IBC

The Situation: The White Sox have finally decided they need a fifth starter, turning to Nick Nastrini—former Top 101 prospect and one-half of the Joe Kelly and Lance Lynn return.

The Background: The Dodgers took Nastrini in the fourth round of the 2021 draft after a college career in which the righty dealt with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a pandemic, and control woes. Of course, LA’s pitching dev team immediately helped cut his walk rate to a more manageable four-plus per nine, and the raw stuff played up in the pros. In 2022, Nastrini threw more innings than he did in three years at UCLA, flashing four above-average-to-plus offerings and generating a 35% K-rate between the Midwest and Texas Leagues. The Dodgers can and will keep getting away with it. Nastrini ended the year ranked fifth on a ludicrously deep LA prospect list, and 54th overall in baseball. His 2023 was more uneven. He got a late start to the season, and the stuff and command back slid a bit. Nastrini looked more reliever than starter even after a better stretch run with the White Sox post-deadline. He clocked in at fifth on a team list again—albeit now in a much weaker system—but did look the favorite to break camp from Glendale as the fifth starter. And he did, I suppose, it just happened to involve a pit stop in Charlotte for enough time to get his team an extra year of control.

The Scouting Report: Nastrini is a high-effort righty, tossing a full four-pitch mix. His velocity has slid year-over-year, and he sits more in an average velocity range now, although he can still reach back for 95-plus. The fastball command is below-average and while the pitch has good carry, he tends to lose a couple ticks and the top of the zone later in starts; 93 center-cut can get turned around pretty easily. He doesn’t have to rely on his fastball all that much, though, as all three of the secondary offerings have at least above-average potential. His change-up has been the best of the bunch, sitting mid-80s with good power fade. Both of Nastrini’s breaking balls can miss bats. He’s relied more on a mid-80s slider that does generate whiffs, though it can hang out in the strike zone a bit too often, but his slower 12-6 curve flashes plus as well. If you are getting flashbacks to the “four plus pitches” great-stuff reliever he was traded for, well, that’s not unintentional I suppose. Nastrini’s command and control as a pro has been far better than in his college days, but he may not be quite efficient enough to turn over a lineup multiple times. But everyone is a five-and-dive starter nowadays, so Nastrini should fit right in.

Immediate Big-League Future: The White Sox are obligated per Major League bylaws to play 162 games this season. They’ll need a starting pitcher for all of them, and can’t keep throwing Garrett Crochet out there over a quarter of a time. Nastrini should get plenty of opportunities to work out his struggles, and I’d expect more struggles than gems, although he will be capable of the occasional flash of brilliance. —Jeffrey Paternostro

Fantasy Impact: What do you really want here? He pitches for the Chicago White Sox. Sure, Crochet is out here proving that a team as bad as the Pale Hose can have a viable fantasy starting pitcher, but the odds are not in Nastrini’s favor in redraft leagues. Forget about wins, okay? Anything you get there is gravy. So he’s a three-quarters-category fantasy play, and one who’s likely to provide even fewer innings than a comparable established big-league third-or-fourth-starter. That leaves us with strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP, and given his four-pitch mix … I’ve got a hot take for you.

If you believe in Nastrini, roster him early for a couple of beneficial-to-you starts against bad teams. Stream him for a couple of runs before the league gets the full book on him or hitters see him for a third time (at all, not just within a game). If his command looks bad from the jump, don’t roster him. If his velocity dips in his first start, don’t roster him. If you play in a league with 12-teams or less, don’t roster him. I actually think it’s possible that he could eventually emerge as a solid back-of-the-rotation starting pitcher due to the mix of pitches and the fact that he should get every opportunity to sink or swim on the South Side. But he should be an option of last resort, a hail mary, or a wild card, not someone you should target. –Bryan Grosnick

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... bad2377d0f

Damiano Palmegiani, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays (Triple-A Buffalo): 3-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB.

Should the Jays need a boost to the offense this year, Palmegiani is likely the first to get the call. He’s produced big power numbers at every level of the organization since being drafted in the 14th round of the 2021 draft. There’s a bit too much in-zone swing-and-miss against premium velocity and he can be a bit stiff in the field, but the pop is real, and Palmegiani should get a chance to bring it to the Rogers Center sometime this summer.

