Zach Putnam – Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 07/03/1987 – Height: 6’2” – Weight: 225 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right
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| (Photo: Tony Lastoria) |
Strengths: Putnam is an aggressive, power pitcher who is extremely athletic with a great baseball pedigree. He has a four pitch mix led by a fastball that sits at 92-93 MPH and has touched 96 MPH, and complements it with a splitter, slider, and changeup. He commands his fastball exceptionally well and gets good arm side run with heavy, late life. His best secondary pitch is a devastating splitter which is nasty and already considered a major league strikeout pitch, and was widely considered one of the top secondary pitches coming out of college in 2008. The splitter sits around 82-83 MPH and gives hitters fits as they chase it even though it often drops out of the zone into the dirt. His change is more of a show pitch to give hitters a different look and attack left-handers with, but has shown improvement and has become a solid pitch for him. His slider is his primary breaking ball as he also used to throw a curveball but that was dropped so he could refine the slider. The slider shows good depth and tilt and flashes plus ability.
Putnam opened the season last year in the starting rotation in order to develop his slider. The Indians wanted him to concentrate on making sure he was developing consistent shape with it and the ability to throw it for strikes early in the count and being able to expand the zone with it. He got off to a great start, but a minor back injury in late May due to right rhomboid tightness shut him down for about three weeks. When he returned from his back injury he finished the year in the bullpen, and once he started pitching in the bullpen full time he showcased his slider a lot more in order to try and develop it as a true third pitch in his arsenal. His slider took off as he showed a better feel for it, especially at the end of the season, and has become another go-to pitch in his arsenal.
Putnam is a physical presence on the mound with a big frame to go along with very strong legs and broad shoulders that give him an ideal body to be a workhorse in the starting rotation or bullpen. He has an advanced feel for pitching and the versatility to pitch in any role be it as a starter, giving length in the middle innings, or pitching in the backend in high leverage situations. He gets hitters to pound the ball into the ground and he gives up very few home runs because hitters have trouble lifting the ball against him because of his heavy sinker. He has a very strong delivery and the put away stuff to attack hitters and finish them off. He is tenacious on the mound, much like a pit bull where he will attack and challenge hitters and go right at them without backing down. He is a confident, big game pitcher with excellent composure to handle adversity well, and his makeup and toughness are off the charts.
Opportunities: The main focus in Putnam's development at this point is to continue to refine his slider so he can consistently throw it for strikes, get ahead in the count with it, and put away hitters with it. He is already armed with two plus pitches with his fastball-splitter combination, and his changeup is solid, but he needs an effective breaking ball to help his other pitches so it gives hitters something with a different look. He relies on his splitter so much as an out pitch that with the presence of an effective breaking ball it will help make right-handers look away instead of always down and in. He also showed improvement with his delivery last year, but he still needs to iron out a few minor mechanical issues to make sure he more consistently uses his lower half. He is a high effort pitcher, which can have an affect on his command. He also needs to continue to learn how to use and mix all of his pitches and read hitters tendencies better.
Outlook: Since the day Putnam signed with the Indians they saw him as a guy who could help out the major league bullpen in the very near future. With his deep mix of pitches, mentality, athleticism, and makeup he has the potential to be a dominant late inning pitcher in the big leagues for a very long time. He was invited to big league camp last year for spring training and impressed, and even though his overall season did not live up to what many hoped, he is on track for a possible bullpen gig at some point this season. The one thing working against his major league chances is there is no rush to promote him due to roster management reasons and because of lots of depth in the bullpen at Cleveland and Columbus. Even still, it is not a matter of if he will pitch in the big leagues, it is when. That opportunity will likely come near the end of the 2011 season, but in the meantime he will open the season in the bullpen at Columbus.
| Year | Age | Team | Lvl | W | L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | BB/9 | K/9 | WHIP |
| 2008 | 20 | Mahoning Valley | A- | 0 | 1 | 3.72 | 3 | 0 | 9.2 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | .206 | 4.7 | 7.4 | 1.24 |
| 2009 | 21 | Kinston | A+ | 2 | 0 | 4.13 | 5 | 0 | 24.0 | 22 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 23 | .247 | 1.9 | 8.6 | 1.13 |
| 2009 | 21 | Akron | AA | 4 | 2 | 4.13 | 33 | 2 | 56.2 | 59 | 26 | 2 | 18 | 57 | .261 | 2.9 | 9.1 | 1.36 |
| 2010 | 22 | Akron | AA | 4 | 1 | 3.86 | 20 | 3 | 51.1 | 58 | 22 | 2 | 9 | 41 | .286 | 1.6 | 7.2 | 1.31 |
| 2010 | 22 | Columbus | AAA | 0 | 1 | 3.33 | 17 | 0 | 24.1 | 20 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 24 | .222 | 2.6 | 8.9 | 1.11 |
| MiLB Totals | 10 | 5 | 3.90 | 78 | 5 | 166.0 | 166 | 72 | 7 | 44 | 153 | .259 | 2.4 | 8.3 | 1.27 |
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