RHP Noah Skirrow, Free Agent -- Signed $20,000 -- Philadelphia Phillies

RHP Noah Skirrow

Hometown: Stoney Creek, Ont.

Bats/Throws: R-R

Height/Weight: 6’3” 215 lbs.

School: Liberty University Flames

Coach: Scott Jackson.

Signing scouts: Kellan Mckeon and Alex Agostino (St-Bruno, Que.)

Past Teams: Orleans Firebirds, Great Lake Canadians, Tri-State Arsenal, Ontario Blue Jays, Hamilton Cardinals

Past coaches: Kelly Nicholson, Bryant Gaines, Adam Stern, Joe Barth, Doug Mathieson, Jamie Bodaly, Joe Ellison, Sean Travers, Dan Bleiwas, Mike Steed.

Twitter Handle: @Noah_Skirrow

Ranked on other lists: 244th on Baseball America’s combined list of high schoolers and collegians (May 8) ... 226th on Baseball America list (April 3) ... 216th on Baseball America list (March 25) ... 36th in 2019 Cape Cod Baseball League Top 50 by Prospects Live

Former Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encaracion can spot a good arm when he sees one. This was in the spring before Encarnacion headed to the Cleveland Indians. Skirrow joined the Langley Blaze for their spring trip.

Scouting Report:

Baseball America

“A Canadian-born, 6-foot-3, 225-pound righthander at Liberty, Skirrow elevated his draft stock after making the Cape Cod League All-Star team last summer with Orleans. Skirrow started seven games over the summer and posted a 2.76 ERA in 29.1 innings while striking out 20 batters and walking 13. While there, he showed a fastball that sat mostly in the 91-92 mph range but could touch 95. He also landed an impressive breaking ball. That stuff was largely in line with what scouts had seen from the workhorse righthander in previous years, as he was up to 95-96 in a starting role in 2019 with Liberty as well. During that sophomore season, Skirrow led the Atlantic Sun Conference in strikeouts per nine innings (11.5) and posted a 3.76 ERA. With a strong spring, Skirrow had a chance to push himself into the third- or fourth- -round range. He performed at a high level over four 2020 starts—1.96 ERA in 23 innings—but his stuff wasn’t quite as loud. Scouts saw a fastball that was more 87-92 and sitting in the 88-89 mph range. While Skirrow continued to show good feel for spinning two breaking balls, the velocity drop leads scouts to feel he might work best in a reliever role at the next level. In that case, he can let everything eat and potentially work with two above-average pitches.”

Prospects Live

“A solidly built right-hander with a barrel chested frame that should require some maintenance. Skirrow has a deep arsenal of offerings he can draw from, highlighted by two distinct breaking balls with above-average to plus spin rates. He showed his changeup off the plate to left-handed batters, and it was effective in stealing strikes, his fastball works low in the zone with some downhill plane and good spin rates sitting in the 2200-2400 range. His curve ball flashed plus with 12-6 shape and lots of vertical break, sitting mid-to-high 70s hitting 2700+ rpms on his spin rates. He also features a low 80s slider. It’s an average or better pitch with a sweepy break and two-plane movement.

American League scouting report

The good: he fills up the strike zone. The bad: expends a lot of effort in his delivery.

Most influential people in his baseball life: “I would say Joe Barth was definitely a big one for me in high school. He’s pretty much responsible for getting me to Liberty and refining the talent I did have to get me to that point. And the Liberty staff as a whole, especially head coach Scott Jackson and Bryant Gaines (pitching coach Skirrow’s freshman and sophomore years). “Those two guys helped me a lot,” Skirrow, who gave credit to current Liberty pitching coach Matt Williams for “really putting me over the hump. I’d say that Coach Williams was kind of the last little push that I needed.”

The Liberty Flames trio pitched a combined no-hit win over Marist. (from left to right) Landon Riley, Skirrow and Troy Britts.

2020 season, junior year at Liberty: Went 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA over four starts in the pandemic-shortened season ... Allowed 14 hits and five earned runs in 23 innings ... Batters hit .179 against him, with 20 strikeouts and 13 walks ... Took a hard-luck loss at Clemson, allowing one run in six innings on six hits, walking two and hitting one batter while striking out three ... Cruised to a win versus Seton Hall with one run and three hits allowed over 6 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking two ... Pitched the first 5 1/3 innings of a combined no-hitter, striking out five, walking six, hitting one and allowing four runs (two earned) in a wild 6-4 win over the Marist Red Foxes on a freezing cold day at home ... Laboured through 5 1/3 innings against Kent State but kept his team in the game, allowing two earned runs on five hits, three walks, two hit batters and six strikeouts.

2019 season, sophomore year at Liberty: Went 5-6 with a 3.76 ERA over 76 2/3 innings in 16 games (15 starts) ... Struck out 98 and walked 35 ... Opponents hit .230 against him ... 11.5 K/9 led ASUN Conference ... Struck out nine over six innings at South Carolina, allowing two runs on three hits ... Pitched eight innings in an 11-0 shutout at Delaware, with 11 strikeouts ... Dominated North Florida over eight innings in an 8-2 win, setting down 23 of last 24 batters ... Twirled seven scoreless for the win against Lipscomb in an 11-0 rout ... Picked up a win with 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in Game 8 of the 2019 ASUN championship against North Florida

2018 season, freshman year at Liberty: Posted a 4-3 record with a 4.57 ERA over 67 innings (14 starts in 15 appearances) ... Led the staff with a .223 BAA (second in Big South) ... Struck out 77 and walked 42 ... Made quite the impression in his Liberty debut, striking out nine over 5 2/3 scoreless innings against VCU ... Set down first 13 Campbell hitters in an 8-3 win ... Punched out eight over six scoreless innings to beat Charleston Southern 9-1 ... Blanked top-20 opponent St. John’s and allowed just three hits in six innings ... Touched for a run in 6 1/3 innings and struck out eight to beat Charleston Southern 4-2 in an elimination game at the Big South Baseball Championship

Honours: 2019 Season _ Cape Cod All-Star with the Orleans Firebirds ... ASUN Honor Roll ... 2018 Season _ Big South Freshman of the Week (Feb. 19) ... Big South Presidential Honor Roll ... 2017 Season _ Perfect Game All-Region Canada/Puerto Rico.