Richard Fitts, RHP, Boston Red Sox (Triple-A Worcester): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

Acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Alex Verdugo, Fitts has started the year strong at Worcester, allowing just four earned runs in his 15 innings of work. Big and physical on the mound, Fitts fills up the zone with his mid-90s fastball, slider, and change. The Red Sox’ pitching has been a bright spot early in the season but should they falter or injuries continue, Fitts will likely be the first to get the call to provide support.

Tyler Schweitzer, LHP, Chicago White Sox (High-A Winston-Salem): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... ion-fitts/

Nick Nastrini, Chicago White Sox (6% rostered)

There’s not a lot about which to get excited on Chicago’s South Side these days, but Nastrini might be one of them.

Nastrini, who along with fellow exciting arm Jordan Leasure and outfielder Trayce Thompson was part of the return from the Dodgers for Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly last July, made his major-league debut on Monday against the Royals. He showed well in that start, allowing two runs over five innings while striking out five.

A former Top 101 prospect, the BP prospect team thinks Nastrini is eventually destined for the bullpen despite his current role as a starter. He is starting for now, though, and that’s all we care about. Wins will be in short supply, but the talent and opportunity are there to be an interesting fantasy player in the right matchups.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fant ... eek-three/

Jared Karros, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (not ranked):

Jared may currently be known nationally as Eric Karros’ son, but he’s been making a name for himself in the Dodgers’ system. A 16th-round pick in 2022 out of UCLA, Karros spent most of last season in Low A but finished the year with three impressive outings for High-A Great Lakes. He’s picked up where he left off last year with the Loons, posting a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings with a 25:2 K:BB.

Karros isn’t overpowering (sits in the low-90s), but he gets good extension with his 6-7 frame and he pairs his fastball with a big 12-6 curveball. His command and control are both above-average, giving him a chance to be a backend starter in the big leagues. Karros, 23, is likely to get a test in Double A by midseason.

https://theathletic.com/5456544/2024/04 ... wilkinson/

39. Jared Karros, RHP

The son of former Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros, Jared posted a 3.44 ERA across the Class A levels in his pro debut. He effectively elevates his 92-94 mph fastball, lands his breaking ball for strikes and shows an advanced feel for pitching.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... 0-in-2024/

In a lot of respects, Kyle Karros is like most minor league baseball players, just trying to earn a living playing a kid’s game and making a name for himself.

But it’s his name that usually get first recognition. Such is the case for the son of a longtime former big leaguer.

Karros’ famous father is Eric Karros, who played 14 seasons primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers and now covers the team as an analyst.

Kyle, a third baseman, isn’t the only Karros progeny to follow in his father’s footsteps – older brother Jared is in the Dodgers system.

Kyle and Jared took the same path to professional baseball as Eric did, starring at UCLA in college before hearing their names called in the MLB draft. Jared was selected in the 16th round in the 2022 draft, Kyle was taken in the fifth round by the Colorado Rockies last summer.

“We like the young man. That being said, we also like the ballplayer that comes with it,” Rockies special assistant to the general manager Clint Hurdle said late week at Avista Stadium. “He’s had the opportunity to have a peek behind the curtain a lot of kids don’t get, following his dad, being in those situations. His dad and mom raised him right. There’s no entitlement coming in. He did his work at UCLA. He’s got good makeup. Good teammate, good understanding of the game.”

During last year’s draft, everyone in the family kind of expected that Kyle would get picked up by the Dodgers, like his dad and brother. But when the Rockies came calling, Kyle Karros knew it was the right fit.

“Being over here with the Rockies, I think that this has been very good for me,” he said. “I would have never heard the end of it, following in their footsteps and everything. But being over here, I’ve loved every part of being with the Rockies. I think it’s the perfect place for me to kind of start my own my own path.”

Karros had the talent to play in college anywhere, but UCLA was an easy pick for him.

“I loved where I grew up (in Southern California),” he said. “Obviously, UCLA isn’t too far from there. So that part was honestly probably my favorite part, being in the area that I loved growing up in and getting to continue in that area for college. … The aspect of having some history there with my dad. But the coolest part was me playing with my brother for another couple years following high school.”

Karros didn’t think about it while playing with Jared as teammates, but now he’s “super nervous” watching him pitch.

“I couldn’t imagine actually having to field a ground ball for him now,” he said. “I did it back in the day, but now I’m just nervous as hell pulling for him. … It’s definitely a surreal experience playing behind him. You obviously pull for your teammates. But when it’s family out there, you can’t even describe it.”

