Joe Nathan Stats & Scouting Report

Full name Joseph Michael Nathan
Born 11/22/1974 in Houston, TX
Profile Ht.: 6'4" / Wt.: 230 / Bats: R / Throws: R
School SUNY Stony Brook
Debut 04/21/1999
Drafted in the 6th round (159th overall) by the San Francisco Giants in 1995.

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Nathan was a weak-hitting, strong-armed shortstop before this spring, when he decided to try his hand at pitching. When more than 20 scouts showed up one day to watch him work in the bullpen, his future was sealed.

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Background: The Giants originally signed Nathan as a shortstop in 1995, but Nathan decided to retire in 1996 rather than be converted to pitcher. A year away from the game convinced Nathan to give the mound a shot and he returned to the Giants in the spring of 1997. Strengths: Nathan has intimidating size and has maintained his athleticism and looseness. His fastball is consistently in the 93-94 mph range with good sinking action. Nathan's strikeout pitch is a hard slurve. He also throws a cutter and straight change. Weaknesses: At 24, Nathan has thrown only 199 minor league innings and very few college innings, so getting repetitions and learning game situations are his highest priority. The Giants held him out of winter ball after he tired late in the year. The Future: The Giants will start Nathan at Double-A. Of all the organization's pitching prospects, Nathan's ceiling is perhaps the highest. At the same time he is the farthest from being a sure thing to become a major league pitcher.