Indians Top 50: #14 Tony Sipp

Tony Sipp - Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 07/12/1983 - Height: 6'0" - Weight: 190 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2004	20	Mahoning	A-	3	1	3.16	10	0	42.2	33	15	5	13	74	.212	2.8	15.8	1.09
2005	21	Lake Co	A	4	1	2.22	13	0	69.0	47	17	5	19	71	.196	2.5	9.3	0.96
2005	21	Kinston	A+	2	2	2.66	22	2	47.1	34	14	4	23	59	.205	4.4	11.3	1.21
2006	22	Akron	AA	4	2	3.13	29	3	60.1	44	21	2	21	80	.201	3.1	12.0	1.08
2007	23	Injured	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	24	GCL Indians	R	0	0	0.00	3	0	4.0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	2.3	9.0	0.25
2008	24	Kinston	A+	0	0	1.13	5	0	8.0	4	1	0	3	10	.148	3.4	11.3	0.88
2008	24	Akron	AA	0	3	3.74	16	1	21.2	19	9	4	7	32	.235	3.0	13.6	1.23
2009	25	Columbus	AAA	1	0	3.71	12	1	17.0	17	7	1	6	22	.254	3.2	11.6	1.35
2009	25	Cleveland	MLB	2	0	2.93	46	0	40.0	27	13	5	25	48	.194	5.6	10.8	1.30
		MiLB		14	9	2.80	156	7	270.0	198	84	21	93	352	.205	3.1	11.7	1.08
		MLB		2	0	2.93	46	0	40.0	27	13	5	25	48	.194	5.6	10.8	1.30

History: The Indians selected Sipp in the 45th round of the 2004 Draft out of Clemson University.  The pick was a gamble by the Indians, as Sipp was an outfielder who had only pitched in 22 career college games and many felt he would be too costly to sign. After he impressed the Indians in the Cape Cod League they gladly paid him an unheard of $130,000 to sign for a 45^th rounder.  His career was sidetracked for two years from 2007-2008 from an elbow injury that shut him down at the end of spring training in 2007 and then resulted in Tommy John surgery in July of 2007.  He spent the rest of 2007 and 2008 rehabbing from the injury and was not 100% until the beginning of last year.

Strengths & Opportunities: Sipp is a converted outfielder who has made an exceptional transition into pitching.  He is a power-armed pitcher who has an impressive three-pitch arsenal fronted by a plus fastball and plus-plus slider that both grade out as out pitches at the major league level.  His fastball has good life and movement consistently coming in at 91-94 MPH and has flashed 95 MPH in the past and his quick arm action and excellent deception makes it look a lot faster.  His slider is a major league weapon with wipeout ability showing good tilt and late action.  He has a good feel for an average changeup, which is a good change of pace pitch so hitters can't sit on his slider and fastball.

Sipp gets a lot of swing and misses with his electric fastball-slider combo, consistently putting up some of the highest swing and miss percentages in the Indians' system since signing with them.  Not only is he tough on left-handers, but his deception in his delivery troubles right-handers who have a hard time picking up the ball out of his hand.  He does not have a traditional left-handed delivery since he is a little bit open and therefore can really attack lefties and righties the same.  He is also extremely athletic which allows him to consistently repeat his delivery and field his position exceptionally well.  He is also tough on base-runners as he controls a running game well.  He is a very aggressive, fearless pitcher on the mound, and has amazing aptitude.  Even when he is not on, he has guts and a certain toughness about him that finds a way to get outs and get out of a jam.

It all comes down to fastball command with Sipp.  He was inconsistent with his command last year, so it led to a high amount of walks.  Command is usually the last thing to return after a pitcher has Tommy John surgery, so this should surely improve this coming season since he has a full season played in the books since his surgery.  Nonetheless, it is the most important part of his development to finish him off.  If he can consistently throw it over the plate at a high percentage, then he immediately becomes even more dominating and into the special category of major league relievers.  He is a little under-sized so he still needs to prove he can be durable and stay healthy.  While he made it through unscathed with no injury setbacks last year, in addition to the elbow surgery he has a history of injuries in his past such as a shoulder issue last offseason as well as an oblique injury and left elbow inflammation in 2006.  He also needs to continue working his changeup into his pitch mix and develop more consistent command with it.

Outlook:  Finally a 100% from his elbow surgery last year, Sipp once again showed why he was thought of as one of the top relief prospects in all of baseball going into 2007.  He no longer had any restrictions and was pain free, and went out and pitched like a man with a purpose.  The Indians love his potential as a dominant late-inning reliever, a role he had several opportunities to pitch in with the big league club last year.  He has established himself as a fixture in the Indians bullpen for the foreseeable future, and will open the 2010 season in a setup role in the Cleveland bullpen.

Photo courtesy of Tony Lastoria

Tony Sipp MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

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