Padres Select George Kontos in Rule 5 Draft

Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6′ 3″, Weight: 215

The San Diego Padres selected RHP George Kontos from the New York Yankees and he will be used in the bullpen. The Padres have made some trades in the offseason that depleted the bullpen and Kontos should find a role there. As a Rule 5 draft pick, he would have to stay on the Padres roster for the entire season or be offered back to the Yankees.

Here is a scouting report provided by YankeesDaily.com

Scouting Report:

Strengths:

During the time his fore arm was hurting and he had decreased velocity, it caused him to develop his whole arsenal of pitches. His fastball is now clocked between 88-92 mph whereas before his injury it was clocked at anywhere from 91-96 mph.

Mechanically, he has also improved because he made his delivery more consistent by staying back over the rubber and getting on top of the ball. A consistent delivery allows for more strike throwing.

When he gets ahead in the count, it allows him to have more confidence and go after hitters more. Kontos feels that it’s easier to pitch to wooden bats because he can pitch to the inside of the plate and he didn’t have to nibble like he did in college against the aluminum bats. He pitches inside more and with his arsenal of pitches he can expand the zone.

He has been criticized in the past for his over-reliance on his plus slider but has made solid progress with his curve ball and change up under the tutelage of Thunder pitching coach and former big league lefty Scott Aldred.

He throws his slider at 83-86 mph and it’s his go to pitch he puts away batters with. It has a sharp break and he will throw it at any time in the count. He can now get lefties out with his change up as well and also uses it to set batters up or induce ground balls but it isn’t his best pitch. His sinking two-seam fastball runs in on right-handed batters and away from left-handed batters. He could also strike batters out with his plus curve ball.

He uses a quick tempo on the mound and never gives the batter a chance to collect himself.

Weaknesses:

He’s going to have to prove he still has a power arm. His change up is his weakest link. Had Tommy John Surgery and is rehabbing his way back.

Pitches:

Throws a two-seam and four-seam fastball, a slider, curve ball and change up.

The future:

Kontos could turn into a decent back end of the rotation guy if he could regain some of that lost velocity and if he can continue to develop his change up. If he doesn’t develop his change up, then his plus fastballs and slider should enable him a slot in the bull pen for the big club. He’ll be rehabbing and looking to make it back in May of 2010 where he’ll probably make stops in Tampa, Trenton, Scranton and probably the big show.