I’m a huge stats guy, but the biggest thing I saw from Tep was that he became mentally tough on the mound. One run didn’t snowball into three or four, it stayed as one isolated run most of the time. On top of that, his command was much-improved.

He’s got a frame that can add on some bulk and just needs to work a little more on his changeup. Texas got a fantastic 14th-round pick—even if he doesn’t pan out, getting a guy with his potential that late is pretty solid.

You’ve got to admit, Tepesch did stall out from his HS form. If BA had him slated as a possible 1st rounder as a HS’er (when Crow/Gibby were wrecking the B12) and the MLB drafting purely on potential, it can’t be great to throw some of the stats he had over the past couple of seasons. To put it bluntly, he wasn’t a 1st round talent.

The good thing about Nick is he throws A LOT of strikes. He does have staff leadership ability too, and his K’s per inning are pretty good.

The bad things are things he could control; WHIP isn’t great, his walkrate is ok (just sub-3 a game), and a lot of his allowed baserunners score (about 50%). Take out his two CG’s, and I’m not overly impressed with a six inning average start. By comparing B12 college baseball to where it would rank within the MLB farm system, at best, it’s Hi-A ball, but I’m leaning towards Mid-A if there was a better comparison. Getting hit around like that isn’t great. Sure, some of the hits could be due to the PING!, but he’s basically going against the best of the best in pro ball.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes, in ‘07 out of HS, Nick Tepesch may have been a borderline 1st round talent. Three years later, he hasn’t improved as much as you could hope…just look at the paragraph above; those are his doing. The good thing for Nick is he’s going to a good organization that can develop him, and hopefully get his secondary pitches a little more cut. The Rangers saw enough in him to pay above slot money for him.