IBC

Whether you consider it a best-of-three or a best-of-nine, the Birmingham Barons won both of their series against the Tennessee Smokies on Friday, punching their ticket to the Southern League Championship Series with a 6-3 victory in Game 3 (or Game 9) at Regions Field.

The Barons’ 3-0 lead was erased in the middle innings, but because the baseball gods decided to smile on my subject matter, Rikuu Nishida scored the go-ahead run by living his life 90 feet at a time. He led off with an infield single, reached third after a pair of one-out walks, and scored when Jacob Gonzalez’s chopper developed slowly enough for Nishida’s speed to rule out the force at home ...

https://soxmachine.com/2024/09/white-so ... t-20-2024/

The Birmingham Barons anointed Rikuu Nishida the Bromberg’s Slugger of the Game for the Southern League Division Series Game 2 showdown against the Tennessee Smokies on Thursday, which struck me as a particular devious way for the regional jeweler to avoid giving out a discount, gift card or other reward.

But it turned out that he only needed a hit of any kind to activate the promotion, which he collected with a bunt that traveled about 25 feet.

Slugging is about the only thing Nishida hasn’t done this year. The Osaka native collected just 19 extra-base hits over 587 plate appearances between Kannapolis, Winston-Salem and Birmingham during the regular season, but he compensated with plenty of action in every other area, hitting .304/.418/.362 with 86 walks (to 64 strikeouts) and 49 stolen bases (in 61 attempts) while bouncing between second base and left field.

That makes it all remarkable that he led the minors with 114 runs scored, which is the highest total by a White Sox prospect since Mike Cameron scored 120 runs for the 1996 Barons.

Like most players atop that leaderboard, Cameron did it the easier way. He scored himself with 28 homers, part of a suite of 74 extra-base hits. Nishida homered once, and while he was pleased to point it out to me — I opened a question asking about scoring runs without homering — he said adding power is his major project this offseason.

“That’s my only problem,” Nishida said.

Nishida, at least on Thursday, reduced the amount of calisthenics in the batter’s box from his draft season to the occasional plate-dusting, but there is still plenty of variety. The default Nishida swing starts with his hands in front of his collarbone, bouncing in eighth notes to his right foot’s quarter notes. He then loads up with a big leg kick, briefly suspending it before launching into a stride that counters the pitcher’s. You’re just not guaranteed to see it.

“Sometimes I’m doing no step because I want to focus on contact, and then sometimes I do open stance because I want to see more of the inside pitch or outside pitch,” Nishida said. “I do so many different things because I face so many different pitchers and different situations. […]

“Hitting is facing other guys every single day, so I have to adjust every single day. I switch bats, I switch stances, I switch everything.”

During his time in the organization, he said White Sox coaches haven’t tried to disrupt his approach.

“They’ve never told me anything. They said just hit hard more,” Nishida said with a laugh.

The pursuit of more power is easier said than done. Listed at 5’6″ and 150 pounds, Nishida looks the part of a top-of-order pest. He hit .312/.395/.443 and scored 67 runs over 63 games during his junior season in Oregon in 2023, after which the White Sox drafted him in the 11th round.

The expansion of his defensive roles also hints at the limits of his offensive ceiling. He’s a natural second baseman, but he started rotating into the outfield last year in order to increase his versatility, which he says is a work in progress.

Nishida went 2-for-5 with a walk in Game 2 of the Southern League Division Series on Thursday, including a run that would be his 115th if postseason stats were lumped in with his regular-season work.

When asked about whether he had any special talent for crossing the plate, Nishida attributed it more to situational luck and lineup talent.

“I need to say thank you to the other guys,” Nishida said.

https://soxmachine.com/2024/09/barons-n ... e_vignette

Jonathan Cannon Has Been a Promising Arm in a Dispiriting White Sox Season

The Chicago White Sox haven’t had much go their way this year, and that includes the pitching department. Only Garrett Crochet (4.4) and the since-traded Erick Fedde (2.6) have produced as much as 1.3 WAR. Those things said, a few young pitchers have shown promise, one of them being 24-year-old rookie right-hander Jonathan Cannon. Over 119 2/3 innings, the 2022 third-round pick out of the University of Georgia has logged a 4.37 ERA, a 4.57 FIP, and 1.2 WAR — not sexy numbers, but thanks to a five-pitch mix and a cerebral approach to his craft, his potential is real. Prior to the season, Eric Longenhagen assigned Cannon a 45 FV, calling him “a high-floored no. 4/5 starter prospect thanks to his repertoire depth and command.”

Cannon discussed his M.O. on the mound when the White Sox visited Fenway Park earlier this month.

———

David Laurila: You’re primarily known for your sinker, which you’ve thrown more than any of your other pitches this season. It’s also the pitch you’ve had the least success with from a statistical standpoint. Why is that?

Jonathan Cannon: “For the most part, it’s been the command of it being bad. If you look at the best sinkerballers in the game right now — I’m thinking guys like Logan Webb — what makes their sinkers so good is they do a really good job of commanding it down-and-away to righties. It kind of sets up everything else. When they’re missing, they’re missing down, but more middle. Right now, I feel like I command the outer half well, but a lot of them are elevated to around thigh high. When it leaks into the middle and is thigh high, I don’t get a lot of groundballs with it. That’s kind of been the main focus for me. When I do miss, I want to miss where I’m getting a groundball rather than a hard line drive into the gap.

“That’s one of the reasons I’ve increased the usage of my changeup. I wasn’t throwing it a whole lot at beginning of the year, but then I started having good results with it after trying it in some more counts. I’ve been tying to get the rest of my pitches more involved. That’s why you’ve seen an uptick in the use of the four-seamer as well. It’s not a good pitch by itself; it doesn’t have a lot of vert, and I don’t have a great approach angle, but because I throw a lot that moves at the bottom, I get good results on the four-seamer. I’m kind of trying to get away from using the sinker too much.”

Laurila: What are the metrics on your sinker?

Cannon: “It’s anywhere from two to four vert, and 15 horizontal. The metrics on it are good. It’s more that the usage has maybe been a little bit too much, and again, the location hasn’t always been great. Something I had to learn when I got here is that while in the minor leagues I could rip that thing right down the middle and get a groundball most of the time, but against these guys, when it gets thigh high and above they’re pretty good at hitting it in the air.

“I was always taught to throw sinkers underneath the hands of righties, bury it down-and-in. Up here, looking at the analytics of where guys hit sinkers well… generally speaking, they hit down-and-in pretty well, no matter what pitch it is. So, we have to command down-and-away, and up-and-in on lefties to front-hip them. That’s kind of been the main thing, figuring out how to command it.”

Laurila: You don’t throw many sinkers to lefties. Why?

Cannon: “I don’t know what the numbers are, but lefties have to be hitting north of .400 against my sinker. It just kind of falls into the path of their barrel. Even when I put one down-and-away they tend to hit it well. That’s why I’ve tried to use more four-seams and cutters, to get up-and-in on their hands. That also kind of opens it up a little bit down-and-away. The sinker up-and-in to lefties, in my opinion, is the toughest pitch to throw. But that’s really the only place you can throw it consistently and they won’t hit it hard.

“I watch a lot of Logan Webb. I feel like we pitch very similarly, and the sinker up-and-in is a key to his arsenal against lefties, because everything he throws is kind of moving down in the zone. He’s got the really good changeup, the good sweeper, the good sinker. By throwing the sinker up-and-in, he backs guys up. He stands them up. If you’re just throwing everything down in the zone, guys get their eyes down there and you get some good takes. You’ve got to make them reset that a little bit.

“Against Baltimore the other day, I was able to throw the sinker up-and-in, which got them off of everything else. When I’m throwing both that and the cutter up-and-in, it becomes sort of a guessing game for them as to which way it’s going to move. I was also able to throw more four-seams against Baltimore, which we figured we needed to get more involved.”

Laurila: Do you see yourself transitioning toward more fours and fewer twos?

Cannon: “Not at all. I think the sinker and sweeper are too good to go away from. Against Baltimore, it was one of those things where I was going to throw some fours until they adjusted to it, but they weren’t able to adjust to it, so I kept throwing it.”

Laurila: Why do you feel they weren’t able to adjust?

Cannon: “I think it just had to do with the scouting report. Looking at my scouting reports against left-handed hitters, what I would do is look for something kind of thigh high, middle-away. I’d look changeup in the zone and sinker down-and-away, and then just kind of fight off the cutter. Anything coming in on you is probably going to be a ball. That’s why I got a lot of takes on the sinker up-and-in. And because I don’t really throw anything up-and-away, four-seamers there kind of surprised them.”

