Top 50 Twins Prospects 2009: #17 Anthony Slama

2009 Top 50 Twins Prospects | #17 | Anthony Slama

Position | Pitcher

Bats/Throws | Right/Right

Born | January 6, 1984 (Orange, California)

School | University of San Diego

Height | 6'3''

Weight | 207 lbs.

2008 Ranking | 46




Breakdown
Anthony Slama was drafted in the 39th round of the 2006 draft. After 102 innings of professional ball, he has posted a career 1.23 ERA and a 4.7 K/BB ratio to go along with a ridiculously low 0.92 WHIP. He averages 14 K/9 and has good control while inducing a lot of ground balls. The reasoning for being ranked so low on many prospect really has more to do with the Organizations decision to promote hims slowely despite dominating every level of competition that he's faced. He didn't make his professional debut until he was 23 and despite the fact that he had college experience, the Twins still have felt a need to hold him back while saving room for other players in the system that are much older, have much less potential, and have struggled at their current level of play. Slama had nothing to prove in the Florida State League by mid-season, but instead of promoting him with a few other players, they decided to hold him back for the remainder of the season. He should have been promoted and theoretically could be ready for Triple-A Rochester by now. He has the potential to be a very dominating set-up man in the majors, and could become a closer at some point. With the Twins' current need for relief help, it's a mystery why they weren't more aggressive with Slama.

2008 Statistics

Level      W     L     ERA     IP     K     BB     WHIP     FIP

A+         4     1    1.01   71.0   110     24     0.94    1.24

2009 Outlook
Although the Twins have been slow to promote him thus far, Slama should be move more aggressively this season. He'll likely start the season in New Britain but could get a mid-season promotion to Rochester and we even could see him in the Twins' bullpen at some point as well.

Pitching Repertoire

• Fastball
  
• Slider
• Change-up

Interview
Anthony did an interview for the site back in June 2008. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to check it out!

Video

Estimated Time of Arrival
2010