Blayne Enlow - 2017

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Blayne Enlow
6'4
182lb
RHP

 

 

18 year old Blayne Enlow was considered a tough sign away from his college commitment to LSU as he's a Louisana boy and a huge fan of the university's athletic program.  Even with that said the Twins were able to wriggle him away from college with a 2 million signing bonus in the third round.  To put it in perspective, Enlow's  76th overall slot was valued at 775K while the 2 million he signed for was valued at 33rd overall slot.

The tall lanky righty who appears to be all arms and legs on the mound signed on the 22nd of June yet didn't appear in a professional game until the 19th of July as he was rebuilding arm strength due to the layoff he had from his high school season.

 

He had a very impressive 2017 regular season line yet never threw more than 70 pitches and 4 1/3 innings in an outing.

 

3-0 , 6 G/1GS, 20 1/3 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 19 K, 1.33 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, .141 BAA, 1.77 BB/9, 8.41 K/9
 

He was impressive to the point where he was entrusted with the GCL Twins playoff game vs the GCL Nationals.  The Cajun Heat was splendid through 5 innings giving up 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and striking out 6 before being trotted back out there to start the 6th inning.  Enlow subsequently gave up a bunt single, balked, a run scoring triple and then a run scoring double before being removed.

 

During the GCL season, Blayne's fastball showed to be a plus pitch sitting 94-95 mph regularly with great life that runs in on the hands of right handed hitters.  When he wants he can rearback and get a few more ticks on his fastball as I've seen him max at 97 mph. Still his already above average control over his heater was what really sets him apart.

 

In addition to his fastball, Blayne features a wicked 84-86 mph slider with hard sharp bite getting as much break vertically as it does horizontally.  Characteristically it looks very similar to a hard curveball aka a slurve but he showed me the grip and it's a slider.  His other secondary pitch is a changeup but it's still in it's infantile state as he didn't need much of it as a prep pitcher.  Nevertheless, Enlow shows a great ability to let the ball tumble out of his hand and releases the 88-89 mph pitch out of the same arm slot as his fastball creating even more deception.

After the GCL season, Enlow was slated to throw in Instuctional ball but it was canceled. Look for Enlow to add some pounds this offseason with further conditioning and muscle building.  Depending how aggressive the front office is he'll have an outside chance to start the 2018 season in Cedar Rapids.

 

Bob's Grades for Blayne Enlow

 

Fastball  50/65
Slider  45/65
Changeup  40/50
Command  45/60

Overall   45/60

[nytwinsfan]

I think this guy has as much upside as anyone in the system not named Royce Lewis and don't understand why he isn't considered by many the Twins #6 or #7 prospect. He was ranked by almost everyone as a top 30 pick. Yes his velocity dipped slightly by the end of the year of HS, but he looked great for the Twins. I think I heard Keith Law had him #14 a few weeks before the draft.

[Jpete]

Thanks Bob, great write up of someone I am excited about. Certainly feels like one of the higher upside Twins pitchers in rookie league ball.