Player Name: Patch Dooley
Position: RHP
School: Half Hollow Hills East 2017
Patch is a sophomore RHP for Hills East. He has a very smooth and efficient delivery, and that is something rarely said about 15-16 year olds.
He begins his wind up by slowly rocking back and lowering his hands as he prepares for his delivery. His head glances down at his feet as a timing mechanism but he locks in on his target after that. His leg kick is just above the belt–it could be slightly higher. Even at his apex, he never truly stops his momentum. He begins drifting forward to generate torque moving forward. After that point, he drops and drives with his back leg. He has a very long arm circle, but everything is in sync and his front foot lands at the proper time. His stride is sufficient for his height and he lands on line with home plate. The arm angle is directly over the top. He gets very good extension on his pitches and he finishes balanced on every pitch. His delivery is reminiscent of Josh Beckett.
In his May 19th playoff start, he was pitching against an experienced lineup on the road. Under those circumstances for a sophomore, it would be understandable if he was shaky but he was very much in control of his emotions and possessed solid command of his pitches.
He worked mainly in the 84-86 MPH range with the fastball and 74 MPH with the curve. He did not show any change ups, it’s probably a pitch he’ll learn in the next two years. Even so, he was very tough to hit because his curve is released with the same arm angle and effort as his fastball and is not easily distinguishable from the fastball. He used it a lot–it’s something I would rather him use more sparingly during the regular season simply to lower the injury risk.
You could’ve drew fairly accurate conclusions just from the first inning of this game. He threw 27 pitches with 17 of those thrown for strikes. He allowed an 0-1 single to right on the first batter of the game and the next batter hit one through the 5.5 hole on a 1-2 fastball. After that, he bore down and eluded any damage. He relief heavily on the curve. He struck out the next batter swinging on a high fastball after four of the first five pitches were curves. He struck out the next batter looking too on a curveball after two of the first three pitches were also hooks. After a four pitch walk, he strick out the sixth hitter swinging on a high fastball on a 1-2 pitch. In that at bat, he began it with a curve and then threw three straight fastballs.
He was much more efficient in the second inning–throwing 10 pitches with six of those for strikes. He struck out the first batter swinging on a nasty curve.
Dooley allowed one run in the third on an RBI single to CF but escaped further damage by inducing a forceout on a good 0-1 curve. He threw 20 pitches in the third, with 11 of those for strikes. He had his only chance to field his position on a bunt play after hitting the first batter of the inning. He showed good athleticism off the mound but lobbed the ball to first and it nearly was in the dirt.
He threw 15 pitches in the fifth inning, which was also his last. He allowed a double and a HBP but lucked out when the batter popped a bunt up to hand them an out and the next batter hit an infield fly. After a walked to load the bases (and a line drive that landed just foul) he got a 3U to end the inning.
Dooley also showed a good pick off move. After attempting five pickoffs of the first batter of the game, the opposition did not take many lengthy leads after that.
He is young and will grow/add velocity, but there’s not room for improvement in the delivery because it is pretty flawless. I would just like to see him use less curveballs because that is asking for an injury to throw 40% breaking balls.
Despite the five walks, he displayed good command for the most part and especially when his back was against the wall with runners on base.
