2010 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #44 Mitch Talbot

Mitch Talbot - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 10/17/1983 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 200 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	Avg	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2003	19	Martinsville	R	4	4	2.83	12	12	54.0	45	17	1	11	46	.224	1.8	7.67	1.04
2004	20	Lexington	A	10	10	3.83	27	27	152.2	145	65	16	49	115	.252	2.9	6.80	1.27
2005	21	Salem	A+	8	11	4.34	27	27	151.1	169	73	15	46	100	.280	2.7	5.96	1.42
2006	22	Corpus Chr.	AA	6	4	3.39	18	17	90.1	94	34	4	29	96	.269	2.9	9.59	1.37
2006	22	Montgomery	AA	4	3	1.9	10	10	66.1	51	14	2	18	59	.214	2.5	8.03	1.04
2007	23	Durham	AAA	13	9	4.53	29	29	161.0	169	81	13	59	124	.274	3.3	6.93	1.42
2008	24	Durham	AAA	13	9	3.86	28	28	161.0	165	69	9	35	141	.263	2.0	7.88	1.24
2008	24	Tampa Bay	MLB	0	0	11.2	3	1	9.2	16	12	3	11	5	.381	10.8	4.89	2.93
2009	25	Durham	AAA	4	4	4.47	10	10	54.1	67	27	3	18	40	.307	3.0	6.65	1.57
2009	25	GCL Rays	R	0	0	0.82	4	4	11.0	5	1	0	0	21	.132	0.0	17.18	0.45
2009	25	Charlotte	A+	0	0	0	1	1	3.0	1	0	0	0	6	.111	0.0	18.00	0.33
		Minors		62	54	3.79	166	165	905.0	911	381	63	265	748	.262	2.6	7.44	1.30
		MLB		0	0	11.2	3	1	9.2	16	12	3	11	5	.381	10.8	4.89	2.93

History:  Talbot was selected by the Houston Astros in the 2^nd round of the 2002 Draft out of Canyon View High School (UT).  He was traded in July of 2006 to Tampa Bay in a deal that brought Aubrey Huff to Houston.  The Indians acquired him from Tampa Bay in December of 2009 as the player to be named later in the Kelly Shoppach trade.  He made his big league debut for the Rays in 2008, making just three appearances.

Strengths & Opportunities:  Talbot is a big league ready arm who brings with him a successful seven year minor league career and a solid three pitch mix of a fastball, changeup, and slider.  His fastball sits at 89-92 MPH and touches 94 MPH with good movement.  He has a plus changeup that has good fade and depth, and he shows a good feel for a slider that gets good late bite to it.  He competes well, and goes right after hitters has a pitch to contact approach.  He is very athletic, and shows a nice easy delivery which he repeats well.

Talbot pitched in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) in the offseason, and it is there that the Indians interest in him picked up as they scouted him extensively by watching almost all of his starts.  Their best scouts saw him repeatedly and according to their reports his stuff looked very good.  Finally healthy from the right elbow sprain which limited him to just 15 starts and plagued him throughout much of the 2009 season, he made six starts in the AFL and went 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA with a .303 batting average against in a hitter dominated league (22.2 IP, 27 H, 6 BB, 15 K).

Going into the 2010 season, there are some minor durability concerns with Talbot.  While he battled through the arm injury last year, he made 27 or more starts the previous five years from 2004-2008 so he never had any injury issues until last season.  He also is out of options which means he needs to make the big league roster out of the bullpen or else be subjected to waivers where he likely would be lost.  At times he struggles with the command of all three pitches, so becoming more consistent with his strike throwing is something he needs to focus on.  Really, his stuff and everything else about him makes him out to almost be a right-handed version of Jeremy Sowers.

Outlook:  Talbot is a competitor and a guy who prior to some elbow injuries last year was major league pitching depth for the Rays.  The Indians view him as another solid pitching option to bring to the table in 2010, and they are very satisfied that they were able to pick up him up.  He will go into spring training looking to nail down a bullpen job, likely as the long man out of the bullpen.  Barring an injury setback, he likely will make the team and open the 2010 season in Cleveland.

Photo courtesy of Major League Baseball Media 

Mitch Talbot MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

Mitch Talbot Baseball-Reference page

Mitch Talbot MinorLeagueSplits.com page

Mitch Talbot Pitching:

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