Laurila: How do you balance prioritizing your best pitches with utilizing your entire arsenal?

Cannon: “It’s one of those things where you have to constantly be adjusting. I became really heavy with a sinker/sweeper combo to righties, and it kind of became ‘Let’s eliminate one of them and just look for one pitch.’ I had an at-bat against James McCann where I threw him a couple of really good sweepers and he was able to take them because he was looking sweeper. But I was able to jam a sinker up-and-in to get him out a couple of times. Same thing with [Coby] Mayo. Going up-and-in with the four and up-and-in with the sinker got them off everything else. The sweeper is my best pitch to righties, so I can’t allow them to eliminate it.”

Laurila: Any final thoughts?

Cannon: “Analytically, all of my pitches are in a good spot. It’s just about figuring the best way to use them in order to get hitters out consistently. I’ve been learning a lot this year.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jonathan-ca ... ox-season/

Grant Taylor’s Baseball Reference page hasn’t seen any updates since he went down with a lat strain in June, but the 2023 second round pick has been throwing in bridge league games in Arizona. Despite just 16 innings at Low-A on his professional record, Janish not only expects the hard-throwing right-hander to be one of the best arms in the AFL, but entering the upper echelon of White Sox pitching prospects soon.

“Hagen Smith and Noah [Schultz], those guys are obviously extremely talented,” Janish said. “But Grant’s going to be in the same mold. It’s that kind of pure ability. We need to be very intentional with doing what we can to help him stay healthy. Obviously he’s had some issues on that front but he’s a big, strong kid. I go back to that he wants to be really good. He wants the ball. He likes to be in the fire.”

Taylor’s workload was bound to be limited in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, but his lat strain was notable because his combination of high-90s velocity and elite delivery extension is only rivaled by Tyler Glasnow, who has not been a paragon of durability during his career. Any Glasnow-shaped production would be a dream outcome for a post-TJ upside play out of the second round, but the Sox want to find a way to keep Taylor healthy without tamping down that makes him exceptional.

“We’re not going to go down the road of trying to compromise the way he moves or operates,” Janish said. “What we’re going to try to do is help him understand what he needs to do on a day to day basis, week to week and the season as a whole to give himself the best opportunity to stay healthy. At the end of the day he’s big and strong, everything works fast, when that’s happening, when the engine’s running like that, we’re all subject to breaking down a little bit. We’re just trying to make the support system even stronger and help Grant understand what he needs to do to say healthy.”

https://soxmachine.com/2024/09/colson-m ... e-mission/

The White Sox’s farm system is on the rise, largely on the strength of its plethora of pitching prospects. Currently fronted by fireballing southpaw Noah Schultz, with a strong performance in the Fall League, Grant Taylor could place himself squarely in the middle of that group. The Louisiana State alum a wrecking ball at Low-A Kannapolis, where he struck out 25 and walked just one over 16 innings. The righthander works with a five-pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball that peaked at 100 mph and a high-80s slider that garnered a miss rate of more than 50%.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... -analysis/

Hitter of the Week

Jacob Melton, OF, Houston Astros (Triple-A Sugar Land): 2-4, HR, 2 BB, R, 3 RBI.

Melton, a second-rounder back in 2022, has always demonstrated quick-twitch athleticism and plenty of pop, though he has also been pitching a long term battle with his swing and miss tendencies. He’s still fighting that battle—the 24-year-old carried a 25% strikeout rate following his promotion to Triple-A—but his .260/.314/.405 line over 192 plate appearances there indicate that he is tapping into his talent.

Peyton Pallette, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Double-A Birmingham): 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

The former second-round pick might be in his failed starter era, but the Arkansas man is thriving in his new relief role. Since moving to the pen in early July he’s been lights out, posting a 1.32 ERA that month in High-A, throwing 18 shutout innings in August between Winston-Salem and Birmingham, and continuing his strong form in September. Fastball up, curveball down still plays.

Denzel Clarke, OF, Oakland Athletics (Double-A Midland): 2-5

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... h-dezenzo/

Ryan Clifford, 1B/OF, New York Mets (Double-A Binghamton)

Clifford has power, no doubt about that. You didn’t really see it in Brooklyn to start the season, but that’s about the worst place to hit in the minors as a lefty, especially on cold April nights, given the unusual batter’s eye flanked by neon amusement rides, and the winds often blowing off the water and in your face from right field. Clifford showed plenty of power after his promotion to Binghamton, bopping 18 bombs in a bit over a half season of at-bats. But most of those came during a torrid June, and all told it was a very uneven season. There’s significant swing-and-miss concerns due to his highly leveraged pull-side approach, and while he knows what he can’t hit hard, he can be a bit too passive overall. And while he’s splitting time between first base and corner outfield still, the former is his more likely long-term landing spot. You can look at the shape of Clifford’s 2024 season and perhaps conjure up memories of another Mets first baseman—who also spent some time in the corner outfield, much to his career WAR’s detriment—in Lucas Duda. But Duda posted those kinds of slash lines in the majors, hitting over .280 at his upper minor stops, not .231 like Clifford did this year. And regardless, when you’re a first base prospect, any year after the year where you weren’t an offensive juggernaut can be make-or-break.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... sons-2025/

White Sox prospect Peyton Pallette’s move to the bullpen has triggered a breakout

White Sox prospect Peyton Pallette is going to the Arizona Fall League and is pretty hyped about it, so if Tuesday night’s dominant two-inning relief appearance represented any sort of finale for him with the Birmingham Barons facing playoff elimination, it’s that he could be leaving the Double-A level behind for good.

Counting the playoffs, Pallette allowed three earned runs in 17 innings at Birmingham (1.59 ERA) while striking out 19 of the 66 batters he faced (28 percent), and yielding a .186 slugging percentage. Working almost always in two-inning bursts means that since being moved from the High-A Winston-Salem rotation to the bullpen in July, he’s compiled 40⅔ innings of relief work with a 1.11 ERA, struck out 35.1 percent of the hitters he’s faced and allowed three extra-base hits over that time.

It’s a meaningful enough sample for the White Sox front office, as much they refuse to publicly close the door on the former second-round pick returning to starting, to consider Pallette as someone who could be pitching in the majors next year in relief. For the most part, Pallette is having too much fun dominating to dedicate too much attention to mourning his days as a starter.

“It’s really just literally going up on the mound and attacking guys,” Pallette said of his mindset in relief. “If you’re out there and attacking everybody and giving everybody your best stuff and sticking to your strengths, most the time the odds will be in your favor and you’ll have a pretty good day out there.”

With his ERA sitting at 7.21 at the end of June in Winston-Salem, Pallette sort of expected a move to the pen was coming. And since pitching at a powerhouse SEC program at Arkansas meant he had cut his teeth in the bullpen as an underclassmen, the move didn’t faze him either.

If the old adage is that every reliever is just a failed starter, Pallette’s path won’t reset the narrative. Scouts had been skeptical of his slight 6-foot-1-inch frame in a rotation, even if the added burden of trying to recover his mechanics after losing the 2022 season to Tommy John surgery raised the difficulty level for him. But as the 23-year-old lays out why things have clicked for him out of the pen, his experience speaks to the notion that some pitchers are just more suited to the reliever lifestyle.

“There’s definitely been a velocity increase a couple ticks, and honestly I think it’s just because my body is not taking such a hit for one period a week,” Pallette said. “I love how much I’ve been pitching every week, even though it adds up to as much as starting once a week. But I’m in there more and I have more of a routine of how to go about each hitter and kind of just get into a rhythm, and I’m sticking with it and going out there and competing.”

“He’s confident, and sometimes the mental/emotional aspect of a role clicks with a player and he turns into somebody he wasn’t before,” said Brian Bannister. “I love the arm action, I love the shoulder mobility and how he loads. One thing I always look for is guys who have a ‘look like they’re going to punch somebody’ arm action tend to be the spin guys. He gets into a nice load and you obviously see the 3,000 RPM spin and he can really rip it off. In the current role, with the premium velo, with the spin talent, with the ability to shape the ball, it’s just really fun. With a potential leverage guy who has velo, you’re trying to figure out what the outlier second pitch is going to be, and I think he’s got multiple options.”

Unlike other reliever conversions, Pallette isn’t of the mind to junk any of his secondary pitches just yet. His slider was a project at the start of the season and he remains optimistic about it. His changeup has taken off because of the higher range of velocity has given it better separation. The biggest usage change he would cite is just throwing his fastball more, since when he first moved to the pen, his attack plan boiled down to “let’s just try to blow this fastball by you every single time.”

