UTR Wednesday Pitcher Spotlight – Tampa Bay Rays

Our newest offseason features continue here at MLB Prospect Pulse – a weekly focus on prospects that aren’t yet household names (or prospects that are likely only known by owners in the deepest of fantasy leagues). We’ll be shining the light on one hitter and one pitcher from each MLB organization every Monday and Wednesday from now through the early part of the 2015 MiLB season. These will typically be players that you’re not likely going to find mentioned on Top 50/Top 1oo lists from the various widely-viewed outlets (Baseball America, Keith Law, Baseball Prospectus, etc.), but won’t necessarily be absent from our lists here and at or partner site Under The Radar Minors since we’re more interested in finding those sometimes overlooked players in the lower levels of the minors as well as more aggressive than most with our rankings of those players.

The fourth installment of our new UTR Wednesday Pitcher Spotlight series will take a look at Rays’ RHSP Jaime Schultz.

Not only is Schultz not a household name, he’s a deepest sleeper to most – quite possibly even some of the well-known pundits. He wasn’t ranked on any of the widely-known preseason lists (or MLB Pipeline’s midseason list) and he’s likely not even a well-known name unless you’re anything other than among the most attentive Rays fans.

Jaime was part of the Rays’ 2013 Draft that yielded Nick Ciuffo (Rays’ Postseason #8), Ryne Stanek (Rays’ Postseason #10), and Johnny Fields (UTR Monday Hitter Spotlight – Tampa Bay Rays), but he was more of an afterthought than any of those guys. The Rays scooped up the undersized (5’10”, 200 lb.) righty in the 14th Round for an unreported signing bonus. Used as both a starter and closer at tiny High Point University, Schultz boasts a big fastball that sits 92-93 MPH and he routinely works at 95-96 at will. He also features a slider and curveball as breaking pitches, and both have flashed at least average.

All of Schultz’ appearances this season were as a SP and the 23 year old finished his 2014 campaign with Hi-A Charlotte (his final 5 starts), while posting a combined 2.40 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 60 IP. Opposing hitters struggled to a .212 BAA against him, while striking out 79 times. Perhaps the most impressive number from Jaime’s line this season is that he only allowed 2 HRs over those 60 innings. Those numbers ranked him as an A Tier SP with a .061 SP/TPS Score when Jim finished his figures for the Rays’ Organizational All-Stars at our partner site Under The Radar Minors.

While the area has recently produced a successful AL East hurler with a similar small frame (Jays’ RHSP Marcus Stroman attended Duke), Schultz likely profiles eventually as a reliever. If he can develop a true wipeout offering out of one of his breaking balls and consistently maintain that 95+ velocity, there’s always a chance that he could develop into a closer like small-ish Kimbrel/Holland types. That’s probably his absolute ceiling for me, but his stuff certainly profiles as someone who could at least handle high-leverage innings if he can keep progressing.