Sean
Hjelle

3/28/18 - 6’11/225, Junior- 6-foot-11 is not a misprint. Hjelle is real tall, long bodied and long limbed. He’s also surprisingly athletic and repeats his online delivery, leveraging the ball from a H slot with a loose arm swing and good arm speed. He overcomes fair deception by combining a release height of 6-foot-9 with an extension of 6-foot-10. A higher release height increases the degree of downplane/angle a pitch has while traveling to the plate, making it more difficult for the hitter to square up. Extension is how close a pitcher's release point is to home plate. The closer to home plate the better, as extension increases perceived velocity. Hjelle’s combination of release height and extension put him into elite ML company with the likes of Andrew Miller, Stephen Strasburg and Kenley Jansen, all of whom have a 7-foot-plus extension. Hjelle’s two-seam fastball sat 91-93 mph with an 1825-2000 rpm spin rate. It peaked at 94 early in the game, showing tail and sink, in addition to the steep downplane. His knuckle curveball flashed plus at 80-83 mph while throwing it to both sides of the plate. Also showed a 85-87 mph slider and a 83-86 mph power changeup with a 1450-1600 rpm spin rate. He threw the change-up to both right and left-handed hitters. His arsenal produced ten groundouts, seven strikeouts (four via fastball) and two flyouts over the course of 6.1 innings and 94 pitches. There are not many examples of near 7-foot pitchers in the history of MLB making Hjelle an even more interesting draft prospect. Teams are more comfortable selecting players with many past MLB comparables, such as a standard bodied 6’3/210 starting pitcher. The best comparison to Hjelle is probably former Kansas City Royal starting pitcher 6-foot-10 Chris Young. Others include 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson and 6-foot-11 reliever Jon Rauch, also a state of Kentuckycollegian (Morehead State). Regardless of his body type, with a three-pitch arsenal, plus control and high level performance in the SEC, Hjelle profiles as a mid-rotation starter and likely first round pick.