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"You guys are going to like this kid," Washington Nationals' scouting director Kris Kline told reporters after the Nats selected 6'5'' right-hander Nicholas Pivetta out of New Mexico Junior College with the 136th pick in the 4th Round of the 2013 MLB Draft. "Very good delivery. [Junior college] kid so he's young, he just turned 20 I believe. Saw him a couple of times this year. Looking at 89-95 with, like I said, a really good delivery and a plus breaking ball. It's a curve ball, it's not a spike, it's a conventional-grip curve ball. This kid to me is a [no.3] starter with the potential to be higher just because he has so much upside. He's got a very good feel for his changeup."
"He hasn't quite filled out yet," Kline continued, "He's a strike thrower, so he's going to learn how to pitch [and] there's not a lot of tweaking involved with this kid's delivery, he's pretty clean as is, so it should be a pretty good transition into the minor leagues."
According to Baseball America's Jim Callis, the Nationals have signed Pivetta, giving them deals with their top nine picks from this month's draft:
#Nationals sign 4th-rder Nic Pivetta for $364,300. New Mexico JC RHP, 90-93 to 97, flashes plus slider & changeup, New Mex commit. #mlbdraft
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisBA) June 20, 2013
The $346,300 figure noted is exactly on slot for a pitcher the Nationals described in their press release on this year's draft class as, "....one of the top junior college arms in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft."
The Victoria, British Columbia-born pitcher went, "... 9-2 with a 3.36 ERA over 13 starts in 2013," and, "... tossed six complete games and posted a .235 batting average against."
After Pivetta's selection, we received an email from the Canadian Baseball Network, which provided the following information on Pivetta:
• "Pivetta Perfect Game's 8th best JUCO prospect" - Allan Simpson, Canadian Baseball Network
• "Video Scouting Report - Nick Pivetta" - Liam McGuire, Canadian Baseball Network
• "Pivetta, O'Neill best Perfect Game Canucks" - Allan Simpson, Canadian Baseball Network
• "O'Neill, Pivetta, Quantrill raising Arizona" - Bob Elliot, Canadian Baseball Network
• via ProBaseballWay on Youtube: