Draft Spotlight: RHP Joe Ammirato
May 31, 2018
Bellarmine College Prep boasts a host of very distinguished baseball alumni, including Pat Burrell and present day Athletics outfielder/1st baseman Mark Canha. Count me among the believers that right-hander Joe Ammirato will someday become one of those distinguished almuni. Bellarmine had a strong year as they won the Boras Classic North then won the Boras California "State Title" a few weeks later. They had strong season in the powerful West Coast Athletic League, with a deep and talented staff of senior pitchers. Ammirato, a Cal-Berekely signee, was leaned on as heavily as any of his teammates in what was a very good season for the Bells.
Ammirato is a 6-foot-3 185-pound pitcher with a frame that will fill out in the coming years. He has wide shoulders and lanky proportions that lend to very nice physical projectability. The video will illustrate the delivery, which would appear to be a hybrid of Tim Lincecum mixed with a little Trevor Bauer. In any case on a cool (in the 40s) day in late February, vs eventual NCS D1 champion De La Salle (on the road), Ammirato went out and dominated a talented team in three innings, getting his fastball up to 92 mph.
If you just take the stuff alone and don't assess the delivery, his quick arm and good velocity, combined with good angle and the ability to change eye levels, you'd certainly expect him to be a hot commodity among the MLB scouts. However, the scouting industry is quite conservative, and with his herky jerky delivery and really slow curveball, scouts did peak in on him, but not like the pure stuff and body type would suggest.
Cal will be plenty happy to receive the right-hander if the draft does not offer him the right opportunity. There is a deep and talented class headed to Berkeley in the fall and Ammirato's stuff and tenacity on the mound take a back seat to none of his incoming classmates. When the season was over, Ammirato had posted a 7-1 record with a 2.30 ERA in 9 starts and 11 overall appearances. He threw 45.2 innings, struck out 52, walked 21 and gave up 34 hits.
Let’s take a closer look at Joe Ammirato.
