2020 LHP Hunter Furtado Trackman Bullpen Breakdown

Hunter Furtado is a 6-foot-5 left-handed arm front The King’s Academy in Lake Worth, FL who has been on the rise in scout's eyes. We had the pleasure to sit in on a 30 pitch bullpen and are here to break down some of the major takeaways. 

First, some background information: Furtado has made some major jumps in velocity over the last year. Going from low to mid 80s, to an average fastball velocity of 88 mph, and now up to 91 mph. He has a very long, lean, lanky frame that is extremely projectable. This, coupled with the fact he will be only 17 at draft time, could ultimately make him an intriguing draft candidate for many MLB clubs.

By the numbers:

His fastball is unique in a couple of ways. He has a very high release side, average of just 7 inches, or in other word: nearly over the top for a left hander. This slot, in part due to its rarity, helped to produce very high ground ball rates and low average and slugging percentages when looking at MLB averages. It also pairs well with his lower spin rate of 1888 RPM, on average, which also produced a high rate of ground balls (based on MLB averages). 

What is interesting though is that he also showed an average included vertical break of 17 inches and average horizontal movement of -2.8 inches. This plays to extreme ride and very low cut, which produced high swinging strike percentages.

Combining the unique slot and late life to the fastball likely provides for many of the swings and misses that Furtado is able to get. So not only can he work down in the zone currently, as he adds strength he should see some significant velocity increase, which may allow him to get away with even more mistakes. 

You can see in the arm action and life on the pitch in the pen. It rides hard and late through the zone, especially when down. He has a lot of upside and the unique angle coupled with upside in the frame, quick arm and late life puts numbers to the high potential of Furtado.

In the session he threw a handful of curveballs and changeups. The curveball looks both by the eyes and numbers to eventually be more of a solid average slider, while the changeup shows above average potential. 

Overall, you can see the huge upside in Furtado as he walks in the park. The arm action and quickness reaffirms those thoughts, then the numbers continue to show a high level of intrigue in the young left-hander. 

In a normal year, he could be a big spring helium guy and have a chance to sign. With only five rounds, it is anyone's guess, but you can definitely make the argument he could see his name called. If not, Wake Forest will definitely get a high ceiling left-hander with a lot of potential and someone to watch develop the next few years.