Karros, the Rockies’ No. 28 prospect according to MLB.com, is off to a terrific start for the Indians this season. Through 15 games, Karros is hitting .327 with a .448 on-base percentage over 55 at-bats. He has one homer, 11 RBIs and two steals.

Jared is doing pretty well, too. In three starts for High-A Great Lakes, he’s 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over 15 innings with 17 strikeouts.

The Indians won a team-record eight games to start the season and are 11-4 through the first three series heading into six games on the road against Vancouver this week.

“When we do well as a team, I normally do well,” Karros said. “It takes the pressure, the stress and all that off yourself when you’re genuinely going out there and just trying to help the team win.”

“I’ve been more than excited working with Kyle,” Indians hitting coach Tom Sutaris said. “Just the opportunity to work with him and talk baseball. He really has a great self-awareness. I think the makeup is off the charts and I think the physical tools are there to be a really special player. He understands exactly how pitchers are working. He does his homework every day, and he’s prepared every time he comes out here to work before game and then compete in the game.”

There’s not much of an age gap between the siblings, so they were good friends growing up and didn’t have much of a rivalry.

“He wasn’t like the older brother picking on me, because I’d probably put up a pretty good fight if he was doing that,” Kyle Karros said. “But definitely the dynamic with him being older brother – his friend group, I always wanted to be part of that. And I did. I always kind of just rolled with him and his crew.”

That dynamic is probably why the younger Karros seems mature beyond his 21 years.

“It was definitely a huge advantage for me, and I always had a good solid group to look up to and fit in with him,” he said. “I think another reason I was kind of early to mature mentally was just being around my dad a lot, too. He included me with everything. He would always try to expose me to as much as he could.”

Some sons of big leaguers have talked about the pressure to live up expectations – either within the family or from outside sources – due to carrying the famous last name.

“I think the advantages far outweigh any disadvantages,” Karros said. “Just the resources we have access to. Especially growing up in L.A., I’m very fortunate for that because he obviously made a ton of relationships while he played.

“We had a very similar path growing up, and then UCLA, and then baseball. So, anything I’m experiencing right now, he’s probably experienced at some point. Having him to just relay stuff to, bounce ideas – if I’m struggling, I can talk to him, because like I said, he’s been through it all.”

Eric was Kyle’s first hitting coach. But that relationship works best, Kyle says, when it’s “dad first.”

“The more I’ve worked with him as hitting coach, the more I turn off the hitting coach side of him and just treat him like my father,” he said. “There were so many times where hitting would honestly get into the way of our relationship. And we’d just scream at each other in the cage. … I need him to be my dad more than I need them to my hitting coach at this point.”

Karros called his mother, Trish Maly, “the glue” and his sister, Mikah Maly-Karros, a former college athlete and psychologist, a “stabilizer” in the family.

“(Mom) was more on the creative side, psychological side, emotional side,” he said. “If stuff was getting too intense with pops, I’d go to mom and talk to her. … You get me, my brother and dad all in the same room and it’s really a locker room dynamic. And then I have a mom and a sister who aren’t quite in that locker room. So (Mikah) kind of gives my mom some more leverage.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/ ... ing-name-/

28. Kyle Karros
3B, Spokane Indians, A+ (Colorado Rockies)

AGE: 21, DOB: 07/26/2002
BATS: R, THROWS: R
HT: 6' 5", WT: 220
DRAFTED: 2023, 5th (145) - COL
ETA: 2026

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 45 | Run: 40 | Arm: 60 | Field: 50 | Overall: 40

The Karros family has become a UCLA dynasty. Eric, of course, went there before a long big league career. His two sons also attended college there: Jared, a right-hander drafted by the Dodgers in 2022 and Kyle, who went in the fifth round of the 2023 Draft to the Rockies. A three-year starter for the Bruins, the youngest Karros shook off a bad stint in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2022 and started well in his Draft season back at school until an ankle injury hampered him. But the Rockies valued him enough to take him on Day 2, sandwiched in between a run of four college arms they selected in those rounds.

Before he got hurt, Karros was using the 15 pounds of strength he had added to good effect at UCLA. He also was utilizing a more closed-off stance and has shown the ability to use the big part of the field well and make a ton of contact. His strikeout rate dropped while his walk rate improved, and while he hasn’t put up big power numbers, he can backspin the ball the other way and his approach should help him tap into his raw power.

