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Jose Campos

Jose Campos – Mechanics Breakdown

Jose Vicente (Carnota) Campos

Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6′ 4″, Weight: 195 lb.

Born: July 27, 1992 in La Guaira, VE (Age 19)

Minor League Service Time: 2 years

Jose Campos

The Seattle Mariners traded Jose along with Michael Pineda last week to the New Yankees for Hector Noesi and Jesus Montero.  I’ve previously written scouting reports and mini mechanical breakdowns of Montero, Noesi, and Pineda. Now it’s time to take a good look at Campos…the only weak link in the chain.

Even though he is only 19 years old, I’ve spotted four major flaws in his delivery that will be extremely difficult to repair and/or overcome to become an innings eating starting pitcher for the New York Yankees in the future. These mechanical flaws will cause Jose to have major shoulder issues in the future. Due to this factor, I project Jose to be better suited to be a relief pitcher rather than a starter. The length of his career as a reliever will be dependent on the number of his game appearances in a season, the number of pitches he throws in an appearance, and the number of times he appears in relief in a series which will be very limited due to the extra recovery time he’ll need due to shoulder trauma.

A closer look at the mechanical problems:

He does not achieve maximum leg drive and begins his turn & arm action early.

His stride foot lands flat (sometimes on his heel) and fairly consistently open- negating his hip rotation.

His follow through is high -negating leverage especially on breaking pitches, but also affecting control accuracy and also, decreasing hip rotation even more.

His deceleration on his follow through-which is somewhat violent.

In short, I don’t see the easy motion some say he pitches with. Instead, I see someone who is throwing mostly with their arm, and will have a shortened career due to shoulder injuries from poor mechanics. I’ll let you be the judge on how this factors into the trade.

  1. Mechanics issues… yep.  

    He is only 19 and appears to be learning fast.  He came in as just a hard thrower and progressed well in Everett.This kid has a lot of upside.  He is tall, 6’4 and around 200 lbs.  Throws a lower 90’s fastball, can go higher.  It is heavy and a little deceptive. He locates it well.Throws what looks like an okay slider, in the lower to mid 80’s.  This should develop well.He throws a 12-6 curve that needs work.  Looked like he had location issues with it and batters really never swing at it.One thing he really has is the confidence that you don’t see in a lot of guys his age.  Really solid presence and doesn’t get rattled.Give him a few years and I think folks will be very happy with the result if he continues to listen and develop like he did in Everett.   Mariners fans not thrilled to give him up, but one thing the Mariners have is pitching depth.

  2. some scouts will you it’s almost impossible to change hand and/or feet bad habits. more power to the Yankees player development people. I’m all for his improvement and overcoming some tough obstacles.

  3. In a couple of years when
    scar tissue builds up on his rotator cuff and he starts losing velocity,
    with his height advantage, he’ll still have plenty of movement on his
    fastball.

  4. Big question is can the Yankees’ player development people have more success than the Mariners with Jose. There are several factors to consider how fast a player can learn or fine tune a skill. Two of the factors when dealing with muscle memory are the number of reps and where the athlete falls on the bell curve, i.e., the smarter the athlete the faster he develops that skill. If he falls way left on the bell curve, the opposite occurs. It could take up to 16 weeks if that’s the case to develop one skill.

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