Pallette doesn’t regard himself who dives too deeply into pitch data, and isn’t bothered that a relief routine leaves him less time to overthink his mechanics either. He speaks of his changeup pretty exclusively in terms of how much it looks like his fastball, he evaluates success of his curveball not by the 3,000 RPM readings but landing it for a strike. He likes to read the swings of hitters and respond accordingly with what he throws next, and tearing through a lineup one time at maximum effort suits his methodology.

Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but a year and a half of feeling out of whack mechanically, fits of body and arm soreness as he tried to get used to his body after Tommy John surgery, all seemed to move to the back burner as Pallette moved to the pen.

“There was always this thought in my mind that who I was for the past year and a half wasn’t me,” Pallette said. “I was still dealing with a lot of things. I was still dealing with aches and pains and mechanics issues, and control issues. There were a lot of things that were happening that I literally just knew was going to go away at some point if I kept my head down and kept working.”

If the end of the Barons’ year allows Pallette to pick his head back up and look around, he can look back at three months of pitching the way he always wanted to pitch, ahead of a stint in the AFL that was a goal of his from the start of the year. Clearing his head of all the mechanical, rehab, pitch design responsibilities that were overwhelming his game isn’t something that has to go away if he returns to starting.

But the nature of Pallette’s recent work is that he’s at peace with how he’s pitching, no matter the role.

“I love both,” Pallette said. “Whatever they would really like me to do, I’ll be ready for it. That’s my nature. I attack whatever I’m doing and I go after it. With how I’ve seen relieving go, if that’s what they want to keep me in, awesome. If they want to see me progress as a starter, I’ll be ready to do that too.”

https://soxmachine.com/2024/09/white-so ... -breakout/

Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics

The story with Clarke has long been the same: He’s as tooled-up as any player you’ll find in the system, but it still hasn’t come together. If it does, he has tremendous upside. He finished 2024 season with 42 extra-base hits and 36 stolen bases with Double-A Midland, but his strikeout rate was just a hair better than 30%. If he can make more contact, he has the potential to make a big impact.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... ll-league/

Denzel Clarke features some of the best all-around tools in the Arizona Fall League, and he put several of them on display on Opening Night.

Clarke went 2-for-4, stole two bases and made a nice running catch in the right-center gap to rob Creed Willems (Orioles) of extra bases. The Athletics' No. 10 prospect also scored the game's lone run, leading off the bottom of the ninth inning with a line-drive single, swiping second base and coming home on an RBI single by Max Ferguson (Red Sox) to give the Mesa Solar Sox a 1-0 victory over the Surprise Saguaros.

A 2021 fourth-round pick out of Cal State Northridge, Clarke is a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder who combines plus raw power and speed with quality defense in center field. His athleticism prompted one A's official to liken him to Bo Jackson.

While that comparison may be a bit much, Clarke does have more athletic connections than most players. His mother, Donna Clarke, represented Canada as a heptathlete at the 1984 Summer Olympics. His uncle, Kevin Smellie, was a Canadian Football League running back and his cousin, Gavin Smellie, ran the 4x100-meter relay for Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Clarke also has baseball ties as a cousin of the Naylor brothers. Bo and Josh are currently playing for the Guardians in the American League Division Series, while Myles was a supplemental first-round pick by the A's in 2023.

The 24-year-old credits his mother for having the most influence on his career.

"She's seen me from Day 1, seeing my progression," Clarke said. "She knows what good athletes do. She's lived it, and I love getting advice from her every time I step out on a baseball field, every time I go to compete."

Who's faster, him or his mother in her prime?

"She's probably got me," Clarke conceded. "But I don’t know, if I trained in track, I'd probably cook her."

Despite all of his physical gifts, Clarke's development was slowed by left shoulder injuries that limited him to 157 games over his first two full pro seasons. He stayed healthy enough to play in 116 contests this year with Double-A Midland, hitting .269/.339/.445 with 13 homers and 36 steals. He ranked first in the Texas League in triples (eight), fourth in steals and fifth in runs (74) and total bases (192).

To reach his potential, Clarke will need to make more contact at the plate. He has a career 31 percent strikeout rate in the Minors, and he'll use his time in the Fall League to refine his approach and chase fewer pitches out of the zone.

"There's something in each part of my game that I can get better at," Clarke said. "I'm never satisfied [with] where I'm at. I try to keep getting better each and every day, whether it's defense, offense, baserunning. I think the biggest thing is just going to be consistency for me. I have a tendency to go up and down. I need to just kind of stay even-keeled the whole time."

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/athletics ... e-coverage

Grant Taylor, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Glendale Desert Dogs)

Some readers will recall that the fall before their draft year, Grant Taylor was slated to be LSU’s Friday night starter the following spring while Paul Skenes, fresh from the transfer portal, was the presumptive number two. A draft-eligible sophomore, Taylor blew out and needed Tommy John right before the start of the 2023 collegiate season and, as a result of his injury and a meager statistical track record that constituted one walk-prone season, he fell to the second round of that year’s draft. Taylor was only able to squeeze in 19.1 innings during the 2024 regular season once he was finished rehabbing, and came to the Arizona Fall League to pick up reps.

He looks sensational, flashing four average or better pitches, including a plus-flashing changeup that wasn’t part of Taylor’s college repertoire at all. Last week, Taylor sat 94-98 mph throughout his outing, and was mostly in the 96-98 range early on. His fastball has vertical shape that pairs nicely with his 83-ish mph curveball, which has fair depth but often lacks bite. Taylor’s 84-87 mph slider and 87-89 mph changeup are his two nastier secondary pitches. Breaking ball consistency will be key for Taylor moving forward. His slider’s finish is inconsistent but when it’s right, at that velocity, it’s plus. His changeup is going to give him a weapon to neutralize lefties that’s better than his curveball; the bottom falls out of it just as it reaches the plate.

Remember, Taylor has barely pitched since 2022. He’s unpolished but is incredibly gifted both athletically and from a stuff standpoint. Look at how powerful his lower body is and how substantial his hip and shoulder separation is at the end of the embedded video. This is a pretty special cat who is making an argument for inclusion on the Top 100 based on the quality of his stuff and the notion that he might develop as a craftsman as he accrues much-needed reps ...

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/locally-sou ... are-nasty/

Denzel Clarke, OF, OAK, 24

Clarke is an incredible athlete and has tools for days. Contact has been a bit of a question throughout his career but he made significant strides in the second half of the regular season.

In Monday’s game, Clarke collected four hits including a home run and a triple, ending the day just a double shy of the cycle. His triple left the bat at an absurd 117.1 mph and the home run left the bat at 107 mph.

Clarke is surging up prospect rankings and it is not just because of his AFL performance. The data has been strong and the improved contact skills are impressive.

https://www.thedynastydugout.com/p/live ... league-193

17. Fernando Perez, RHP (Low-A Dunedin)

A four-pitch Nicaraguan righty who signed with the Jays, just before his 18th birthday, Perez shows the vague outline of a back-end starter. His fastball can touch 95, and it’s a spinny pitch he can work up in the zone to either side of the plate. He won’t give hitters anything center-cut and the pitch is aided by a bit of deception in his stiff, hunched delivery. The secondaries all have some potential, but are inconsistent offerings. The best is his mid-80s cutter which can run close to a gyro slider and has average potential, but can be soft and up in the zone rather than a driving chase pitch down and out of it. His low-80s slider kind of rolls up there 12-6, while his change has average fade and sink, but can also just sort of float into the zone and look like a batting practice foshball. There is certainly the potential for near-term refinement of the offspeed, and enough long-term potential for an average arsenal, but Perez is a bit away from the latter at present.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... prospects/

5. Nolan McLean, RHP

Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 214 | B-T: R-R

Age: null
BA Grade/Risk: 55/High.

Track Record: McLean played both ways at Oklahoma State, working as a right fielder and reliever. He continued as a two-way player after the Mets drafted him in the third round 2023, only now he was a DH and starting pitcher. As a hitter, McLean displayed big power in 2024 but struck out half the time. He has more promise on the mound, so he discontinued hitting in the second half. McLean made 25 starts—including 18 at Double-A—recorded a 3.78 ERA and struck out 116 batters in 109.2 innings, nearly doubling his three-year college workload in one pro season.

