Left-handers whose fastballs routinely hit 100 mph don't come around often, so it was only natural for Orioles prospect Tanner Scott's star to rise this offseason. How could it not?
Try as he did to ignore it, it was only once Scott stopped trying to pitch like a high-ceiling prospect on the fast track to a major league bullpen that he began to resemble one again.
"Especially going out to the [Arizona] Fall League, doing well, people started to notice that I'm a hard-throwing lefty," Scott said. "This offseason, I was getting more attention and I'm like, 'Uh-oh.' Then spring: 'Oh Crap.' Then I'm starting in Frederick. I better be lights out, perfect.
"But if you're thinking that, you're not going to be perfect. You're not going to be what you want. But if I just put that aside and just go out there and do what I'm capable of. I'm capable of doing a lot better than I started. A lot better than I started."
Since that rough start, Scott has been as close to perfect as someone as raw as him can be for the High-A Frederick Keys.
In his last 23 2/3 innings (12 appearances), Scott has allowed just seven hits and one earned run, striking out 39 batters with 14 walks. It's brought down an ERA that ballooned as Scott dealt with the pressure of trying to pitch like one of the most intriguing prospects in the Orioles' system. He entered May with a 12.79 ERA and more walks (15) than strikeouts (12), but now has a 3.92 ERA on the season.
"Sometimes, guys put pressure on themselves," Keys pitching coach Kennie Steenstra said. "There was a lot of things written about him, a lot of things said about him obviously during the spring. Guys tend to put pressure on themselves a little bit, and he was kind of overthinking things early on."
The hype that weighed him down, however, appears to be justified. He struck out 60 batters in 42 1/3 innings over two levels last season, went to the prospect-laden Arizona Fall League and struck out 10 in nine innings while allowing just two runs. The Orioles' coaching staff talked him up at the team's minor league pitching minicamp in January, and he pitched in four major league spring training games for the Orioles this year.
In one, he struck out the side on nine pitches. Manager Buck Showalter almost didn't want to talk about him after games, as if someone like Scott could be a secret.
All of that weighed on him, but it's now in the past. As the trade deadline approaches, Scott may well be one of the Orioles' most valuable assets, if they decide to move him.
"He's really settled in, and I'm not worried about him at all," Steenstra said. "We weren't worried about him even back in April. Everybody goes through some learning pains, some growing pains, and he's in a really good place right now."
There's more to his improvement than just the mental side. Both before and since the Orioles drafted him in the sixth round out of Howard College (Texas), his mechanics have been broken down and rebuilt. The Howard coaches smoothed him out some, then the Orioles' pitching program, under director of pitching development Rick Peterson, worked on making Scott's delivery safe, smooth, and repeatable.
Even last fall in Arizona, Scott's mechanics wavered. He's athletic and uses his lower half well, but his front side opened up too often at times and his arm slot got erratic as a result.
His most recent adjustment, which came around the time of a disastrous seven-run appearance near the end of April, wasn't a total overhaul.
"At the beginning of the year, my hands started down at my waist, and I'd move them up and then down when I broke," Scott said. "I'd be behind the ball and it'd be causing me to miss everywhere. Now that I'm starting with my hands higher — instead of moving them constantly, they're always in one spot. Once I got it, it's easier to get to that same spot every time."
Scott cited the video influence of Orioles closer Zach Britton — who also has gone from a starter with low hands at the outset of his delivery to someone whose arm slot was made more consistent when he raised them. The impact was immediate. Gone are the four-pitch walks and erratic control of the early part of the season.
The results have improved since. He gave up just one hit in 14 May innings, and has been just as good in June. There are some days when he's got strikeout stuff — he fanned all six batters he faced on June 15 at Myrtle Beach. Others, like when he retired seven of eight on 27 pitches Saturday, are more contact-oriented days.
Some of the recent results have also come as he's mixed back in his changeup, which Scott notes is a pitch "no one thinks I have." He smirks when saying he's thrown four in his last two outings, and says he's completely confident throwing his slider in all counts now, too.
Steenstra said Scott might not throw the slider more than five times in a typical outing. With a fastball that sits in the high-90s, Scott has been able to cruise at times on just that. But Scott and Steenstra know that's the next step for Scott, to move forward.
"I don't think anything's ever a last step, but it's definitely something we've been working on," Steenstra said. "It's a point of emphasis right now to integrate that into the game a bit more and maybe utilize it in counts when he'd normally not throw it or to hitters he might not throw it to. We're going to utilize it a little bit more now. He's very comfortable in what he's doing, and it should be a pretty easy process."
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