The work that Karros did on his conditioning also made him a better defender at third. His plus arm always worked from the hot corner and his added agility and ranginess gives him every chance to stay there at this level. But he's going to have to go out and prove he can impact the ball enough to profile as an everyday player at the infield corner.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/rockies/k ... ros-691720

29. Kyle Karros, 3B

Drafted: 5th Round, 2023 from UCLA (COL)
Age 21.7 Height 6′ 5″ Weight 220 Bat / Thr R / R FV 40

Tool Grades (Present/Future)
Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw
30/50 40/50 30/50 30/30 35/60 60

One of Eric’s two sons in pro ball (Jared pitches in the Dodgers system), Kyle hit .276/.342/.407 at UCLA and was drafted in the fifth round. He might end up growing into more power, as he’s a strapping 6-foot-5 and still has room for strength on his broad-shouldered frame. His lever length does tend to cause Karros to inside out the baseball the other way, but unlike a lot of long-levered hitters for whom this is true, he doesn’t typically get beat around the hands. He is also a surprisingly slick defender for his size, making up for what he lacks in twitch with elegant footwork, deft hands, and a plus arm. Karros stands a good chance to be a four corners role player and has a puncher’s chance to be an everyday third baseman if indeed he can add power as a pro.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/colorado-ro ... ects-2024/

38. Kyle Karros, 3B

The son of former National League Rookie Of The Year Eric Karros, Kyle enjoyed three solid but unspectacular seasons at UCLA, where he showed solid plate skills and projectable power due to his 6-foot-5 frame.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... 0-in-2024/

Keiner Delgado, 2B, Pirates

The newest Pirates prospect came to Pittsburgh on April 30 as the player to be named later in the deal that sent JT Brubaker to New York. Delgado was part of a loaded FCL Yankees club and earned plaudits from scouts for his ability to do a little bit of everything while always being one of the smartest players on the diamond. He’s a versatile defender who makes plenty of contact but could stand to add strength in order to gain impact as well.

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

Jared Karros, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (High-A Great Lakes): 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

A 16th-round selection in 2022 out of UCLA and son of a former Dodger star, Karros is proving that he is not just a legacy selection, but a bonafide pitching prospect capable of making an impact at the highest level. He’s been dominant early this season in the Midwest League, allowing just six earned runs in 31 innings of work. Karros doesn’t generate a ton of swing-and-miss but controls his mid-90s fastball, change, and 12-to-6 breaker well.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... ta-braves/

Eric Adler has a path to the Majors.

The first part of said path is to pitch well for division-leading Double-A Birmingham, just as he did over eight scoreless outings for High-A Winston-Salem to start the 2024 season before he earned a promotion to the Barons last Wednesday. He did the same with a 2.87 ERA over 28 games for the Dash and Single-A Kannapolis during the 2023 campaign.

Then, with potentially one more stop at Triple-A Charlotte, a jump to the White Sox is in Adler's sights. It’s a 2024 White Sox trip for the hard-throwing right-hander.

“I believe I can get there this year, to be totally honest,” Adler told me during a recent phone interview. “I trust my stuff to get me there.

“It’s just a matter of doing it on the field. I’m excited to put it all out there and see where it takes me.”

Adler -- who was expected to go in the first three rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft thanks to a fastball in the high 90s that once touched 100 mph during Cape Cod League competition -- was selected in the sixth round. He had control issues in ’22 during his junior season with Wake Forest, walking 25 over 21 1/3 innings, which might have made him fall in the Draft.

Now, Adler has worked as an effective closer in the White Sox system, featuring his cutter (which he is working to develop more downward movement on instead of horizontal action) alongside his fastball.

“Just trusting my stuff really,” Adler said. “Making the cutter the bread-and-butter [pitch] to where I'm getting back in the counts with it or getting to two strikes quick with it, and then using the fastball to put them away. I kind of enjoy that way of pitching a little bit. It fools hitters more than just trying to work around with the heater.”

Of course, having that high-velocity heater in his arsenal with the cutter and a curve is always a plus.

“To know that I could reach back and grab one if I need to, it definitely helps,” Adler said. “Just elevating any heaters is hard to hit, and if you add that velocity behind it, it just makes it that much harder. I would like to think that I have a riding fastball, so it kind of gets on you even more.

