, slider, and changeup. His best pitch being the breaker.

There is room for improvement everywhere, but then again he is a draftee.

His fastball will generally sit around 93, but it can get up to 95. Coming from the right side, plus his ability to hide the ball will help him be successful.

MLB Pipeline final grades on him are as follows: Fastball: 60, Slider: 65, Changeup: 50, Control: 50, Overall: 55

My Grades

I see Faedo progressing through the farm system fairly quickly. He has very mature mechanics and he already features a solid breaking pitch.

He should be up within the next two years as a bullpen arm, but he will transition to be the number three pitcher after Michael Fulmer and Daniel Norris shortly after that.

Personally, I do not see the talent rising past a number two or three arm in a rotation.

Next: Previous 18th Overall Picks

Overall this was a great pick for the Detroit Tigers. Faedo will blossom quickly into a solid Major League arm.

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