Sometimes a player puts up such good numbers, it’s a pleasure to analyze them.
- Born: January 8, 1998
- B/T: Right/Right
- 6’5″, 230-lbs
- Signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014 out of the Dominican Republic. Traded to Minnesota in 2018.
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
This is exactly the type of skill chart I love to see. Every category shows improvement, with only the walk rate sorta hovering in place. This is the picture of a pitcher learning how to harness his skills.
Lefties do better against him, but even in Class A with that 1.80 WHIP, he was still striking out twice as many batters as he walked.
Other than the infield hits, this is about as balanced a spray chart as you can find.
Here we see the visual version of that skill chart above. Higher…higher…higher. Even in 2019 when he hit Double-A and took a couple of weeks to get his bearings, he then started moving higher to finish the season.
This is a four-pitch repertoire, but let’s ignore that changeup. It’s really a high-90s fastball that he throws low in the zone. It doesn’t spin as much as it could though, so it’s not as overwhelming as you would think. His curve, on the other hand, at 2500 RPM, is a real weapon. Add in a sinker pitch that also induces ground balls, and combine that with his large, and filled-out, frame, and you have the picture of a starter.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #248 on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: Not on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: #63 on their Top 120.
- Fantasy Six Pack: #736 on their dynasty list.
- Prospects365: #96 on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #199 on the Top 487.
- Fantrax: #201 on the Top 250.
Warnings
We would like to see his command improve.
It would be nice if his improvement continued with his pitchability, to play off his great curve with a FB/Sinker combo.
Conclusion
He’s started 7 games at AA, and now he’s on the 60-man. His curve can play in the big leagues right now, and his FB might be good enough to do so as well.
This is a kid who has grown into his potential. He might be a year or two off from reaching it, but I see him as a mid-rotation regular.