Friday, July 13, 2012

Player Profile: Tyler Skulina

     Tyler Skulina is a 6’6” 225lb. Sophomore from Kent State University. While a lot of college baseball fans remember the outstanding run Kent State had in the NCAA Tournament, few recognize the Golden Flashes for their outstanding regular season. KSU won 32 of their last 39 games, and including 21 of their last 23. Skulina was vital in is team’s amazing success. Among MAC pitchers, Tyler led the conference with 11 wins and 17 games started, plus ranked 3rd with 97 strikeouts. He paced his team with a .786 winning percentage and 36 strikeouts looking (over a third of his overall total).
    Tyler Skulina is another tall, big-bodied right-hander. In fact, between Jeff Thompson, Josh Dezse, Hawtin Buchanan, Patrick Young, Jon Keller, and Chris Matulis, I think it is safe to say Bourne has the biggest (size-wise) staff on the Cape. As for Tyler, he features an arsenal of pitches. His fastball hit anywhere from 90-93 on the radar gun, his curve was 69-70, his slider sat around 80, and change-up around 76. When Skulina gets ahead in the count he likes to compliment his throw-me over curve, with an explosive slider. In fact, I wrote down in my notebook that his slider is filthy (7/4) and then last night I described it as nasty. After having seen it more frequently in his second start, I think this pitch could contend with a select few pitches as one of the best I have seen on the cape this summer. As for mechanics, Tyler features a huge leg kick. That massive leg kick allows him to generate great push and extension to the plate (slow motion side view). He gets excellent arm extension to the plate, and that is important for a tall, long-armed, right-hander. He stands tall throughout his delivery. A scout at the game described this as a “North-South delivery”, and explained how this is their organization’s preferred way of throwing. His pitches come to the plate with a great downward plane. One adjustment I would like to make with Tyler, is he was between 1.58-1.72 to the plate with runners on-base. I feel like a pitcher with a 1.8+ WHIP needs to be more conscientious of the baserunners. However, I think with Tyler’s mechanics, and repertoire, his WHIP will plummet by season’s end. As for the 2013 draft, I would be surprised if he fell lower than the 3rd round, with a current ceiling the 2nd.

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