The San Francisco Giants used their supplemental first round draft pick in 2011 on a big, strong, right-handed pitcher named Kyle Crick. Crick, drafted from a high-school in Texas, was immediately compared to Matt Cain for more reasons than where he was selected from.
His 6-4, 220-pound frame suggests he can be a workhorse for the team in the future. Although he is still very raw as a pitcher, his potential is through the roof. At just 20 years old, his fastball has been clocked as high as 99 mph.
Crick's first full season in 2012 resulted in a 7-6 record with a sparkling 2.51 era. His command can be spotty at times, which resulted in 67 walks and 12 hit batsmen. However his ability to get strike outs has been apparent throughout the organization, punching out 128 batters in just 111.1 innings.
Before 2012, Crick was ranked as the club's eighth best prospect. After his performance, Baseball America and Minor League Ball both rank him as number one, as well as earning a spot on MLB's top-100 prospect list.
The scouting report on him by Baseball Prospect Nation reads:
Great frame and potential for plus-plus FB that can miss bats on its own. Shows willingness to throw secondary pitches but all of them need work. Given inexperience, may benefit from narrowing arsenal for a while and focusing on FB, CB and CH. Has ingredients to be a number two starter but is a long way away from reaching that potential. Boom or bust type that could have any number of things go wrong at this early stage. Hard worker and excellent competitor. Steady improvement could land him in the middle of a rotation while he tantalizes with raw stuff that you believe should have better results. A perfect world scenario sees him topping out as a strong number two with strikeout stuff.
Although he has a high level of risk given his young age, raw tools and that he was only at Low-A, Crick has shown the potential to be a starter in San Francisco for a very long time.
Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area put him on his list of five player to watch in spring, adding:
Kyle Crick is still far away from being a major league mainstay, but he could be next in the Giants line of home grown stars on the mound.
He will surely command a lot of attention with every appearance he makes in spring as well as with High-A San Jose in 2013.
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