San Francisco Giants: Melvin Adon Pitches in the Fall Stars Game

The San Francisco Giants had one representative in Saturday’s Fall Stars Game, right-handed pitcher Melvin Adon, who showed off great stuff but lacked command.

The San Francisco Giants’ farmhand entered with two outs in the sixth inning, with his East team tied with the West team, 3-3. He took over for left-hander Devin Smeltzer, inheriting a runner that he walked.

The first thing that stood out about Adon righty is how easy his delivery is. He’s a big guy, at 6’3” and 235 pounds, and he looks relaxed through the entire process and doesn’t seem to expend much energy with each pitch, but he still can rip a fastball. He has what Giants’ broadcaster Mike Krukow would call a “lazy arm delivery”. His first pitch was a fastball at 99 that caught the inside part of the plate against left-handed hitting Cole Tucker.

Adon’s second pitch came in at 98, but caught too much of the plate and Tucker was able to find a hole on the right side of the infield, moving the runner to third and taking second when the throw came through the infield.

Facing the right-handed hitting Yu Chang next, Adon started him with a slider that caught the top of the strikezone away. He followed that with a 91-mph two-seamer away, an 86-mph slider in, and a 97-mph heater away to fall behind 3-1. Needing to come in with a strike, Adon threw one at 98 but it was at the belt and Chang smoked it to right field. It was a frozen rope over right fielder Daz Cameron’s head, scoring a pair with Chang cruising into third for a triple.

Adon was given an opportunity to limit the damage facing baseball’s best prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Adon fell behind again with a fastball away, and Guerrero fouled away the next pitch, a slider, to even the count. He dropped a slider at 84 on the inside part of the plate, freezing Guerrero for strike two. Guerrero fouled away another slider, and Adon stuck with that pitch. He froze Guerrero again, painting the slider on the inside part of the plate to get the called third strike and end the inning.

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He stayed on the mound to start the seventh inning, facing another talented Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio. His first pitch was another slider, which he followed up with a 102-mph fastball on Biggio’s hands. Biggio slapped it the other way, but right at shifted third baseman Nico Hoerner. Adon’s last batter of the evening was Ryan McKenna, starting him off with a pair of sliders that McKenna watched. After a 100-mph fastball away to make it a 2-1 count, McKenna chopped a 102-mph fastball back to the mound. Adon stuck his glove up to make the grab, and ended his night with a nice play.

Adon earned his spot in the Fall Stars Game by being darn near unhittable in the Fall League. He’s pitched exclusively as a reliever and has dominated while doing so. He’s pitched 9.2 innings across seven relief appearances, allowing just three walks and two walks that have led to two runs (one earned) with 19 strikeouts on his record. He’s struck out 54.3 percent of batters he’s faced, and opponents are hitting just .094 against him.

The 24-year-old has always been known for his blazing fastball, which routinely touches triple-digits and sits in the high 90s even late in starts. It’s what had made him so intriguing before this stretch in Arizona, but he’s added a new wrinkle to his game while working with pitching coach Aaron Fultz in Scottsdale.

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Adon’s slider has been excellent, and it was named the Fall Star Game’s best slider by MLB.com prospect writer Jim Callis. Earlier this week, Callis wrote that Adon’s “upper-80s slider has had more bite and consistency than in the past”, which has certainly helped his success in Arizona. Adon was also considered for best fastball.

In the regular season, Adon started the year in high-A with the San Jose Giants. In 16 games (15 starts), he pitched to a 4.87 ERA and 1.494 WHIP while striking out under a batter per inning (71 strikeouts in 77.2 innings). He was sidelined by an oblique injury in late June, and though he made a couple rehab appearances in the Arizona Rookie League, he didn’t return to San Jose.

Command has been something of an issue during Adon’s minor league career, and it showed up again on Saturday. He fell behind a couple times, and when he got to a point where he had to throw a strike, it wasn’t a good pitch. There’s no denying that he has incredible stuff, with a big fastball and potentially killer slider. It’s all about putting it together it this point.

Adon is currently ranked as the number 19 prospect in the Giants’ farm system according to MLB Pipeline.