Player Name: Tyler Needleman
Position: P
School: Herricks
Tyler is a 2017 graduate of Herricks HS. He is 6’2″ 205 lbs. In the summer of 2015, he went 9-3 on the mound for Next Level Baseball.
He begins his windup with his hands held high around his face but brings them down as he steps back. At balance point, he has his leg pointing towards second base to generate torque, similar to AJ Burnett in the MLB. He keeps his back leg firm and has his eyes locked in on the target through out the delivery. He gets good drive from his back leg. The arm circle is very long, showing it to the hitters during his falling action towards the plate. He adds some deception to the batter by landing where he does–creating a cross-fire appearance like Jake Arrieta. His arm angle is high 3/4. Needleman’s stride is good enough but he could improve his extension after delivering the pitch.
The big righty hit 85 MPH with the fastball. He did struggle with the command, missing up out of the zone on a few occasions. He displayed a 72 MPH curve with great command. In fact, he had better command of that than the fastball. Assuming the fastball command was due to rust, his combination of fastball-curve could be a very lethal weapon at the next level. He threw a 78 MPH change up. I would like that velocity difference to be greater between the two. It could be as simple as adjusting his grip on the pitch and that could add another dimension to his arsenal of pitches.
Needleman currently has another year to refine his command before having to decide his college. If he can fine tune his command then he will be a sought after commodity.
