There is something to be said for stress impacting how to pitch. After struggling for two years in relief while attempting to stay in the USC rotation, pitcher Chris Clarke put it all together this year at USC with a 1.12 ERA in 24 games. In 48 innings, he struck out 55. The Cubs took Clarke this summer in the 4th round of the MLB Draft based on his spring and he’s having success as a starter so far at Eugene.
Basic Info
Weight – 212 lbs.
Throws – Right
Strengths – Misses Bats
ETA – 2022/2023
Clarke’s college career was very checkered. Coming off of TJS in high school, his first two springs at USC were a struggle. But things actually started to click for Clarke last summer in the Cal Ripken Summer League. He started 5 games and posted a 2.73 ERA with 25 Ks in 26.1 IP while only walking 5.
That success carried over to this spring. He began the year as the setup man and was thriving in that role. When the closer went to the rotation, Clarke ascended to the closer’s role and had six saves at the end of the season.
It is easy to see why Clarke has been so successful the past year. He throws a fastball anywhere between 92-95 and he combines that with two great breaking balls. He throws a nice curve and a vicious slider. From his height, and the angle at which he throws, he is hard to square up. Here is a shot of the curve.
At first, many assumed Clarke was drafted as a reliever. It appears the Cubs are using that as plan B if this starting thing does not work out. This is not the first time the Cubs have taken a reliever and tried to transform him into a starter. In Clarke’s case, he only tallied 173 innings in college, which is not a lot over three years. So, his arm, despite having TJS, is pretty fresh and low mileage.
At Eugene, Clarke is making the Cubs look good. In 4 starts, he’s allowed only 2 ERs. He’s made 6 appearances total with an ERA of 1.38 with 19 strikeouts in 13 innings. He has only walked one batter. On August 1, he was bumped up to 3 innings where we can see more of what he can do in an extended setting. That night, he looked brilliant with 5 Ks and no hits allowed along with a lot of weak contact. He did it all using just 39 pitches with 26 of them being for strikes.
This past Sunday, Clarke pitched again going three innings. He looked to be struggling to find the feel for his pitches. He worked a lot of deep counts but he was able to get through 3 innings as he used 60 pitches (41 strikes) to do so. Let’s just just say that even though he struggled, the best that Vancouver could do was to foul off a lot of pitches. Still, Clarke found a way to hold Vancouver scoreless as he only he only gave up 2 hits and walked one.
Here is his slider. Check out the wicked action.
Here’s the thing I like about Clarke: the more I see him pitch, the more I like what he throws and the more I like what he could possibly do over five to six innings. This starter thing could work out.
Cubs Central 
[…] of Eugene players last week. Pedro Martinez, Michael McAvene, Chase Strumpf, Bryan King, and Chris Clarke got some free pub. Next week, I continue what might be described as Eugene Frenzy with looks at […]
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