Prospect Watch: Mat Latos

Sunday marks the big league debut of the San Diego prospect Matt Latos. The 21 years old, 6'6" righty is looking to be a promising big league pitcher. With a fastball that tops around 97, a curve, a knuckle curve, and a change up, he has a good mix to cause a lot of trouble for opposing batters. Must be nice to be coming to one of the most pitcher friendly parks in all of baseball. Not so nice to have that offense to back up his starts. In AA Latos is 5-1 with a 1.91 ERA in nine starts. He has 46 strikeouts in 47 innings. Opponents are only hitting .192 against him. Down side? Young, inexperienced, concerns about mental toughness (he has done much to improve this view of him), and stamina - he has not thrown 100 innings in any year. He's worth a flyer in deeper leagues and NL only leagues. Keeper leagues should keep a close watch. -Scout Monkey

( scout_monkey@gmx.com)