2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #15 Hector Rondon

Hector Rondon – Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 02/26/1988 – Height: 6’3” – Weight: 180 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right

(Photo: Ken Carr)

History: Rondon was signed by the Indians as a non-drafted free agent out of Venezuela in August of 2004. In July of 2007 at Low-A Lake County he threw six innings of no-hit ball and combined with two other pitchers to throw a no-hitter. 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 July of 2008. He had Tommy John surgery in August of 2010.

Strengths: Rondon struggled out of the gates last year as his numbers were nowhere near what was expected of him. After allowing only 11 home runs in 27 starts in 2009 and no more than 13 home runs in any season in his six year career, he allowed 12 home runs in his first seven starts last year which was a big red flag that he might be injured. He was eventually shut down in mid-May with a mild strain of his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), and since surgery is always the players’ decision and cannot be mandated by the organization he initially opted for rest and rehab to see if it would heal naturally rather than have recommended surgery. He progressed well with his rehab over the summer and began a return to throw program in August, but during a bullpen session he experienced more pain in the elbow region, so he ended up having Tommy John surgery at the end of August.

When healthy, Rondon has a dominating four-seam electric plus fastball that consistently clocks in at 92-95 MPH and has topped out as high as 96 MPH. He mainly pitches with and has tons of confidence in his fastball and relies on it heavily to attack hitters and get them out at the top of the zone. His fastball has some deception and great life 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 maintains the velocity of his fastball well as late in games it is still up to 94-95 MPH.

Rondon complements his fastball with a slider and changeup, which are both just average pitches. He has worked hard on his average slider and it has come a long way and has potential to be more. Before going down with the elbow injury last year he had been working on tweaking his slider into more of a slurve in order to get more separation from his fastball. He and the Indians felt that some of his early issues were the result of him feeling his way through the inconsistencies with developing the slurve-like action and pulling off some velocity to have it sit in the upper 70s. His straight changeup has shown moderate improvement, and projects to
be an average major league pitch.

Rondon is a competitor that pitches with power, aggression, consistently puts the ball on the plate, and likes to challenge hitters. He has the stuff to make pitches and put hitters away and make them swing and miss, but he mostly pitches to contact since he is almost always in the zone. He has a good plan when he takes the mound, sticks with it, and shows good tempo. He has a free and easy delivery and is getting better at repeating his delivery. He is still long and lanky with room to grow, but the past two years has really started to fill out his body and has gotten stronger in his lower half which has allowed him to more consistently maintain his delivery. He is mature beyond his years with an excellent work ethic, stays calm under pressure, and controls his effort level.

Opportunities: Rondon is going to spend most of the season rehabbing his elbow and building up his arm strength for a full time return in 2012. As a result, he will not have much of an opportunity to improve several areas of his game this season. First and foremost, he needs to develop his secondary pitches because neither pitch at the moment is effective enough to get outs at the major league level. Since he is such a good strike thrower and has such a great fastball that he relies on so much, a better slider and changeup would help change the eye level of his pitches and make 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. He has to maintain more consistent shape to it, get better with knowing how to use it, more consistently throw it for strikes, and work it low and away to right-handers. His changeup is too firm, so he needs to soften it up a little bit and continue to refine it to make it into at least an average major league pitch. He needs to solidify his delivery and get better pitching out of the stretch by shortening his kick as he can be slow to the plate. He needs to continue to get bigger and stronger, something that is likely to happen after a lengthy rehab.

The Indians still plan to develop and use Rondon as a starting pitcher, but after the elbow injury his path to the bullpen looks even more likely. He can throw his fastball by guys, but when he is flipping a lineup three times he has to have more consistency. His troubles with handling a lineup a second or third time through is mostly because of his inconsistent secondary offerings. The Indians actually experimented with a move to the bullpen in May of 2009 because of an immediate need there, but after a few appearances they quickly moved him back to the starting rotation in order to keep trying to develop his secondary offerings. The general feeling is that his already very impressive arm would play up in short stints out of the bullpen, especially because of the lack of any consistent secondary pitch.

Outlook: Rondon’s injury last year was a big setback for him and the organization. When he initially came down with the injury he opted for rest to let it heal on its own. Surgery is often a scary proposition - especially one as involved as Tommy John which requires 12-18 months of recovery time – so a player usually is inclined to put off surgery if other options are available. He ultimately had to have the surgery, and because he had it so late in the season he likely will not pitch at all in 2011 except for maybe a few rehab outings late in the year with the Arizona Summer League team. His targeted return to the mound is probably Instructional League, the Arizona Fall League, or the Parallel League in late September and early October. If he can return to health, he projects as a good #3 starter in the big leagues or a dominant late inning reliever. He should open the season in extended spring training and continue his rehab and start a throwing program later in the summer.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2005	17	DSL Indians	R	3	3	1.65	15	12	65.1	60	12	2	8	55	.230	1.1	7.6	1.04
2006	18	GCL Indians	R	3	4	5.13	11	11	52.2	62	30	6	3	32	.286	0.5	5.5	1.23
2007	19	Lake County	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	7.7	1.29
2010	22	Columbus	AAA	1	3	8.53	7	7	31.2	48	30	12	10	33	.343	2.8	9.4	1.83
		MiLB Totals		36	36	3.92	114	109	577.0	586	251	56	119	515	.260	1.9	8.0	1.22

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