Noah Schultz

It is difficult to get much more exciting than the tall and lanky, 6-foot-9, 225-pound lefthander. That’s just what Schultz is, and he has that size plus impressive stuff, with a fastball that’s touched 98 mph this spring after mostly settling in the low 90s last summer on the showcase circuit. While Schultz flashed bigtime stuff this spring, he was also not seen frequently, after missing much of the spring season with mono. He draws Chris Sale and Randy Johnson body comps, but unlike your typical tall pitcher who will rely on a longer arm swing for leverage, Schultz has a shorter take back and hides the ball extremely well before releasing from a low, three-quarter slot, adding even more deception to an already tough look for the hitter. While Schultz has impressive body control for his size, he’ll need to fine tune his fastball command as he can be scattered in the zone at times. Schultz has a lot of confidence in his 80-83 mph sweeping slider that can surpass the 3,000 rpm mark. Scouts are impressed with how he dictates the movement and shape depending on the count, adding sweep for the punchout. Capping off his repertoire is an 81-83 mph changeup, thrown mostly to righthanded hitters. Schultz has huge upside, but is expected to be a tough sign out of a Vanderbilt commitment.