Indians Top 100 Prospects: #60 Randy Newsom

60. Randy Newsom - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 05/06/1982 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 200 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2004	22	GCL Red Sox	R	2	2	2.81	18	0	4	32.0	32	10	0	9	25	2.5	7.0	1.28
2005	23	Lowell	A-	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	2.2	1	0	0	2	4	6.8	13.5	1.13
	23	Greenville	A	1	0	5.06	15	0	1	37.1	39	21	2	15	20	3.6	4.8	1.45
	23	Wilmington	A+	0	1	0.00	2	0	1	2.2	0	0	0	2	2	6.8	6.8	0.75
2006	24	Greenville	A	1	0	0.00	1	0	0	4.0	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.50
	24	Wilmington	A+	1	1	3.92	19	0	1	43.2	42	19	0	19	27	3.9	5.6	1.40
	24	Lake County	A	0	0	2.25	3	0	0	4.0	6	1	0	0	3	0.0	6.8	1.50
	24	Kinston	A+	2	2	2.61	16	0	1	20.2	23	6	1	7	17	3.0	7.4	1.45
2007	25	Kinston	A+	0	1	1.50	11	0	0	12.0	11	2	1	1	9	0.8	6.8	1.00
	25	Akron	AA	4	1	3.12	46	0	18	49.0	52	17	3	17	22	3.1	4.0	1.41
2008	26	Akron	AA	5	1	3.00	47	0	29	45.0	43	15	2	29	28	5.8	5.6	1.60
	26	Buffalo	AAA	0	1	1.86	9	0	1	9.2	9	2	0	6	6	5.6	5.6	1.55
		Career		16	10	3.19	188	0	56	262.2	260	93	9	107	163	3.7	5.6	1.40

History:  The Indians received Newsom in July of 2006 as the player to be named later in the Coco Crisp trade from earlier that year in January.  Newsom originally signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Tufts University (MA) with the Boston Red Sox in June of 2004.  He turned out to be an important acquisition in 2006 for the Indians, as he was the Mills Cup Finals MVP that year for Kinston in the Carolina League Championship Series. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Newsom is a side-arm/submarine-style pitcher who is a command-control guy.  He does not have a blazing fastball, wipeout slider, or a knee-buckling curveball, but he is extremely intelligent, has moxie, commands his pitches well, goes right after hitters, and his makeup is off the charts.  He does not throw very hard as his fastball sits in the 82-85 MPH range, but this is more by design as he can actually throw harder but the lower velocity allows him to sink the ball more and keep it from flattening out.  He complements his fastball with a changeup, slider, and a four-seam fastball.  He has a lot of confidence in his changeup, and his slider is coming around.  He is a very hard worker, a very likable guy, and is a great teammate. 

Newsom's pitches get so much sink and work in on right-handers hands that opposing hitters pound the ball into the ground (4.11 G/F ratio in 2006, 3.05 in 2007, and 3.34 in 2008).  He also has not been hurt by the home run ball, giving up only nine in 263 career innings pitched.  He has mostly been used in a late inning role the last two years at Double-A Akron and handled the late innings well, serving mostly as the closer where he now is the franchise leader in career saves with 47 after shattering the record of 24 formerly held by Mike Soper.  The Indians feel he has been very effective against right-handed hitters, but the biggest test for him will be consistently getting left-handed hitters out.  There are not many right-handed specialists in the big leagues, and with one in Joe Smith already on the Indians major league roster it will make it hard for Newsom to get a chance with the Indians.  He also needs to be more consistent and show he can continue to pitch in pressure situations. His slider still needs work and he has to become more confident in using it. 

Outlook:  Newsom knows his submarine style is his ticket to the big leagues and he is now a legit relief pitching prospect in the Indians organization.  If you love pitchers who work quick, pitch to contact and get a lot of groundball outs, then you'll love Newsom.  He should open the 2009 season in the Triple-A Columbus bullpen and could make his big league debut sometime in 2009. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Randy Newsom MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Randy Newsom Baseball-Reference page 

Randy Newsom MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

Randy Newsom video: 

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