Indians Top 100 Prospects: #41 Joey Mahalic

41. Joey Mahalic - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 11/28/1988 - Height: 6'3" - Weight: 205 - 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	18	GCL Indians	R	2	0	4.88	7	4	0	24.0	28	13	0	7	21	2.6	7.9	1.46
2008	19	Lake County	A	7	6	4.19	20	18	0	101.0	103	47	9	31	73	2.8	6.5	1.33
		Career		9	6	4.32	27	22	0	125.0	131	60	9	38	94	2.7	6.8	1.35

History:  Mahalic was a 32nd round pick in the 2007 Draft out of Wilson High School (OR).  He was the 2007 High School Player of the Year in Oregon, and is a former two sport athlete in high school where he also was the star quarterback on the football team.  Football was and still is his first love.  He is a player that Indians Scouting Director John Mirabelli dubbed as their biggest sleeper after the 2007 Draft. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Mahalic throws a sinking fastball that has shown much improved velocity over the last year and a half and now consistently sits around 90-91 MPH and tops out as high as 94 MPH.  He has a nice loose arm with good arm strength, and his sinker ball has good late movement.  He also has a slider and a changeup, with his slider being his best pitch.  He has a durable body and is young and still filling out.  He has athletic and competitive bloodlines as his father played linebacker at Notre Dame and for five seasons in the NFL, and his mother was a college athlete. 

Things started off slowly for Mahalic last year as when full season teams started play in early April he was left behind in extended spring training to continue developing a routine and growing as a pitcher.  When right-hander Santo Frias went on the disabled list with an injury in late April at Single-A Lake County, it opened the door for him to get a shot in the Captains rotation and after a few shaky outings at first, he was arguably Lake County's most consistent starter the second half of the season going 4-4 with a 3.63 ERA in 13 starts after the All Star break. 

At Lake County, Mahalic continued working on his routine and developing his changeup as a third pitch.  He showed strides in the development of the changeup by improving his mechanics and staying on top and not pulling off with his shoulder.  The Indians worked a lot with him during the season making sure that he stays on top of his sinker with consistency as he has a tendency to get under pitches and when he does his ball sails from side to side.  When he stays on top of his pitches he is able to sink it with a downhill angle and get a lot of groundballs, which is what they want to see out of him.  Going forward he needs to continue working on pounding the lower part of the strike zone with his sinker and developing his changeup. 

Outlook:  Mahalic is a promising arm and part of what looks like the next wave of good young pitching in the lower levels of the Indians system.  He should open the 2009 season in the advanced Single-A Kinston starting rotation. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Joey Mahalic MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Joey Mahalic Baseball-Reference page 

Joey Mahalic MinorLeagueSplits.com page

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