Keep an Eye on Ben Wells

Ben Wells of the Boise Hawks will be on MiLB.tv Wednesday night. The Hawks' Opening Day starter gets the home opener, too.

Wells was selected by the Cubs in the 7th round of the 2010 draft and signed for $530,000. Barely 18 now (born 9/10/92), the big righty could be a fun one to watch as he develops. A graduate of Bryant High School and a native of Alexander, Arkansas, he's at least 6'4" and 220 lbs. He is listed at 6'1", but he's grown.

Both the money and talent say third round. Committed to Arkansas, he was going to be a Razorback and was far from a sure thing. Put it all together and the Cubs had good reason to go over slot (which is normal, anyway).

"Ben, who grew to about 6-4 in the last six months was clocked at 95 miles per hour on his fastball late in the high school season. He was consistently around 92 or 93 with a knee-buckling slider and a developing split-finger for a change of pace."

"I only struck out six or seven and my pitch count was way down. I let them hit ground balls. That’s when I really felt like I developed a lot more as a pitcher."

His reputation also grew.

Perfect game in state 7-A final, with 92-94 FB, propelled stock upwards; was just in mid-80s earlier in year

He's a kid, just 17 when signed, but he seems mature at comfortable with himself in these interviews.





According to a high school bio his favorite subject was math and he likes tacos. And he enjoys pitching. A lot.

"I’m just trying now to throw to contact a lot because with my off-speed stuff and my fastball’s got a lot of run, I can get a lot of groundballs."

"I’ve been working on a change-up a lot. At the beginning of the season, I really wasn’t throwing it a whole lot. I was just fastball, slider, which was working fine but when you don’t have a third pitch like that, the batters can really get used to that. They can lay off your one off-speed pitch and just hit your fastballs. And, if you’re not locating either one of those, it’s going to raise your pitch count up a lot. So I’ve really been working hard on getting a change-up, locating it and being able to throw it when I want and being able to throw it for a strike every time. I started throwing it against Van Buren and that’s when everything kind of fell together that game."

Prospect gawking is always fun, and Wells should be one to keep watching. His first start wasn't bad, but wasn't great. He got through five innings, walked two and hit a batter. He also struck-out four and was credited with seven ground outs. Working like that could get him moving quickly.