Scott Baker, in a sense, is the perfect representation of the Minnesota Twins’ organizational pitching philosophy. He’s not overpowering – his fastball sits in the 90-91 mph range – but pounds the strike zone. He won’t produce a lot of swings-and-misses, but won’t walk many either. He does, however, work both sides of the plate and changes speeds well.
His fastball sits in the 90 mph but can touch a tick or two higher. It’s an average pitch though his two-seamer has decent tail. Baker will vary the speed and spin on his slider, and will try to backdoor it to good left-handed hitters. He shows good arm speed on his changeup, which is another solid offering with decent fade.
Given his lack of a strikeout pitch, he struggles at times with putting hitters away.
Baker’s the prototypical middle-of-the-rotation starter.
