The Eastern League playoffs kicked off on Wednesday night, with one divisional series starting in Trenton between the Yankees' affiliate there and the Blue Jays' New Hampshire affiliate, with an outstanding matchup of starting pitching prospects.
Kyle Drabek came to Toronto in the Roy Halladay trade this past offseason and ranked No. 40 on my Top 100 prospects coming into the year, but Wednesday night he brought the best stuff I've seen (or heard of) from him, with two plus-plus pitches and an aggressive approach. He started out 93-97 in the first inning and was 91-96 by the end of his outing, hitting 97 at least three times over the first two frames. His power curveball at 84-86 was a big league out pitch, with depth and a very sharp break -- and he threw it for strikes in addition to burying it for swings and misses.
He barely used -- or needed -- his straight changeup, but it's also not yet on par with the other two pitches. He worked to both sides of the plate and overpowered most of the hitters in Trenton's weak lineup. Drabek takes a long stride toward the plate and generates great arm speed from it, although he doesn't rotate his hips much and is off the rubber very quickly. I'm more concerned by his tendency to throw across his body when going to his glove side because of how he cuts himself off in his landing. Those two pitches do give him ace potential that I haven't seen from him before, although the lack of a solid third offering and the minor delivery issues probably give him a realistic ceiling just below that.