“I’m often described as kind of emotionless. Obviously, you want some fire coming out of your closer, but that’s just not how I operate best. I’ll get fired up for sure if the situation grants. Jumping around or whatever. Until the job is over, I try to stay as even keel as possible.”

Will Adler’s routine legitimately become part of the 2024 White Sox? The team won’t stop his progress.

“Physically, the stuff is real,” White Sox director of player development Paul Janish said recently of Adler. “The makeup -- when I say makeup, I’m talking about the in-game presentation -- he seems to be unflappable, which is super encouraging for what is probably equating to a high-leverage guy.

“We are going to push him as he shows he can do it, because it’s a little different for a short-inning pitcher type guy with real stuff. So, up to this point, really encouraged. I know he’s another pretty motivated kid. He knows where he wants to go, which is a pretty big piece.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/eric-adler-amo ... ning-heads

Among the crowd of high-end starting pitchers to sign with new teams over the offseason, perhaps none had wider error bars surrounding his projection than Shota Imanaga. An NPB star for the past half-decade, Imanaga had a track record of success but also many questions about how his skills would translate to MLB. This certainly is reflected in his contract with the Cubs, which came with just two guaranteed years worth $23 million, a far cry from our $88 million estimate. But for the past month and change, the 30-year old rookie has been up there with the league’s best.

Shota Imanaga’s Stat Rankings:

K% BB% ERA xERA FIP
18th 4th 1st 4th 8th
out of 79 qualified pitchers

Through his first seven starts, Imanaga has allowed just five earned runs, fewest among qualified pitchers. He’s been downright dominant through much of this stretch, proving his stuff is up to major league standards while controlling the strike zone better than almost anyone else. But he’s done so differently than other top pitching talents. Let’s take a look at his pitch arsenal.

From a quick glance at the stat sheet, the first thing that catches my eye is the sheer frequency with which Imanaga uses his fastball. In an era where nearly two-thirds of starters throw non-fastballs a majority of the time, Imanaga’s 58.4% usage (91st percentile) stands out. As pointed out by MLB.com’s David Adler, Imanaga’s heater has been the best individual pitch in baseball by run value, beating out Corbin Burnes’ notorious cutter Tyler Glasnow’s frightening fastball. But while the other heaters at the top of this list sit in the mid- to upper-90s, Imanaga’s four-seamer averages just 92 mph.

The list of starters who sit at 92 or below is rather short, and mostly consists of names that we certainly don’t think of as strikeout artists. In his piece, Adler noted that Imanaga’s fastball has elite induced vertical break (IVB). But carry alone doesn’t always make a fastball effective; Triston McKenzie’s four-seamer, which currently leads the league in fastball IVB, has the highest xwOBA allowed of any such pitch (min. 50 plate appearances). Rather, what makes Imanaga’s offering so special is its plus movement in combination with its ultra-low release point.

Pitchers like McKenzie and Ross Stripling throw from high, over-the-top arm slots, making their backspin (and thus vertical movement) predictable for hitters. In contrast, Imanaga’s delivery from a low three-quarters slot creates a movement profile much different than what you’d expect from his arm angle. Earlier this week, Michael Rosen broke down the biomechanics of Imanaga’s ability to spin the ball so well from an outlier release point, showing how his hip and lower-body flexibility enable him to “get behind” the ball and create backspin. Throughout the league, no starter gets a higher IVB than Imanaga does from such a low release point – those throwing from lower slots are primarily sidearmers whose deliveries generate run at the expense of carry, while the only two hurlers with more IVB (min. 250 four-seamers), McKenzie and Tyler Anderson, have release points about a foot higher.

Because of its low release point and high carry, Imanaga’s four-seamer has the third-shallowest vertical approach angle in baseball, creating the deception that causes batters to swing under it with surprising frequency. Its 12.5% swinging strike rate and 22.1% putaway rate easily exceed the league averages of 10.3% and 17.9%, respectively, as he’s able to throw it for a whiff in any count.

Imanaga gets more fastball whiffs than most, but his swinging strike rate with the pitch is a far cry from Jared Jones’ league-leading 20.1%. To be the most valuable pitch in baseball, Imanaga’s fastball has to work even when he’s not blowing it past hitters. And at first glance, you might think that a low-90s heater that lives in the zone would get sent a long way when batters connect with it. Indeed, homers were the one knock on Imanaga’s game in NPB, as his 2.9% homer rate (1.04 HR/9) last year was highest in the league in a deadened offensive environment. But he’s allowed just three homers across his seven MLB starts, and the Statcast data indicate this low total is more a product of skill than luck.

