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Boone Logan is an anomaly

I'm Boone Logan, bitch!LOOGYN™
When I heard the White Sox brought a kid up from minor league camp to get a look against the big boys, I wrote it off as the customary fellating of a prospect that you see in spring training. When they started talking about him throwing the best of any of the LOOGY candidates, with a possibility to make the big club, I thought he they were just blowing smoke. After seeing him pitch for 1.2 innings, using a hair over 10 pitches, I finally started believing the hype.

Obviously 1.2 innings, using very few pitches, is a poor sample size, but Logan made me at least have to believe what I've heard from the Sox coaching staff so far this spring. He throws strikes and has hitters off balance.

Logan features what I would describe as a 7/8ths delivery. He doesn't have the long whip-like motion that you see from most side-armers, but he's not your typical 3/4ers delivery either. He starts with the ball held high, almost like Keith Foulke, and continues the first part of his motion in compact fashion. The second half of his delivery is reminiscent of most side-armers. The notable exception is you often see side-armers 'get on the side' of their pitches. Logan has a visible wrist-cock that allows him to stay on top of the ball, theoretically giving his pitches more movement.

That theory appeared to be proved on Wednesday, as he induced 6 groundballs in the 6 batters he faced.

It's hard to give a full scouting report on all of his pitches, considering I've seen him throw maybe 12 of them, but I'll give it a try.

  • Fastball -- 87-90 MPH with late sinking movement
  • Slider -- Around 80. He only threw one, inducing a weak ground ball
  • Curveball -- 73-77 MPH. Hawk described it as nasty. I'll reserve judgement as I saw only two of them.
He threw nothing-but-strikes in his outing today, and didn't strike anyone out. That could prove to be a problem in the LOOGY role. I'd prefer to have a guy who missed a lot of bats. But right now, I'll take Logan over the inconsistency that has plagued the other LOOGY candidates.