Indians Top 50: #8 Hector Rondon

Hector Rondon - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 02/26/1988 - Height: 6'3" - Weight: 180 - 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
2005	17	DSL Ind	R	3	3	1.65	15	12	65.1	60	12	2	8	55	.230	1.1	7.6	1.04
2006	18	GCL Ind	R	3	4	5.13	11	11	52.2	62	30	6	3	32	.286	0.5	5.5	1.25
2007	19	Lake Co	A	7	10	4.37	27	27	136.0	143	66	13	27	113	.269	1.8	7.5	1.25
2008	20	Kinston	A+	11	6	3.60	27	27	145.0	130	58	12	42	145	.239	2.6	9.0	1.19
2009	21	Akron	AA	7	5	2.75	15	13	72.0	60	22	3	16	73	.227	2.0	9.1	1.06
2009	21	Columbus	AAA	4	5	4.00	12	12	74.1	83	33	8	13	64	.282	1.6	7.8	1.30
		Totals		35	33	3.65	107	102	545.1	538	221	44	109	482	.255	1.8	8.0	1.19

History: Rondon was signed by the Indians as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela in August of 2004. In 2007 at Single-A Lake County he took part in one of two no-hitters for the team on the year, throwing six no-hit innings while striking out five and combining with two other pitchers to throw a no-hitter in early July 2007. He was also selected to the World Team as part of the Futures Game which took place at Yankee Stadium over All Star weekend in 2008.  He split time last season between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, so did not place in any league rankings for stats, but he did finish 1st in the entire organization with 137 strikeouts on the year.  He walked more than two batters in a game only once in 27 appearances all season last year (four walks May 25th), and in 10 of his 12 outings for Triple-A Columbus went at least six innings.  He played winter ball in Venezuela, and in six starts went 2-0 with a 4.26 ERA and in 25.1 innings allowed 23 hits, 5 walks, and had 14 strikeouts.

Strengths & Opportunities: Rondon is a young and projectable starting pitcher who has a dominating plus pitch in his a four-seam fastball and two average pitches in his slider and changeup.  He pitches with power, aggression and consistently puts the ball on the plate.  For him, it is all about his electric fastball, a pitch that has good life and consistently clocks in at 92-95 MPH and has topped out as high as 96 MPH.  He relies heavily on his fastball, almost to a fault, but it has proven to be a weapon for him to attack hitters and get outs at the top of the zone.  He can get away with a little bit more with his fastball because of the life it has especially the last two to three feet through the zone where it has a little bit of jump to it and gets on a hitter quickly.  He is a competitor on the mound and very aggressive with his fastball where he likes to challenge hitters.  He has some deception with the fastball and is very confident in it, and because of that hitters don't seem to get very good swings on it.  He also shows the ability to stay strong late into games as his velocity has the same life hitting 93-94 MPH in the sixth inning of his starts which is a sign of really starting to get in a groove with his delivery.

Not only does Rondon have enough velocity to challenge with his powerful fastball, but he has also flashed a lot of touch and feel for finesse when it is needed with his secondary pitches.  His slider used to be more of a show pitch, but has come a long way and is becoming more of a nasty weapon that he can consistently throw for strikes low and away to right-handers.  He has worked very hard on the slider and while it is still considered just an average pitch the Indians believe it has a lot left and is still coming and will be a plus pitch for him soon.  He also throws a straight changeup that continues to show improvement, and projects to be an average major league pitch.  He also has a curveball in his arsenal that has shown potential in the past to maybe one day be an average pitch, but the pitch is rarely used.