Scouting Report: McLean enters 2025 with a singular focus on pitching for the first time. His athleticism serves him well on the mound, where his fast arm, loose operation and engaged lower half suggest durability. McLean works primarily with a four-seam fastball and slider, but he throws six pitch types and may be just scratching the surface of his ability. He unleashes a mid-90s fastball from a low three-quarters slot and lower approach angle which helps it sneak up on batters. McLean’s mid-80s slider is his best pitch for any occasion, whether putting hitters away or getting back in counts. He throws a high-spin sweepy version in excess of 3,000 rpm against righthanded hitters and can bury the pitch with power at the back foot of lefthanded ones. McLean tried different grips on his changeup to find a reliable chase pitch but that remains a work in progress. He began throwing his curveball again later in the season while also mixing in two-seamers and cutters for maximum variety. With below-average strike rates and walk rates, control was an issue for McLean in his first full season as a starter.

The Future: If McLean’s control improves or he hones a third pitch, he could become a No. 4 starter or better. Focusing solely on pitching, now aided by more recovery time between starts, should help.

Scouting Grades Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 70 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45

https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2 ... =preseason

Keiner Delgado, MI, 21, 5’7”/145, A

Delgado signed for $100k in 2021 and immediately hit the ground running in the DSL in 2022, swiping 34 bases across 53 games and slashing .310/.504/.506. His contact skills have always been strong, but after being traded from the Yankees to the Pirates and getting his first taste of full-season ball, his contact skills took a small step back.

Delgado is a switch hitter who, in the past, has shown good splits from both sides of the plate. This year, he had a .489 OPS as a right-handed batter, and a .711 OPS as a left-handed batter where he is more natural.

After being much more selective and having lower swing rates in the past, Delgado decided to get more aggressive in 2024, and the contact rates dipped with it. A 71 percent overall contact rate is lower compared to what we have seen in the past, but the in-zone mark sat north of 83 percent. The 27 percent chase rate was better than average.

Speed is another huge component of his game, as he swiped 27 bases in 2024. He is up to 97 career steals in 192 career games. Delgado takes bases with ease, and that should be part of his game for the majority of his career. The frame leaves questions about what kind of power he gets, especially given the lower power metrics such as a 101 mph 90th percentile and an average exit velocity below 86 mph. Still, Delgado plays above his frame and is a fun player to watch.

FFG: Speedy MI

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .270/.380/8 HR/30 SB

Variance: Medium

Buy/Sell: Hold

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2& ... 2822&ser=1

6. Ryan Clifford, 1B / OF

Ht: 6'3" | Wt: 200 | B-T: L-L

Age: null
BA Grade/Risk: 50/High.

Track Record: The Astros had enough bonus pool money to sign Clifford for $1.25 million in the 11th round in 2022. The Mets acquired him along with Drew Gilbert at the 2023 trade deadline when they dealt Justin Verlander and $35.5 million to the Astros. In his first full season in the organization, Clifford hit 19 home runs, which was tied with the Cubs’ Moises Ballesteros and the Orioles’ Samuel Basallo for most in the minor leagues among 20-and-under hitters who played primarily at Double-A or higher. Clifford’s 95 walks were the most for any 20U hitter.

Scouting Report: Clifford is Three True Outcomes personified. More than half his plate appearances in 2024 ended with a walk, strikeout or home run. While he has double-plus raw power, Clifford has one of the lowest swing rates in the minor leagues and can be too passive at times, especially when challenged by upper-level pitchers. He hit with two strikes nearly two-thirds of the time in 2024, with his chase rate nearly doubling in that situation. Clifford hits the ball very hard and has 30-home run upside if he learns to get out front and drive more fly balls to his pull side. He stood a little taller in the box in 2024 and did a better job hitting through the ball. He won’t ever hit for a high average, but his discerning eye will lead to above-average to plus on-base skills. Clifford is a well below-average runner who splits his time between first base and corner outfield. His speed and range are liabilities in the outfield, but his double-plus arm is a real asset. At best, he looks like he will be defensively neutral in the field.

The Future: The Mets pushed Clifford to Double-A quickly in 2024 to get him out of High-A Brooklyn, which is death on lefthanded power. He turned in a top 10 OPS among Double-A regulars and should be ready to tackle Triple-A as a 21-year-old.

Scouting Grades Hit: 40 | Power: 60 | Run: 30 | Fielding: 50 | Arm: 70

https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2 ... =preseason

Eric: I was surprised to see Ryan Clifford so far down on the list. Since leaving Brooklyn, his power surged as expected and I thought he would be climbing.

Moderator: The more I reported on Clifford, and the more I thought about his ranking, the higher I moved him up the list. I don't think it is outrageous to prefer him to Ronny Mauricio or Nolan McLean. Clifford was one of the most productive Double-A hitters and one of the most potent among the 20U set. The reason I ultimately settled on No. 6 is just the demands of being a big league corner bat with an average-minus glove. He will have to mash to stay in the lineup.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... ects-chat/

Nathan: What’s your take on Denzel Clarke?

Eric A Longenhagen: Think he could have a peak in his late-20s, crazy speed and should be a good CF over time, might eventually find a way to make enough contact to be an everyday guy during that peak.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/eric-longen ... t-11-8-24/

5. Dominic Keegan, Pos: C

Born: 2000-08-01
B: Right, T: Right
H: 6′ 0″, W: 210 lbs.

History: Drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, Vanderbilt University; signed for $397,500.
Previous Rank: #10 (org)
Major League ETA: Late 2025/Early 2026

Year Team Level Age PA R 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ BABIP
2022 F-RAY ROK 21 20 2 4 0 0 5 3 4 1 0 .412 .500 .647 – .538
2022 CHS Lo-A 21 26 4 0 0 2 6 2 6 0 0 .261 .346 .522 112 .267
2023 PEJ WIN 22 62 8 4 0 3 12 9 13 0 0 .360 .459 .620 – .429
2023 CHS Lo-A 22 241 34 9 4 5 35 31 48 2 0 .315 .402 .475 143 .377
2023 BG Hi-A 22 207 26 11 0 8 30 28 42 0 1 .254 .367 .457 116 .288
2024 MTG AA 23 442 58 23 3 9 60 50 90 0 0 .285 .371 .435 128 .343

The Report: Keegan’s numbers maybe don’t pop a ton for a 23-year-old in Double-A, but the Southern League is a rough offensive environment. Our metrics are a pretty big fan of the bat (128 DRC+), and I’m a pretty big fan of how damn hard he hits the ball. The swing is very modern power hitter, with a bit of a long hand load, but enough bat speed to compensate and a very steep bat path without ideal barrel control. Keegan reminds me a bit of second half Gavin Lux, just trying to swing hard and swat it down the line. The limited bat manipulation skills do mean there is some in-zone whiff and suboptimal contact which is one of the reasons his slugging started with a 4 this year, beyond just the league context. His approach is very patient, seeking pitches he can damage, but that can veer into passivity at times, and overall he will need to refine his swing decisions for the power to play in the majors. Keegan continues to be a full-time catcher, and has always graded out well as a framer, but baserunners did get a lot of extra bases off him in 2024. This would have been a perfectly adequate defensive skill set a few years ago, but I do wonder if he sticks back there given the new base running rules and an MLB ABS system on the horizon. Keegan is a good enough runner at present I wouldn’t be shocked if he could hack corner outfield a few days a week, where obviously there would be far more pressure on the stick to shine but, again, his 2024 exit velocities were in line with the top 30 or so boppers in the bigs, so the power is in there.

OFP: 55 / Bat-first backstop with a good enough bat to get a couple days a week at DH/COF as well.

Variance: Medium. Keegan is a bit of a mishmash of major-league skills at present, but they are major-league skills. He’s had success in the upper minors already, and there may be even a bit more untapped potential in the bat. If the jigsaw pieces don’t quite fit together properly in the majors though, he may end up more of a fringe corner bat.

Jesse Roche’s Fantasy Rundown:

Top-500 Dynasty Prospects: 361
Potential Earnings: $0-5

Fantasy Overview:.One batting practice session at Low-A Charleston in 2023 had exit velocities displayed on the jumbotron. Isaac and Keegan were hitting rockets, with Keegan registering the top EV of 115 mph. Whether the data is to be trusted is questionable. Regardless, Keegan has sneaky big power. If he can get to it in games at the right angles more regularly, he could explode up rankings. At the very least, Keegan is sure to light up the publicly available data in Triple-A next year.

Reckless Fantasy Comp: Wilson Ramos

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... prospects/

Nobody scored more runs in the entirety of the Minor Leagues during the 2024 season than the 114 produced by Rikuu Nishida of the White Sox.

