Indians Top 100 Prospects: #38 Mike Pontius

38. Mike Pontius - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 10/26/1987 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 235 - 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
2007	19	GCL Indians	R	0	0	2.89	7	0	2	9.1	11	3	1	1	13	1.0	12.5	1.29
	19	Lake County	A	0	3	5.84	13	0	0	24.2	22	16	3	12	27	4.4	9.9	1.38
2008	20	Lake County	A	1	1	0.82	16	0	2	33.0	16	3	0	15	39	4.1	10.6	0.94
	20	Kinston	A+	4	1	6.26	25	0	0	41.2	42	29	4	39	42	8.4	9.1	1.94
		Career		5	5	4.22	61	0	4	108.2	91	51	8	67	121	5.6	10.1	1.46

History:  Pontius was a 43rd round pick by the Indians in the 2006 Draft out of Wentzville Holt High School (MO).  Pontius signed in August of 2006 and did not make his professional debut until halfway through the 2007 season.  Before signing with the Indians, he was set to go to college at Division-II Central Missouri State.  He was a football player in high school who decided his senior year he wanted to commit to playing baseball and has made an unbelievable transition to professional baseball. 

Strengths & Opportunities: Pontius is a strongly built kid and is armed with power stuff and a no fear mentality that projects him as a late-inning reliever - possibly a closer - down the road.  He has plus-plus arm strength with a blazing plus-plus fastball that consistently clocks in at 94-96 MPH and tops out at 97 MPH.  He has some natural cutting action and movement on his fastball even though he is not a three-quarter angle guy.  His fastball is part of a three-pitch mix where he also throws a curveball and changeup.  His knee-buckling projectable curveball is a plus-plus pitch with some good depth and bite to it.  The curveball has a sharp 11-5 break and is a swing-and-miss out pitch at the major league level.  The development of his straight changeup has been slow since he has used it sparingly and because he has spent a lot of time focusing on his fastball command.  It is a pitch that is clearly still a work in progress, and one that has gotten a lot of attention in the offseason and will continue to get attention in spring training. 

A big reason for Pontius' breakthrough last year is due to the hard work he put in last offseason by shedding about 35-40 pounds off his draft weight of 275 to a more slimmed down 240 pounds.  He has the mental skills and tools for a major league setup role, and the football mentality plays into it.  One scout compared him to a John Wetteland type where he might end up being a closer.  His delivery is compact and he pitches at an over-the-top angle so he leverages down on hitters well and creates a good angle.  He does a good job reading bats, and when he sees the hitter scuffling he goes right after that weakness.  He is able to apply instruction well and is very coachable. 

The Indians were very high on Pontius going into the season after his work in Instructional League in 2007, and he showed it early in the season last year at Single-A Lake County where through his first nine appearances he was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA (21.1 IP, 0 R, 7 H, 6 BB, 29 K).  His dominating start forced the Indians to prematurely push him up a level to advanced Single-A Kinston in early May where the competition in the Carolina League would offer him a better challenge, but upon arriving in Kinston the wheels fell off.  He was over-excited and too amped up and struggled as a result.  The loss of his command was his undoing (39 BB, 41.2 IP), and was eventually re-assigned to Lake County in the middle of August. 

Pontius is only 20-years old, so the struggles he endured at Kinston are nothing to worry about at this point especially when you consider he was almost three years younger than the average player in the Carolina League.  At his age and with his talent he is already a lot further along as a reliever than most players. The large increase in walks after his promotion to Kinston is a byproduct of the hitters being more disciplined in the Carolina League, but also the result of Pontius putting too much pressure on himself.  Still, the Indians are continuing to work with him on consistently getting the ball in the zone and tightening up his breaking ball for strikes.  He has had a hard time repeating his delivery, which has given him some issues with his fastball command.  Also, when he loses his composure he tends to start overthrowing and has trouble duplicating his release point which leads to the walks.  He worked a lot with Kinston pitching coach Greg Hibbard on controlling his effort level and emotions on the mound, and also former Lake County pitching coach Ruben Niebla has helped him with his mechanics to get him to throw the ball more down in the zone and downhill.  Going forward, he just needs to pitch and pile up innings to continue working on his fastball command and cleaning up his delivery mechanics. 

Outlook:  Pontius came out of the gates strong last year at Lake County, but fizzled the last four months of the season upon getting a callup to Kinston.  He brings a little bit of that football mentality to the field as he has the intensity, focus and drive the Indians are looking for in a player, and he may have the highest projection of any reliever in the Indians system and is one of the tops arms in the Indians minor league cupboard.  If he can harness his fastball and control it and continue developing his curveball he has the potential to be a dominating backend reliever in the big leagues.  He should open the 2009 season in the bullpen at advanced Single-A Kinston. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Mike Pontius MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Mike Pontius Baseball-Reference page 

Mike Pontius MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

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