Lucas Sims’ prospects for making it to the Major Leagues as Atlanta Braves sign him - MLB Feature
A new youngster joins the Atlanta Braves. The local boy with fair amount of talent is set to live a new journey. Lucas Sims relishes the moments as the Braves sign him right after picking him in first round of the 2012 Major League Draft.
More than finding a time to evaluate his credentials and how well he can fit to the new culture, the idea of being announced with the Braves has not yet escaped his mind. A kind of disbelieving attitude overwhelms his feelings and joy looms large in his
heart.
It will take some time before Sims can sit back and think like a professional baseball player that he has become now, by all means. Before he does this, one can perform the job on his behalf, just to add one’s own view as to where exactly he can land in
the future.
Whenever a player is signed, tons of arguments are formulated to justify the decision. As soon as Sims became the Braves’ first round pick, right from General Manager to the manager and all the scouting staff, flurry of explanations surfaced, eulogising
the pick and trying to give an impression that the club have bagged the best they can ever think of.
Intensity with which Sims’ credentials were advertised can easily leave many areas unexplained, leading to erroneous perceptions by a general fan. Can Sims reach the Majors within few years? Does he have the command and mechanics essential to survive at
such a big level?
Unless one digs deeper into the kind of pitches he can throw, appropriate answer cannot be given.
Indeed, Sims spearheaded his school in taking them to the State Championship game. He actually posted tremendous ERA and was unparalleled to his peers on many areas.
Yet, the great performance cannot hide the issues with his fastball. His ability to clock 97 mph is undermined by his inability to throw change-ups.
For a starter, change-ups are like oxygen for existence. As, the opposite comes at the cost of being too predictable, which in almost all occasions results in demotion to reliever job and thus extinction of the actual role.
While one can expect that the time he is going to spend in the Minors can fix him, an issue that disallows one to oversimplify the matter screams for attention and that is his mechanics.
They suffer a fundamental problem: he cannot repeat the same pitches without rendering deviation on them and making them vastly different every time. He also struggles to make the same level of co-ordination of the body, while he pitches.
For some players, it does not take much time to overcome such issues, but for others, they can be the real undoing to an extent of putting their whole career at stake. Both, your body and level of practice, determine how long it can take. In some cases,
chemistry of the body never gels together and that makes problem of mechanics perennial.
One will hope Sims gets over it at the earliest and lives up to his credentials. For this, rigorous training will be needed.
Furthermore, he will be looking to understand the importance of widening the repertoire. Having perfection in one throw and mediocrity in other areas can never guarantee a long-term career in the Majors. Developing new throws and bringing dynamism in varieties
are the only means for survival.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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