Rondon has really filled into his body in the last year, but he is still somewhat long and lanky and has plenty of projection still with his body.  He has a free and easy delivery and repeats his delivery well, which is due in large part to his very good athleticism and confidence.  The big thing is his lower half has gotten a lot stronger which allows him to maintain his delivery longer.  He has shown exceptional command of his pitches with the ability to throw strikes and locate his pitches well to both sides of the plate, and a lot of this is directly correlated with him getting just a little bit more mature and bigger.  He often gets himself into good counts, and continues to get more consistent with making his pitches and get stronger.  He pitches to contact since he is almost always in the zone, so he gives up some hits but also limits the walks, and he has the stuff to put hitters away and make them swing and miss.  Not only does he pile up the strikeouts, but he limits the walks as demonstrated by his exceptional career strikeout to walk ratio (4.5 to 1).  He has a good plan when he takes the mound, sticks with it, and shows good tempo.  He is mature beyond his years with an excellent work ethic, and stays calm under pressure, keeps the ball down in the zone, and controls his effort level.  He has been very durable as aside from some minor bicep tightness last June he has never missed any start over his career.  He projects as a good #3 starter in the big leagues or a dominant late inning reliever.

In the early part of May last year the Indians experimented by moving Rondon to the bullpen.  The big league team was having bullpen troubles, and the Indians wanted to see if he could help fill an immediate need, so put him in the bullpen to see how he would adapt.  It was a move that they carefully considered, but in the end felt that it would not negatively affect him.  The thinking with the move to the bullpen was that he has a very impressive arm and is someone who they felt could get major league outs because his stuff would play up when being used in short stints.  While they believe he will one day help the big league team out as a starter, they felt he was more prepared to potentially help in the bullpen right away because of where his secondary pitches were, so they just took a look at him in that capacity.  He only made two appearances in the pen and did well before the Indians quickly abandoned the idea, mostly because they did not want to rush him to the big leagues just yet because he still needed a lot of work on his secondary offerings.  The move did help solidify their belief that he can help them in either a bullpen or starting role at the big league level while he continues to work as a starter in the minors.

The Indians really feel the last piece to the puzzle for Rondon is finishing off the development of his secondary pitches because they do not feel either pitch is currently effective enough to get outs at the major league level.  He loves to compete with the fastball on the plate almost too much, so they have challenged him to develop and use his secondary pitches more.  Since he is such a good strike thrower and has such a great fastball, a better slider and changeup would help change the eye level of his pitches and makes him less susceptible to hits.  The slider is most important as it has plus potential, but it is about getting him to be more consistent with it and using it more regularly.  His slider was a lot better last year, and he is aware of what makes the pitch work well, it is just a matter of doing it more consistently.  His changeup is still too hard, so he needs to continue to refine it to make it into at least an average major league pitch.

In addition to his secondary pitches, if Rondon wants to remain a starter he also needs to continue putting on good weight so his body can handle the heavy workload as a starting pitcher.  He is also continuing to work on solidifying his delivery since he tends to get a little sloppy at times with it.  He has shown problems working out of the stretch and controlling the running game as his kick to home plate early last season was often 1.45 seconds, but he worked very hard with Columbus Pitching Coach Scott Radinsky to get it down to 1.3 to 1.35 seconds which really helped slow the running game down.

Outlook:  Rondon used a breakout performance in the second half of the season at High-A Kinston in 2008 as momentum where from the start of spring training last year he had baseball people inside and outside the Indians organization buzzing about him.  He filled out considerably in the offseason, and just looked like a completely different pitcher on the mound all year.  He wowed Indians officials with a sensational spring training, and carried it right through to Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus where over the course of the season his fastball showed much improved life, his command and control was noticeably better, he looked more composed on the mound, and his secondary pitches continued to improve.   His final numbers suffered from what looked like some fatigue the final two weeks of the season when he got knocked around in two of his final three starts for Columbus, so instead of calling him up to Cleveland when rosters expanded in September the Indians shut him down.  He is not yet all of what he is going to be as while his upside is exciting, he is not ready just yet for the big leagues.  That said, he is the best pitching prospect in the upper levels of the Indians system, and should make a big contribution to the Indians pitching staff in 2010.  He should open the 2010 season in the starting rotation at Triple-A Columbus, though will likely be in Cleveland sometime around the All Star break if not sooner.

Photo courtesy of Tony Lastoria

Hector Rondon MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

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