Frias dominant in Kane County debut

Mike Parrott knows Luis Frias, and what the Cougars pitching coach saw from his right-hander during Monday's pregame bullpen session was worrisome. Frias threw 28 pitches. Maybe, Parrott said, eight of them landed for a strike. When the duo worked together at Class A Short Season Hillsboro last year, a bad warmup usually meant a bad game.
In his Midwest League debut, Frias bucked that trend. Arizona's No. 16 prospect needed one pitch to get the first out. He went on to allow three hits and a walk while striking out six over six innings as Class A Kane County cruised past Quad Cities, 3-0, at Northwestern Medicine Field.

"That's a different guy," Parrott said to himself in the first inning. "Even the way that he's going after each pitch is a little bit different than he did in the bullpen. That to me is a sign of maturity, a sign of knowing what he has to do to be successful and just learning how to use his stuff."

Nerves, Frias (1-0) explained through a team translator, didn't rattle his command before his first Midwest League start since his promotion last week. He just moved too quickly. So prior to stepping on the mound, the right-hander took a breath and thought for a minute. He figured a shortened arm path could enable him to catch up with his accelerated pace. That way, he hoped, he could still finish out in front of his body.
It worked. Frias retired the first seven batters he faced and worked around a single and a walk in the third inning before tossing a 1-2-3 fourth. Zack Shannon's two-run homer in the bottom of the frame gave the 21-year-old a 2-0 cushion, Keshawn Lynch's steal of home in the fifth provided insurance and Frias faced one over the minimum over his final two innings. Right-hander Chester Pimentel took the ball the rest of the way and didn't allow a hit across the final three frames to earn his eighth save.
Frias got 13 called strikes and induced 11 whiffs. His curveball contributed to both totals. He elevated his fastball, which hovered at around 95 mph, but touched at least 97. He even mixed in some split changeups. The third offering grades lower than the other two, but Parrott said it still has the potential to miss bats when used at the right time. Frias is learning.
"I feel like I've gotten a lot of control with my pitches so far," he said, "but every day I'm trying to get a little bit sharper with my control, with all of my pitches and really feeling comfortable when I'm out there."
Gameday box score
The contrast between what Frias displayed pregame and in-game got to the core of what will make or break his climb through the Minors -- his delivery. Last year, Parrott said, it could vary pitch to pitch. Frias still posted a 2.80 ERA in 54 2/3 innings between the Rookie-level Arizona League and Class A Short Season Northwest League.
"His stuff plays at any level if he can throw it for strikes," Parrott said.
A repeatable delivery this year has helped Frias fulfill that "if." He topped his 2018 numbers with a 1.99 ERA in 10 starts for the Hops. Over that span, he blanked his opponent twice and completed the sixth inning once. In his first start for the Cougars, the right-hander did both.

"I've put in a lot of work throughout extended [spring training] and while I was in Hillsboro on keeping that repeatability in my motion every time I threw," Frias said. "Not just when I was in a game."
Frias stands 6-foot-3, a power pitcher in every sense. Parrott has told him he doesn't have to throw 100 mph to blow by hitters. That not every curveball has to make a batter flail. That there's value in a well-executed pitch. That if he just stays within himself, he can succeed.
It is easier said than done, but Frias' potential is why Arizona signed him as a third baseman out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, only to convert him soon thereafter to a full-time pitcher.
"I don't know what kind of infielder he was or what kind of hitter he was," Parrott said, "but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as good as the pitcher he is right now."