Detroit Tigers Prospect Reports: RHP Troy Melton

Troy Melton Scouting Report

Background: A 2022 4th round pick by the Detroit Tigers out of San Diego State University, Melton didn’t start pitching until his senior year in high school. Melton is a taller, lengthier guy, listed at 6 ‘4, 210 pounds. Melton has a great, violent follow through on his pitches. He doesn’t get lazy with his legs. Despite having poor extension, Melton uses his lower body very well and gets a strong push off the rubber. His arm action is similar to Lucas Giolito. His longer stature helps make up for his lack of extension off the rubber.

Fastball – 55
Melton’s fastball gets lots of soft contact and roll-over grounders. His four-seamer tops out at 98-99 MPH and sits at around 95-96, and he gets a good number of swings-and-misses when he elevates it. Melton also throws a cutter that sits in the mid-to-high 80s, and he shows feel for working it to both sides of the plate against lefties.

Slider – 50
Melton slider is a slurvy offering that ranges from 78-82 MPH. It shows good depth and nice horizontal movement, and he’s comfortable throwing it to the back foot of left-handed batters and using it as a chase pitch against righties. He does occasionally run into trouble when he leaves it over the heart of the dish.

Changeup – 45

Melton’s changeup lives in the mid-80s and stands as his least effective offering. It has the proper velocity separation from his fastball, but it lacks the sink and fade to make it an effective offering on its own.

Command – 45
Melton has some issues locating his fastball right now, which may cause issues as he climbs through the minor league system. He locates his slider very well, but he lacks feel for locating changeup. He generally throws strikes, but occasionally loses his release point, which leads to sporadic bouts of wildness.

Overall
Troy Melton’s future role depends on the further development of his fastball command and his secondary pitches. Even with good stuff, Melton raises concerns because of his struggles to throw consistent strikes and put batters away quickly. There’s back-end starter potential here, but also a fair amount of middle reliever risk.