Player Name: Ed Baram
School: Adelphi
Position: RHP
Ed Baram is a 2019 graduate of Adelphi University. He is from Saddlebrook, N.J. He has a slender 6’3″ frame.
He has a high leg kick that is above letter height. At the balance point he has a firm back leg, his front foot is parallel to the ground and his eyes are locked on his target. He gets very good drive from his back side as he begins his falling action towards the plate. He has a very long arm circle with the ball pointing towards the right fielder. Hitters do prefer to see the ball at this stage which eliminates some of the deception. He has very good stride length and lands with his foot straight towards the plate. His arm angle is high 3/4, but he does have a very free and easy release which makes his delivery aesthetically pleasing. He gets good extension but falls off to the first base side after release.
In his March 22 start, he threw seven inning and aside from the second inning, had a very strong outing. He worked in the 83-85 MPH range with his fastball, that had very good armside tail. His curveball was sharp and tight at 77 MPH. He mixed in a changeup at 74 and threw a couple of splitters as well that had great downward action.
In the first inning, he began all the hitters off with fastballs and mixed in his offspeed pitches when he was ahead in the count. After that inning, he became much less predicable with his pitch sequencing which allowed him to keep the hitters off balance and enabled him to work deep into the game. His curve was really a weapon, as it confused hitters who could not determine whether it would land in the strike zone or below the knees.
In the inning he struggled, he allowed a leadoff double on a 2-1 fastball to the cleanup hitter. It was smoked off the center field wall. He then allowed a single to centerfield on a 1-0 fastball to put runners on the corners. He then walked the next two batters and he struggled to find the zone which allowed a run to score. He also also an RBI single on a first pitch fastball. To his credit, he did not falter and he got much more comfortable and was difficult to square up after that.
He struck out only four batters and walked three, but he was around the strike zone which allowed him to get quick outs.
He fielded his position very well, successfully fielding balls back to him as well as covering first base without any hesitation and showing plus athleticism.
Nobody stole off of him, which was more of a product of allowing no base runners from the second inning on.
Baram is a very good pitcher that will be a key cog for the Panthers. The opponent was not elite, but he displayed the prerequisite knowledge of pitching that will allow him to succeed at this level without possessing a plus-fastball.
