Another pop-up prospect, Matt Frisbee help throw a combined no hitter early in the season, and that got him some press. What can we tell of this hurler who is now 24 year old and has never been high on scout’s lists?
- Born: November 18, 1996
- B/T: Right/Right
- 6’5″, 215-lbs
- Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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:
Oh, that WHIP trend! Oh, that BB% trend! Oh, that K%-BB% trend!
He’s maintained his high strikeout rate no matter the level. Yes, he’s 24 at Double-A [UPDATE ON 5/31: Triple-A just after I wrote this], but it’s not his fault 2020 happened. Guys like Frisbee might have been hurt the most by a lost year.
So far no batters have done well against him.
This spray chart is only updated through 2019, but he’s only given up 10 more hits so far in 2021, so the chart captures most of his career. Pretty balanced, with a few more HRs pulled to right.
Again, this chart only goes through 2019, but as we above, his 2021 K%-BB% is 29%, so just imagine his Double-A line hovering around that 0.3 line. His career average K%-BB% is elite.
So if the scouts have mostly ignored Frisbee, what can we make of the numbers? Well, he’s a recent scout look:
Yes, if he keeps this up, the scouts are going to increase his rating.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: Not on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: Not on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: Not on their Top 133.
- Fantasy Six Pack: Not on their dynasty list.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: Not on the Top 473.
- Fantrax: Not on the Top 250.
Warnings
A 15th-round draft pick doesn’t usually break out. The scouts have given their verdict by ignoring him.
Conclusion
He has a fastball that sits 93-96 mph, a hard breaking slider that induces strikeouts, he has a decent changeup, and now he’s added a split-finger for a fourth pitch. That’s a starting pitcher’s repertoire. Without plus pitches, he’s only a potential end-of-rotation starter, but that’s valuable too.
In his most recent start, on May 25th, he did give up two HRs, a double and two singles, though he did strike out eight batters too. If this is a sign of Double-A catching up to him, we’ll soon find out.
On the other hand, if those eight strikeouts and zero walks are signs that he still has Double-A batter’s number, Frisbee will keep rolling along until he gets bumped to Triple-A.
I’ll predict that he is in the running for the rotation in the spring of 2022. He might not make it then, but the fact that we are even talking about such things shows just how far this 15th-rounder has traveled.