Fastball Contact Quality Metrics:

Statistic Value Percentile

wOBA .189 98th
xwOBA .279 85th
Barrel Rate 7.6% 66th

SOURCE: Baseball Savant

I’m not saying that a 0.65 HR/9 represents Imanaga’s true talent (ZiPS forecasts a 0.94 mark for the rest of the year), and it’s certainly likely that the results will regress toward his xwOBA as the season goes on, but he’s clearly been keeping pitches away from barrels at an above-average clip, a skill that many evaluators were skeptical of as he made the leap to MLB. Part of this is due to his fastball’s shape – a flat VAA can lead to uncomfortable swings and produce weak outs. While this type of fastball does contribute to a high fly ball rate, opponents haven’t been able to put a charge into their aerial hits thus far. Imanaga’s average exit velocity and hard-hit rates allowed sit around the league average, but his exit velocity allowed on batted balls in the air is a much more favorable 70th percentile. He also has the ninth-lowest line drive rate among qualified starters, almost never allowing squared-up contact.

Imanaga also locates his fastball in places unlikely to produce barrels. Sure, he throws more heaters in the zone than almost anyone else, but he’s not just sending them down Broadway and hoping for the best; instead, he’s consistently hitting his spots at the top edge of the zone. He ranks 10th in fastballs thrown in the upper third of the zone, an area where the flatness of the pitch can play up and create the illusion that it’s rising. Unsurprisingly, his Kirby Index, a stat that measures release angle consistency, ranks in the 90th percentile.

Imanaga’s fastball alone has made him one of the most effective pitchers in the league, and I haven’t even talked about his plus splitter yet. Like the fastball, this is a pitch he throws with remarkable accuracy. Splitters are hard to command – many pitchers’ splitter heatmaps look like giant blobs, and nearly 14% of splitters are wasted, the second highest of any pitch type. But Imanaga repeatedly hits the area at the bottom of and just below the strike zone, an optimal spot for success. His splitter has a 108 Location+ and 57 PitchingBot command grade, both among the league’s highest.

From a pure shape perspective, Imanaga’s splitter doesn’t particularly stand out. It doesn’t have absurd lateral movement like Kevin Gausman’s or fall off the table like Jordan Hicks’; Imanaga’s actually drops a few inches less than average. But when paired with his high fastball, that splitter becomes downright nasty. Thrown from the same release point and angle as his heater, Imanaga’s splitter gets hitters to swing at what they think is a meaty fastball before they have time to realize that the pitch is 9 mph slower and 19 inches lower. He throws it only about half as often as his heater, saving the split for two-strike counts where hitters are in swing mode. And swing they do, coming up empty nearly half the time they offer at it. The end result is that Imanaga’s splitter is one of the best whiff pitches in the league.

Best Whiff Pitches in Baseball:

Name Pitch Type Whiff%

Tarik Skubal Changeup 49.5%
Shota Imanaga Splitter 47.7%
Cole Ragans Changeup 45.7%
Dylan Cease Slider 45.6%
Luis Castillo Slider 43.0%
Logan Gilbert Slider 42.9%
Jared Jones Slider 41.7%
Cristopher Sánchez Changeup 41.7%
Jack Flaherty Slider 41.3%
Michael King Changeup 41.1%

SOURCE: Baseball Savant (min. 50 PA)

The splitter has also been integral in maintaining Imanaga’s minuscule walk rate, as hitters swing and miss at them before they can work themselves into deep counts. Opponents have swung at 47.2% of the out-of-zone splitters he’s thrown, a huge reason his overall chase rate nearly tops the charts. His low walk rate and refusal to waste pitches has worked wonders in terms of efficiency, averaging the sixth-fewest pitches per inning among qualified starters. Imanaga’s quick work of opposing lineups has allowed him to pitch deep into games (averaging six innings per start) while acclimating to more frequent outings as part of a five-man rotation.

Just a month into his MLB career, Imanaga has exceeded all expectations and emerged as an ace. His brilliant pitch execution hasn’t just proven what he can be at his best, they’ve also calmed concerns about what his downside risk can look like. When he signed, it was easy for skeptics to compare him to other hurlers without big velocity and forecast doubt. But Imanaga has shown that nobody else pitches the way he does.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/shota-imana ... ke-an-ace/

Jacob Melton, OF, Astros

Age: 23. Average Launch Angle: 10°. Zone Miss Rate: 13.3%. 90th Percentile EV: 108.5 mph.