Nishida’s 49 stolen bases and .418 on-base percentage also were tops among White Sox Minor Leaguers. Yet, the 23-year-old, left-handed hitter from Osaka, Japan, wasn’t satisfied. It’s a humble approach taken by the 11th-round selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, who director of player development Paul Janish once described as leading the league in personality.

It also shows off a quest for continued improvement from a burgeoning talent with a most unique profile. Nishida checks in at 5-foot-6, 150 pounds on a good day, although he admitted to playing at 138-to-140 pounds during the past season.

Nishida’s 147 hits ranked second in ’24 to Tim Elko’s 156 within the White Sox, but 127 of those hits went for singles. So, the quest for added power becomes one offseason goal for Nishida.

“Yeah, I don’t want to change my baseball style, but I need some more training. I didn’t decide yet, but I want to get across 160 [pounds],” Nishida told MLB.com during a recent phone interview. “I feel like I don’t want to say like an exact [power] number. I'll just try to do the same things as this year for next year. Then, I think the numbers will come at the end of the season. I shouldn’t worry about any numbers before the season.”

To be honest, Nishida’s game never will be based on power after hitting one home run, 13 doubles and six triples over 587 plate appearances with Single-A Kannapolis, High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham as both a left fielder and second baseman. He has an exceptional batting eye as shown by his 86 walks and 64 strikeouts, but those numbers lead to another Nishida point of concern.

Forty-nine stolen bases (in 61 attempts) were extremely impressive. They weren’t enough in Nishida’s mind. "I should get more," he said, noting that he doesn't hit a lot of homers or triples. "I have more opportunities than everybody. Next year, I’m going to try to get more."

"I had an opportunity on first base 230 times, so I should get more. At least 80, 90 stolen bases with [numbers] like this year."

A green light was in place for Nishida to run, but he had too much respect for the good hitters behind him to risk getting thrown out while being overly aggressive. When asked about those 114 runs scored, Nishida laughed and credited the rest of the lineup making it easy for him.

“Rikuu is the best kid. This kid is incredible,” said Birmingham pitching coach John Ely, who watched Nishida for 11 games and the postseason with the Barons. “He immediately walked in and was just a bright spot. Honestly, a big reason why we were able to win a championship down there.

“He solidified the middle infield a little bit, allowed us to do some things with the lineup where we can put guys who were out of position in different spots and DH them. Plus, my god, that kid is just a fan favorite and a team favorite. He’s immediately everybody’s friend. A hilarious kid.”

Yes, Nishida was part of the Barons’ Southern League title. He called the moment awesome, while adding he doesn’t really remember anything but the celebration following DJ Gladney’s walk-off single to sweep Montgomery in two games. “There was nobody who said, 'I’m tired' or that stuff,” Nishida said. “Everybody was so excited, every single game. So, it was almost college baseball. That was fun.”

Will Nishida have that same sort of fun at the Major League level, maybe as soon as 2025? He’s more focused on individual improvements than where he might play next.

Even with that hoped for increase in power, though, Nishida knows he won’t match the prolific totals of countryman Shohei Ohtani, who is a finalist for his third Most Valuable Player Award and first in the National League. Then again, Ohtani won’t top Nishida regarding enjoyment of the game.

“Every level, I had so much fun. But no, I cannot be Shohei,” Nishida said with a laugh. “He’s a pitcher, too. He has more stolen bases than me. That’s crazy. Ohtani is awesome. He’s the best baseball player so far.”

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white ... e-coverage

Phil: Updated thoughts on Denzel Clarke after his recent season and any looks at the AFL?

12:10
Eric A Longenhagen: He has made some of the most ridiculous and incredible plays at the wall that I’ve ever seen. I think it will take a while for him to hit (if it happens at all) but in the meantime he absolutely has a role on a team as a plus defensive center fielder.

12:10
Eric A Longenhagen: He’s just such a remarkable athlete and runner, truly special watching him go first to third or home

12:11
Eric A Longenhagen: he leapt so high trying to rob a homer this week that his thighs were at the top of the wall and he toppled over it. In CF, not the dugout railing.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/eric-longen ... hat-11-15/

Red Sox pitching prospect Jojo Ingrassia has been named a 2024 Carolina League All-Star, Minor League Baseball announced on Wednesday.

Ingrassia, Boston’s 14th-round selection in the 2023 draft out of Cal State Fullerton, enjoyed a productive first full season in pro ball. The 22-year-old left-hander posted a 1.85 ERA and 1.97 FIP with 93 strikeouts to 20 walks in 21 appearances (12 starts) spanning 58 1/3 innings for Low-A Salem. Opposing hitters batted just .179 against him.

After exiting his final start before the MLB All-Star break early, Ingrassia was placed on Salem’s 7-day injured list with left elbow inflammation on July 18. He returned to the mound for the Red Sox on August 25 and closed out the year with three scoreless outings in which he struck out seven and walked three over five innings.

Among the 96 Carolina League pitchers who threw at least 50 innings this season, Ingrassia led in strikeouts per nine innings (14.35), strikeout rate (39.6 percent), swinging-strike rate (20.9 percent), and xFIP (1.94). He also ranked second in FIP, third in ERA, sixth in batting average against, ninth in WHIP (0.99) and groundball rate (52.2 percent), 37th in walks per nine innings (3.09), and 41st in walk rate (8.5 percent), per FanGraphs.

Ingrassia, who turned 22 in July, is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 44 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks 24th among pitchers in the organization. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound southpaw throws from a three-quarters arm slot and incorporates a medium-high leg kick into his deceptive, cross-bodied delivery. He operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a 90-92 mph fastball that has reached 93 mph, a 79-81 mph sweeping slider, and an 82-85 mph changeup.

As FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen noted earlier in the year, Ingrassia likely projects as a multi-inning reliever moving forward given his diminutive stature. If he were to remain with the Red Sox through the winter, Ingrassia would presumably make the jump to High-A Greenville to open the 2025 campaign.

https://bloggingtheredsox.com/page/3/

Denzel Clarke, OF, Sacramento Athletics

I first saw the tooled up 24-year-old Canadian center fielder in High-A Lansing back in 2022; it’s not hard to recall because he hit two inside-the-park home runs, crushed another homer that I don’t think has landed yet, and basically put on a show. It had me dreaming he could be a lot like Adam Jones: a future five-tool All-Star. It’s not that Clarke still can’t become that, but he’s repeated Double-A this year and still has trouble making contact and translating some of the raw skills consistently.

Seeing him again in the Fall League produced much of the same, except Clarke showed an even tighter approach, walking in three consecutive plate appearances and smoking balls from gap to gap. Personally, I like his swing: the bat speed is elite and the power comes through with excellent leverage and physical strength coming out of his 6-foot-4 frame. He shows the ability to barrel and uses all fields. He doesn’t have great adjustability in his swing, and sometimes he can be in and out of the zone a bit too quick, but he recognizes pitches well enough and his bat-to-ball skills are solid enough that there’s average to slightly above hit tool in his future peak and potentially plus game power. Of course, his best tool right now is he’s a true 80 runner, going home to first in 4.2 seconds on a turn from the RH side and somehow getting a standup triple on a ball into the gap which most average runners would be trying to leg out a double. He has all the tools you want in a premier center fielder, and if he were in the big leagues today, he would rival Witt and Elly for fastest player. In fact, he has so much speed, he can even over-run balls in CF. He’s never shown me any real issue of translating his athleticism into the game; at minimum he can be a backup outfielder off the bench and there’s a real realistic pathway for him to be an everyday guy soon, with the upside of being a superstar. Also on that Lansing team in 2022 was Lawrence Butler, who at the same age has proven he can stick in the big leagues. Butler didn’t put up crazy stats in 2023 before he was promoted up to the majors for the first time, and even though he struggled a bit and even to some extent in the hitter friendly PCL this year, once he got his extended run and consistent at-bats, the confidence came, and so did the production. Sometimes players with those kinds of tools just need the opportunity to learn and fail at the highest level, with the support of the organization. I think the Oakland/Sacramento/Vegas A’s would be well served by giving Clarke a serious run next year, because there’s some serious talent on the way up the ladder for them, and pretty soon, they may not have the opportunity to test out Clarke.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... solar-sox/

5. Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics

Team: Mesa
Age: 24
Why He’s Here: .429/.467/.714 (6-for-14), 4 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 1 RBIs, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2-for-3 SB

The Scoop: Clarke enjoyed a standout Fall League after a solid season with Double-A Midland. Over 19 games with Mesa, Clarke hit .382/.495/.566 with seven extra base hits and nine stolen bases. This week, Clarke had hits in all three games he played, including a huge game on Monday in which he went 3-for-5 with a home run. Clarke has a loud combo of power and speed but has struggled to consistently make contact. (GP)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... l-history/

Denzel Clarke could be on the Lawrence Butler trajectory

Clarke’s frame and athleticism stand out from the first moment you see him play. His setup pre-swing is interesting as Clarke gets in almost a squat position and arches hit back. He makes it work, even if it looks a bit uncomfortable. Contact has been a bit of a question mark for Clarke’s entire career, much like Butler, but there have been strides made.

