Scouting grades 20–80
50Fastball
55Slider
45Curveball
50Changeup
55Control
A lengthy right hander out of California, Sides has a ton to like, both from an arsenal and a projection standpoint. Sides is a high wasted 6 foot 5 with strength still to be tacked on. He's a fantastic mover down the mound, using the slope and sequencing up his long limbs well. Sides gets into some extremely deep positions on the mound, huge hip shoulder seperation the result and and a long, loose, whippy arm from a three quarter slot.
Sides boasts a solid three pitch mix, headlined by a fastball that sits in the low 90's and tops out at 95. There's some life to the pitch and occasional sinking action. Sides shows strong feel to command the pitch, rarely walking hitters, and spotting it when he has to. Sides's breaking balls both flash considerable upside. The first is a shorter mid 80's slider with cutterish break and tight spin that will register north of 2700 rpms. It's a pitch that could tick up quickly by the spring. Sides has also started to encorporate a bigger, sharper upper 70's curveball, with 11-5 break and spin rates north of 2500 rpms. Sides also throws an upper 80's changeup that he's got nice feel for at the bottom of the zone.
Overall, the look at the mound is extremely intruiging. Sides has a chance to take a huge leap up draft boards with a jump in stuff, a top 50 type pick definetely not out of the cards. It's immense projection from a guy who projects to start at the nevel, plenty of value here.
