JD Hammer Stats & Scouting Report

Full name John Dale Hammer
Born 07/12/1994 in Fort Collins, CO
Profile Ht.: 6'3" / Wt.: 202 / Bats: R / Throws: R
School Marshall
Debut 05/26/2019
Drafted in the 24th round (710th overall) by the Colorado Rockies in 2016.

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A righthanded senior with arm strength, Hammer went 4-2, 4.88 as Marshall's Sunday starter while touching 93 mph. Hammer gets nailed at times and needs polish, but scouts like his body.

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Hammer was a starter at Marshall but immediately became a reliever after signing with the Rockies for $1,000 as a 24th-round pick in 2016. The Phillies picked him up in 2017 at the trade deadline along with shortstop Jose Gomez and righthander Alejandro Requena for reliever Pat Neshek. Hammer's move to the bullpen allows teams to play MC Hammer's “U Can't Touch This” when he enters a game, but more important, it helped him to throw harder in short stints. Hammer sits 94-96 mph and touches 99 with a lively, late-moving fastball. His fastball misses bats and so does his sharp slider in the mid-80s, which is why he struck out 38 percent of the batters he faced in 2017. Hammer had a brief spell where he didn't throw strikes in the extreme hitter's environment of high Class A Lancaster, but he's mostly shown good control. After pitching in the Arizona Fall League in 2017, Hammer should be ready for an assignment to Double-A Reading in 2018.