After putting up much-improved contact rates and numbers in the second half of the regular season, Clarke went to Arizona and proceeded to hit .382/.495/.556. He plays an incredible centerfield defense, having incredible jumps and range. He tracks down balls most would not get to. He should be on the cusp of an MLB debut in a crowded Athletics outfield situation soon.

https://www.thedynastydugout.com/p/ariz ... dium=email

4. Denzel Clarke, CF

Drafted: 4th Round, 2021 from Cal State Northridge (OAK)
Age 24.6 Height 6′ 5″ Weight 225 Bat / Thr R / R FV 45+

Tool Grades (Present/Future)
Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw
20/30 60/70 40/45 70/70 60/70 40

Clarke, whose mother was a Canadian Olympian, was perhaps the first athlete to ever blow up at the MLB Draft Combine, as he wowed during BP and the athletic testing at the inaugural event in 2021. A small school college prospect, Clarke is your quintessential athletic developmental project, even now at age 24. He has an XL NFL wide receiver’s frame at a cut 6-foot-4, 220 pounds; it takes him just a handful of strides to glide from base to base, and he has plus raw power.

Where Clarke has developed most as a pro is in center field. He is arguably a plus center field defender right now. His feel for running to spots has improved, he has elite top-end speed, he takes bold risks with dives, and he did some absolutely ridiculous stuff around the outfield wall during his stint in the Arizona Fall League. With his size, athleticism and bold creativity, Clarke is going to have a very long big league career as a premium center field defender.

His feel for hitting hasn’t really progressed, with many of his swings still looking poorly timed and mechanically awkward. Clarke’s levers and swing are very long, and he basically can’t pull fastballs. His splits against above-average velocity are really bad and there’s a good chance Clarke will have big league heaters chucked past him with regularity. Clarke has been able to get to power in games despite striking out roughly 30% of the time for his entire career. He crushes mistake breaking balls and creates extra-base hits with his legs. There’s a chance that Clarke will have a relevant offensive peak deep into his 20s where he has so much power that he’s productive despite near bottom-of-the-scale contact. In the meantime, Clarke’s glove will play. He’s going to be a meaningfully good part-time outfielder and pinch-runner, and he might already be better suited for that role than Esteury Ruiz.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/athletics-top-38-prospects/

4. Denzel Clarke, OF

Born: 2000-05-01
B: Right T: Right
H: 6′ 4″ W: 220 lbs.

History: Drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, Cal State Northridge; signed for $700,000.
Previous Rank: #1 (org), #99 (Top 101)
Major League ETA: Late 2025/Early 2026

Year Team Level Age PA R 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ BABIP
2022 STK Lo-A 22 193 37 14 2 7 26 28 56 14 2 .295 .420 .545 119 .411
2022 LAN Hi-A 22 218 30 9 2 8 21 28 79 16 1 .209 .317 .406 105 .307
2023 MID AA 23 286 54 11 4 12 43 37 85 11 1 .261 .381 .496 116 .348
2024 MSS WIN 24 74 21 1 2 1 12 13 18 7 1 .373 .500 .508 – .525
2024 MID AA 24 478 74 21 8 13 53 39 143 36 9 .269 .339 .445 97 .373

The Report: Despite big tools, Clarke has struggled to stay on the field as a pro due to recurrent shoulder injuries. He got a full-season in the Texas League under his belt in 2024, and after a cool start, showed off more of the plus-power/plus-speed combo that snuck him on the back of last year’s Top 101. The power is still very much present, although Clarke’s somewhat complicated setup and swing path—he starts with the bat pointed behind him, flicks it up, and then wraps a little anyway—means he’s not always getting the most out of his bat speed and strength. He can end up late on pitches you’d prefer he turn around to the left field bleachers, that are instead hard, inside-out line drives. There will be swing-and-miss issues as well, so you’d like to see a bit more game power to offset what will be a below-average hit tool overall. Clarke was much better after a slow start to 2024, slashing .307/.374/.510 after June 1st, but that run came after he’d already logged 120 games at the level as a 24-year-old. Parsing out how much of that was “figuring out the level” versus “my shoulder isn’t bothering me anymore” can be a maddening hindsight exercise, but the offensive projection is going to remain very high-variance regardless. The defense is good in center field as Clarke runs well and just cruises from gap to gap flagging down fly balls, so if he can even manage enough pop to buoy a major-league line to in range of average, he should have a very nice career.

OFP: 55 / Above-average center fielder
Variance: High. Injuries have meant Clarke has been old for his level the last couple seasons, and he hasn’t dominated Double-A as much as you’d hope. Still there is clear everyday upside in the profile if he even hits .230 or so.

Jesse Roche’s Fantasy Rundown:

Top-500 Dynasty Prospects: 221
Potential Earnings: $0-5
Fantasy Overview: Clarke has intriguing power-speed potential clouded by a below-average hit tool. His glove and tools should provide opportunities, however. If it clicks, Clarke has as much fantasy upside as anyone in this system.
Reckless Fantasy Comp: Drew Stubbs

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news ... prospects/

Denzel Clarke – CF – A’s: The team formerly known as Oakland just needs to let this kid play and figure it out, because it’s five plus tools and legit 80 grade speed. The most exciting player in the Fall League.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... -rankings/

The [Astros] GM expects outfielder Jacob Melton to contribute next season.

Melton split last season between Double-A Corpus Christi (58 games) and Triple-A Sugar Land (47 games) and slashed .253/.310/.426 with 15 homers and 30 stolen bases. His numbers were a tad better at Double-A, which is to be expected, posting a .748 OPS with Corpus Christi and .719 with Sugar Land. He spent time at all three outfield spots last season but played most in center field.

“Melton’s another guy that could be a big piece for us,” Brown said last month. “He’s a really good defensive outfielder with power. He has a chance to make an impact.”

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/mining-the-news-11-28-24/

Astros general manager Dana Brown told reporters last month that top prospect Jacob Melton has a chance to contribute next season.

“Melton’s another guy that could be a big piece for us,” Brown said during last month’s annual GM meetings. “He’s a really good defensive outfielder with power. He has a chance to make an impact.” The 24-year-old outfielder will presumably compete next spring with established veterans Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers to carve out a permanent role in Houston’s outfield mix, but he’s on the verge of reaching the big leagues after batting .253/.310/.426 with 15 homers and 30 steals in 443 plate appearances last year between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Sugar Land. Melton checked in at OF70 in Rotoworld’s 2025 Top 500 dynasty rankings and his power/speed combination makes him an easy top 100 fantasy prospect heading into next year. He’s a name to keep on watch lists, even in re-draft formats entering spring training.

https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/jacob-melton/69365

Dave from Hastings
22 hours ago

Two relievers who impressed for various reasons in 24 were Eric Reyzelman (63 k's - 38 IP) and ... Are either in the top 30? Any thoughts?

Moderator
22 hours ago

Reyzelman will be in the 30 somewhere and gets praise internally for the quality of his stuff ...

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... ects-chat/

The baseball journey of Eric Reyzelman has been far from easy. From Tommy John surgery as a teenager to missing nearly all of 2023 with a back injury, he faced his share of adversity in the game. As he battled injuries during many stages of his career, the right-handed pitcher has gained some valuable perspective.

“It feels good to be at a ballpark playing baseball,” Reyzelman said. “When I first got here, I was just ecstatic to be in a uniform, sitting in the bullpen talking to the guys. Two years removed from real games is not easy, so being out here is something I’ve never going to take for granted.”

This season, Reyzelman returned to the mound on May 28 to begin a rehab assignment with the FCL Yankees, pitching for the first time since August 4, 2023. After being drafted in the fifth round by the Yankees in 2022 out of LSU, the 23-year-old had appeared in just nine total games entering this season. Reyzelman spent all of 2023 on the 60-day injured list in Single-A.