Melton was Houston’s second-round pick from 2022 out of Oregon State, and has been a strong offensive performer for most of his career. He was especially potent in offensive oasis Asheville in 2023, where he swatted 11 home runs in 42 games before earning a bump to Double-A Corpus Christi at the end of August. He caught fire in his first turn at the upper levels with five home runs in 13 games to close the year. In the early going in 2024, Melton has seen his launch angle drop and his groundball rate rise. He’s also hitting the ball harder than ever—his current 90th percentile EV is more than 2 mph hotter than the mark he finished with in 2023—and has done an excellent job making contact on pitches in the zone. If he can get a few more balls in the air, Melton’s summer could be mighty hot.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... n-the-air/

Look, Cubs newcomer Shota Imanaga brought this upon himself.

Imanaga, 30, has been so obscenely good since arriving from Japan, we have no choice but to compare him with giant pitching names present and past.

The lefty starter is 5-0 with a minuscule 0.84 ERA, the fourth-lowest after the first nine starts of a season since ERA became an official statistic in — come on, you know you remember it — 1913. The last to go lower in nine starts was Jacob deGrom, at 0.62 in 2021, when he was well on his way to a third Cy Young Award before his season was cut short in July. In 2009, Zack Greinke was at 0.82 and en route to winning the Cy. In 1966, during baseball’s second dead-ball era, Juan Marichal was at 0.69 after nine starts en route to the Hall of Fame.

That’s some company Imanaga is keeping. Not only that, but his 0.84 — the lowest on record for a pitcher in the first nine starts of his career — nips Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 with the Dodgers in the Mexican’s unforgettable 1981 debut. All Valenzuela did from there was make his first of six consecutive All-Star teams and win rookie of the year and the Cy.

So there’s the bar for the newest Cubs sensation. Sounds perfectly reasonable, right?

But that’s not really fair, of course. Imanaga inevitably will begin to move closer to real-life numbers at some point. And speaking of real life, he has one. He has made success on the mound look so simple, it makes it easy to forget to ask a guy who moved halfway around the world and is living alone in a huge new city how life is going otherwise.

“Chicago’s such a great city, there’s no way I can get homesick,” he said via interpreter Edwin Stanberry.

A day after his latest gem at Wrigley Field, Imanaga walked into the clubhouse in red ankle boots and cuffed jeans, a black baseball cap on backward and a backpack slung over his shoulder. When he reached way up there to high-five 6-6 pitcher Ben Brown hello, the 5-10, 175-pound Imanaga, rising onto his toes, hardly looked the part of a dominant starter.

But that he has been, and the Cubs, who are struggling mightily to generate offense, have needed every bit of it.

The pitching might be coming along faster than the experience of living here, though.

“The [nice weather] lightens my mood,” he said. “It’s a lot better than the cold.”

Imanaga has ordered Japanese takeout a number of times but has not yet sat down for a proper meal in a restaurant. He keeps meaning to sample a Chicago hot dog but has yet to belly up to a counter and order one. He has gone all-in on a couple of pizzas and marveled at the portion sizes, the thought occurring to him that pizza could help him keep his weight up throughout the long grind of a season.

“I’ve definitely noticed the fact that I’m a lot shorter than a lot of players here, but [at least] if I do gain weight, they’re not going to notice much,” he cracked.

And as some dogged reporters have sniffed out, Imanaga runs on Dunkin’. He stops for an iced latte on the way to the ballpark partly to practice English but also because that little bit of a routine helps him feel like he actually lives here.

“And also,” he added with a smile, “I really like coffee.”

As he’ll discover sooner or later, nothing goes better with a cup than a nice hot dog. Although a sparkling ERA that’s already screaming for All-Star votes sure comes close.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2024/ ... pcc=cst_cm

Jacob Melton, OF, Houston Astros

Melton’s swinging strike rate is surprisingly low considering what I expected of him coming out of Oregon State. His head is still flying around a lot throughout his swing and he tends to spray a lot of contact to the opposite field. I’m just not comfortable projecting that this is the offensive skill set of an everyday outfielder.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-top-100-prospects-update/

Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics

