Sox Machine Prospect Report: RHP Peyton Pallette vs. Delmarva

Jun 27, 2023

Welcome to the first Sox Machine Prospect Report, a new feature that delves into Chicago White Sox prospects. We are recapping their performance in a particular game, and with additional looks, charting progress. The purpose is to learn as a community about these players. Through the condensed game highlights, we can watch together how these prospects performed and provide feedback in the comments. In future games, we can check back on previous reports to gauge on a prospect is progressing and what adjustments have been made to help them reach the majors.

Most of these reports will be video scouting, but there will be in-person reports when we get the opportunity to visit the White Sox minor league affiliates. Our wonderful Patreon supporters make that possible.

After appearing in just four games his Freshman season, Peyton Pallette transitioned to the starting rotation his Sophomore season. He opened many eyes in his first appearance against #1 Texas by striking out eight over 4.1 scoreless innings while allowing one hit. Pallette’s impressive outing set the tone for his 2021 campaign. On April 17, 2021, against Texas A&M, Pallette pitched six scoreless innings while allowing three hits with seven strikeouts and no walks for his best start.

In the SEC Championship game against Florida, Pallette appeared out of the bullpen but only lasted one inning due to pain in his right arm. On his way off the mound, Pallette pointed to his right elbow, suggesting he tore a ligament. After months of rest, it was deemed in January 2022 that Pallette would need Tommy John surgery, costing him the 2022 season.

During that July draft, the Chicago White Sox used their second-round pick on Pallette to obtain a first-round talent coming off surgery. The organization used this tactic again this past July when they selected LSU RHP Grant Taylor in the second round. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but maybe the past two years are a start of a new draft trend for the White Sox. Using second-round pick at or above bonus slot value in selecting college pitchers with first-round pedigree but drop due to Tommy John surgery.

If it is a new trend, and we will know for sure next July, then it’s worthwhile to see how Pallette is faring in his first entire season back from TJS. Pallette could be the White Sox’s blueprint for how they could handle Taylor next year, even though the latter did not have the starting experience in college.

What stands out to me watching Pallette is how little he uses his lower half. Perhaps it’s his build at 6’1″ 180 lbs, but Pallette doesn’t get downhill on the mound like most starting pitchers. His front leg will rise, and plant, but the shoulders and back seem stiff like a board while the arm whips through. Pallette does a good job with body control and consistently repeats this throwing motion. My concern is how much stress is applied to his throwing arm.

Pallette is an above-average athlete on the mound, and you can tell based on how he repeats his delivery. Often you watch pitchers get out of sorts missing their plant spots due to overthrowing, and command can be lost. That wasn’t the case for Pallette in this outing. Very consistent, which is a good sign.

Pallette’s best pitch was his four-seam fastball. A cap tip to Baseball Prospectus writer Ben Spanier who was in attendance, Pallette mostly sat between 92 to 94 MPH. That’s acceptable velocity as Pallette builds up innings after TJS. Still, an adjustment with this pitching motion to utilize his legs more could help find a tick or two on his four-seamer, especially now that the average four-seam velocity from RHP in the majors is greater than 94 MPH.

What makes Pallette’s four-seamer effective is his ability to stay up in the zone and its tailing effect. Not quite like a two-seamer, but Pallette can get a little arm-side run that allows him to find the outside corner against righties or beat them inside. Pallette stayed on the inner half for left-handed hitters, hoping for jam shots or generating whiffs up in the zone. I saw a few four-seamers from Pallette in the lower half of the strike zone.

That upper-half location plays well with Pallette’s curveball. I noticed in this outing that if Pallette could have the breaking pitching’s apex height at the hitter’s belt, he would have far more success. A few times, Pallette’s curve broke out of his hand at chest height, allowing hitters to adjust as they had more time to read the pitch. When Pallette yanks the curve aiming at the belt height, it tunnels better with his four-seamer and keeps hitters off balance a hair longer.

In college, Pallette’s breaking stuff was his strikeout pitch, but that wasn’t the case against Delmarva. Of his five strikeouts, Pallette’s four-seamer generated four of those punchouts. What was wise of Pallette facing the lineup a second time was throwing his curve early in the count against right-handed hitters. No batter ever wants to swing the first pitch curve, and it allowed Pallette to get ahead. Pallette doubled and tripled down on the curve for a couple of plate appearances, then blew the hitter away with his four-seamer. This tandem of pitches works well together.

Against left-handers, Pallette will throw a slider, but sometimes it looks more like a spike curveball, and the pitch needs work. While Pallette gets a good horizontal drop off his curve, the slider doesn’t have the same bite or vertical movement. Something to monitor in future appearances is how the pitch progresses.

I did see several changeups against lefties from Pallette, and just like the slider, this offspeed offering could use more work on the command side. I like the sink Pallette gets on the changeup, as it could be a way to generate grounders, but he had a tough time locating the corners. On a middle-middle changeup, Delmarva’s Luis Gonzalez hit his first home run in A ball off Palette. The no-doubter was Pallette’s worst pitch of his outing.

Final line: 4.0 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 5 K

Grades

Improvement Items

Pallette’s Last Outing (8/4) vs. Charleston RiverDogs: 3.0 IP 2 H 2 ER 2 BB 5 K