After concluding his rehab assignment in early June, Reyzelman joined the Renegades on June 11, his first opportunity at the High-A level. He was outstanding as soon as he arrived, striking out 17 batters in 9.2 scoreless innings with Hudson Valley, allowing just two total hits. He earned a call-up to Double-A Somerset on July 2.

He continued his dominance with the Patriots, appearing in 21 games and posting a 1.93 ERA and striking out 37 batters in 23.1 innings. With a fastball in the upper 90s, a wipeout slider and devastating changeup in his arsenal, it isn't hard to imagine Reyzelman dominating the late innings of games in the Bronx as he did Minor League competition in 2024.

Returning from injury in 2024 certainly wasn’t the first time Reyzelman was forced to overcome a challenge. Growing up in Northern California, Reyzelman attended De La Salle High School, a powerhouse athletic program that has won dozens of regional and state championships across many sports. While Reyzelman was at De La Salle, the baseball team won four North Coast Section titles.

However, he was only a part of one of those championships. Reyzelman was cut from the varsity team every year until he was a senior.

“That molded me into the player I am now,” Reyzelman said. “It helped me overcome some of the other challenges I faced as well. Being on the brink of losing the game of baseball definitely changes your perspective on it. I attribute a lot of my success to the adversity I faced there.”

Reyzelman made the most of his senior year at De La Salle, earning a 0.55 ERA and an 8-0 record. This got the attention of the University of San Francisco, where Reyzelman began his college career in 2020, where more challenges emerged. Reyzelman was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery that March. Looking back, Reyzelman considers the timing of the rehab fortunate.

“I got really lucky when I had UCL reconstruction,” Reyzelman said. “It was right when COVID hit, so I had that year of recovery and that year of rehab. And it kind of got me to a place where I was really able to work on my stuff and develop in ways I hadn’t before. The rehab is a blessing in disguise for a lot of guys.”

After a disappointing season in 2021 at USF, Reyzelman traveled to Massachusetts in the summer to pitch for the Harwich Mariners of the prestigious wood bat Cape Cod Baseball League, a decision that would transform his career. A strong performance there built his confidence and caught the eyes of other colleges.

“That was the big first real turning point in my career,” Reyzelman said of his time in Harwich. “The opportunity to show that I could compete with those guys was awesome. I faced guys at a competition level that I’d never faced before. And my confidence was higher than it had ever been.”

Though he appeared in only five games, starting four, Reyzelman put himself on the map by posting a 2.66 ERA in 23.2 innings, striking out 36 batters, walking six, and allowing only 18 hits against some of the best college players in the nation.
Eric Reyzelman delivers a pitch against the Brooklyn CyclonesDave Janosz

Reyzelman leveraged that performance in the Cape into an opportunity to transfer to Louisiana State University in 2022, one of the premier college baseball programs in the country. He took full advantage of it, striking out 66 batters in 42.1 IP against top-level SEC competition. He fully embraced the culture shock that was moving from Northern California to the Bayou.

“I had never had any idea baseball would get me to that point,” Reyzelman said. “I remember watching them on TV, seeing [Alex] Bregman, seeing [Aaron] Nola, become big leaguers. For me, it was a fever dream. I enjoyed every second of it. The fans, the atmosphere, the city are awesome. The first thing you realize is that everyone you meet has such good intentions. They want to help you succeed and help you find ways to grow closer to the community.”

After his tremendous success with the Tigers, Reyzelman was drafted in the fifth round by the Yankees, a high pick for a relief pitcher. However, it was not long before where he faced his next hurdle. After a four-game debut in 2022, Reyzelman was experiencing a ton of pain in his back. It was discovered that he had a cyst on his back which ultimately sidelined him for the entire 2023 season and the beginning of 2024 as it required a series of three surgeries to fix.

While he lost time on the field, the injuries and his rehab allowed him to stay in the Yankees complex in Tampa and work on refining his changeup and slider into the weapons they became.

Finally healthy and feeling good in 2024, Reyzelman appears to have returned to the dominant form he showed at LSU. In 31 games across the three levels of the minors that he appeared he struck out 63 batters in 38.2 innings and had a 1.16 ERA. Finishing the year in Double-A, the right-hander is just two steps away from realizing his big league dreams.

“Everything takes time,” Reyzelman said. “Patience is the biggest lesson I’ve learned. You got to be where your feet are. For me, it took a while to get to that mindset. Once I did, it became easier, and I go day by day.”

https://www.milb.com/hudson-valley/news ... gn-in-2024

BRIDGEWATER – The scrappy Somerset Patriots are in the playoffs, overcoming plenty of adversity all season long to advance to the postseason for the third straight year when many counted them out.

It seemed fitting that perhaps their biggest embodiment of that never-say-die-type season, Eric Reyzelman, finished out the clincher.

The 23-year-old right-handed reliever overcame a lot to even get to back on the mound again in 2024 and has followed an extraordinary roller-coaster path in his career ever since getting cut by his high school team.

Twice.

“Early on in high school, it was just building a bit of a work ethic,” Reyzelman said of getting axed from both the varsity and JV squads at De La Salle HS (Calif.) as he was trying to work his way up.

“I didn’t realize how competitive the school I went to was going to be. I chose to go there because of the baseball program and how good of a reputation they had, but I just wasn’t prepared and was also a late bloomer physically. I didn’t really develop, didn’t get tall or get any strength in me until my junior and senior year, and that’s just how it works for some guys. What that manifested into was me getting cut my sophomore and junior year from both varsity and JV.”
Eric Reyzelman was drafted in the fifth round by the Yankees in 2022 out of LSU.

However, he’d already committed to play Division 1 baseball beforehand – a rarity for someone to do so without playing varsity high school baseball yet – at the University of San Francisco based on his upside and that work ethic, determined to not let rejection get in his way.

Reyzelman’s traditional numbers at San Francisco weren’t eye-popping by any means, as he went 3-3 with a 6.19 ERA over 16 outings in his sophomore year, including 10 starts. However, even with a higher walk rate, his strikeout numbers (39 in 35 innings) and raw data metrics had some bigger schools intrigued.

But was such an opportunity one that the San Ramon, Cali. native thought was realistic?

“Not at all,” he said. “I mean, it wasn’t even something in my sightlines. Getting to college and playing college baseball was something I’d never even realized was possible in the first place. I used to be that kid in my sophomore year and junior year of high school that would be researching (Division 3) and (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) schools where maybe I had a realistic chance, but I’d have to hide my laptop a little bit, because I was that kid who got cut. I didn’t want people seeing that was something I was looking at. But, as time went on, I realized every year I got closer and closer to understanding that baseball could be a thing that takes me a little farther into life than I thought.”

Louisiana State University agreed. With one transfer, Reyzelman went from something of a college baseball afterthought to a key cog in an SEC bullpen, recording 66 strikeouts in 42.1 innings while recording three saves.

“At the University of San Francisco, I’m really grateful that I was able to get an opportunity to play Division 1 baseball there, it opened up the door for me,” he said. “But until I made that jump (to LSU) and got to work with the pitching coaches there and in the Cape (Cod League), I was a completely different pitcher from 2020 and 2021 in San Francisco to 2022 at LSU, and I’m not the same pitcher now that I was then. I was a guy that came into the game in certain situations and threw 15 fastballs and then sat down. That’s something that I’m not anymore, and I’m proud of the work I’ve been able to do with our development staff here. They’re second to none.”

The 6-foot-2, 188-pound righty went from quietly looking at Division 3 schools on his laptop to getting drafted in the fifth round by the Yankees in 2022 out of LSU, where he’s been one of the fastest rising prospects in the system thanks to a fastball that sits 95-99 mph with a slider and changeup.

Now in his first year in Double-A, Reyzelman has impressed Patriots pitching coach Brett DeGagne at every turn.

“He’s got three plus pitches, and he does a good job of controlling the zone,’ DeGagne said. “The slider and the changeup are real pitches, and then obviously the fastball is as good as it is. With his ability to throw it up in the zone, it helps the other two pitches to play off of that at the same time, and he knows his strengths and what he’s good at. He does a good job with the game-planning stuff to pick his spots for when he needs to deviate off of that. He’s done an awesome job and taken things by storm with moving across levels…he’s taken it all in stride and been an awesome piece at the back end for us.”

The problem, however, has been staying on the field. Having finished the year with a nearly spotless 1.16 ERA between the Florida Complex League, High-A Hudson Valley and Double-A, Reyzelman has been limited to just 40 professional appearances over his first three years due to persistent back issues.

