Matt Packer LHP SP Indians (Lake County Captains) In a Midwest League match-up, Packer shutdown the West Michigan Whitecaps with an 8 inning, no runs, 9 k effort that lowered his era to 1.88. Whitecaps hitters could not square up the heavy heat of the young left-hander. Packer racked up 13 groundouts to 0 flyouts. Pretty much every Whitecap scoring opportunity ended with a double play ball or a weak grounder to a greedy infielder. Amazing performance.
Our Instinct: Selected in the 32nd round in 2009 (965th overall), Matt Packer (age 22) made the move from the bullpen to the starting rotation for the Lake County Captains. Right now, Matt’s 2010 line reads 57 innings, 55 strikeouts, only 3 homeruns and a mere 7 walks. Packer throws a heavy fastball that sits in the low nineties and, when he’s on, it completely sucks the power out of opposing bats. He uses a good sharp slider too, but everything works off the heater that he keeps down in the zone. With only seven professional starts to his credit, Packer needs to be put on your watchlist. If he this kind of performance doesn’t hold up over time, closing duty would not be too much of a stretch.