“It was right after I got drafted and finished up the year with the (Low-A Tampa) Tarpons, that back pain started setting in,” said Reyzelman, who also underwent Tommy John surgery that cut short his freshman season in college in 2020.

“I didn’t really know why, I’d never had anything like that before, and it was a really big point of frustration … with what I had, it wasn’t that simple. We were trying to find things that worked, ways to get around that pain when I was throwing, and it was such a work in progress and took so much time, that I think it was maybe September or October of last year in 2023 that I started feeling better into the offseason. But this offseason, I found a cyst on my lower back when I went to go home and visit my family, and that took three surgeries to fix.”

Now fully healthy and having proved he can handle the rigors of pitching every few days out of a pro bullpen, when the Patriots open their postseason run at TD Bank Ballpark on Tuesday night against the Hartford Yard Goats, don’t be surprised if Reyzelman gets put into some high-leverage spots.

“I think from everything we’ve seen and how well he’s performed, I think the sky is kind of the limit with him,” DeGagne said. “We’ve had some really good reliever prospects come through the organization, and he’s up there in that echelon of those guys. He’s going to be a factor in the future. As fast as he’s moved and continued to perform without regression, is a testament to him … it’s super promising, and we’re excited about the progress he’s made.”

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/s ... 255945007/

Pitching never fails to fascinate me. One of the most underappreciated aspects of baseball is understanding how impactful coaches are in development. The players ultimately are the ones that we watch and root for, but they likely wouldn’t perform at the highest level without the proper instruction and support. Pitching coaches have the ability to shape a pitcher's career, utilizing analytics to maximize their students' potential.

Davis Martin developing his new changeup is a prime example of how coaches can help redefine a pitcher. It was a group effort this time around, with a pair of pitching gurus turning Martin’s changeup from a middling offering into one of the most enticing pitches in baseball.

Davis Martin is a supinator. This means that he can more easily rotate his arm to face his palm upwards while he struggles to twist it in the opposite direction (known as pronation). This lack of pronation was amplified following his Tommy John surgery in 2023. Martin states in an interview with David Laurila: "I’ve just never been able to pronate, and post-TJ it got even worse. I’m more of a supinator now than I was before surgery."

This lack of inward rotation of his palm caused Martin to struggle to throw a changeup throughout his career. His changeup had decent characteristics in a vacuum, but its lack of vertical separation from his fastball made its effectiveness diminish. Following his TJS, Martin completely abandoned his changeup in his AAA rehab stint because his body would not permit it.
New Kicks on the Mound

Without his changeup, Martin’s future as a starter seemed to be in limbo. He wielded a 4-pitch arsenal but didn’t have a pitch that was effective against LHH.

Enter Brian Bannister and Ethan Katz.

Bannister is a Senior Pitching Advisor for the White Sox, and Katz is their pitching coach. Both Bannister and Katz are former professional baseball players and have been in development roles for over a decade and bring indispensable knowledge to the White Sox. Being in the game for so long exposes coaches to many pitchers, and over time, these coaches can pick up information and sense patterns that they can carry over. In Martin’s case, his arm action and high-spin profile mimicked that of San Francisco pitcher Hayden Birdsong, a pitcher that Bannister worked with previously.

Birdsong is an interesting pitcher because he, despite his supination bias, throws one of the nastiest changeups in baseball. This is because he employs a changeup that is able to maintain higher velocity with greater depth than a typical changeup thanks to his unique grip. Birdsong’s grip allows him to use his middle finger to “kick” the ball into its axis to generate side spin. Tread Athletics calls it the “Kick Changeup”.

Bannister, following his training with Birdsong, identified that Martin would be an ideal subject to learn this changeup. Martin’s introduction to the Kick Change is quite a fascinating story. Not only was the pitch easy to pick up on, but Martin felt comfortable with it after just 10 reps to add it to his in-game arsenal the very next day.

Martin posted the best game of his career, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings against the Athletics. Most impressively, he tossed 18 kick changeups after not throwing any in-game action prior. The feel for the offering only improved throughout the start as he continually hit the zone.

This pitch against Kyle McCann encapsulates the wickedness of the kick change. Martin registered 20” of arm-side run with this pitch and -1” iVB at 90 MPH. The pitch essentially moved like a left-handed slider from his right-handed slot. It’s no surprise Martin had McCann flailing at a pitch that landed in the dirt.

Martin’s immediate success with his changeup was surprising to most, but not to Brian Bannister. Bannister wrote a wonderful thread about Martin on Twitter in August, where he highlighted his approach to pitcher development.

Instead of focusing on trying to wedge an unnatural pitch into an arsenal, he focuses on a pitcher’s biomechanics and introduces pitches and grips that fit their body. Bannister’s prior work with pitchers like Birdsong directly influenced his decision to introduce the Kick Changeup to Davis Martin.

It wasn’t simply just a coincidence that Martin found familiarity with his new pitch. Bannister leveraged his prior experiences to help Martin develop a wicked changeup in a single afternoon.

Martin’s new changeup didn’t just look stellar when he was fooling opposing batters; the data backed up the eye test. Amongst all MLB changeups, his ranked in the Top 10 by tjStuff+, sitting right with Hayden Birdsong and Ryan Pepiot as the only starters on the list.

Another fascinating aspect of Davis’ changeup is how it interacts with the other pitches in his arsenal, most notably his slider and cutter.

Martin’s slider is his most utilized secondary against RHH, thanks to its fair amount of sweep he generates on the offering. He has a great feel for the pitch and consistently paints it down-and-away against righties.

The slider complements his changeup well due to their mirrored movement profiles. While the slider averages ~8” of sweep, his changeup averages ~13” of arm-side run, both with similar depth. When Martin tunnels these offerings well, determining which direction the ball is heading is a guessing game.

Take this sequence against Aaron Judge as an example.

Earlier in this at bat, Davis located a changeup below Judge’s knees, where Judge took a mighty hack and whiffed over it.

Two pitches later, Martin placed his slider where he typically does, low and away, to get Judge out on strikes after a sword.

Looking at an overlay of the pitches, we can see how frustrating Martin is to face. Both pitches follow similar trajectories towards the plate, including overlapping late into their flight, only for them to veer in opposite directions. Judge would have likely connected on another changeup, but the slider was simply out of reach.

Martin added a cutter this season, and it returned excellent results. It was his 4th most used pitch while simultaneously being his most valuable according to Baseball Savant Run Value (+5). It was also effective against both handedness, mostly driven by strong command.

Similar to his slider, Martin’s cutter pairs well with his changeup. Their similar velocity bands and release points make the pitches difficult to distinguish out of hand, but they have drastically different movement profiles. His cutter exhibits minimal arm-side movement and less vertical depth than his changeup.

Not everything was smooth sailing for Davis with the introduction of his kick changeup. It was effective against LHH, returning an exceptional +4 RV on 109 pitches, but he struggled immensely against RHH, posting a -6 RV on 66 pitches. Digging deeper into batted ball quality and contact metrics illustrates an opposite picture, with his changeup getting hit much harder and more often, by LHH.

In particular, his approach against LHH was inconsistent, as he left too many pitches hanging in the heart of the zone. Like any new pitch, getting a good feel for the pitch will take time, and that timeframe is typically extended following Tommy John surgery.
Looking Ahead to 2025

Davis Martin has a solid foundation to be an effective starter in MLB. He wields a 5-pitch mix, highlighted by a strong slider and seemingly elite changeup, which he elevates with mid-90s velocity and elite spin rates.

In my opinion, Martin’s 4-seamer is the crux of his arsenal. It was his most utilized pitch in 2024 and returned putrid results against both LHH and RHH. It registered -7 RV this season, and there are a handful of aspects that explain its ineffectiveness, including its uninteresting shape, his tendency to throw it in uncompetitive locations, and his telegraphed release point.

Martin’s cutter was his most productive pitch in 2024, and he displayed refined feel for the pitch despite introducing it this season. It plays off his kick change and slider well and provides a platoon-neutral option that he lacks. I would like to see him increase the usage of the offering in 2025, mostly leeching off of his 4-seam usage.

Player development is seldom linear, and Davis Martin is a perfect example of that. He worked with Bannister and Katz to learn a new pitch that reinvigorated his prospects as a starter seven seasons into his professional career. Kudos to Bannister and Katz leveraging their prior experiences to maximize Martin’s potential, and props to Martin for being open to redefining himself. His 2024 season showed a lot of promise, and he has the support and tools to make the necessary changes to succeed in 2025.

https://tjstats.substack.com/p/davis-ma ... -into-gear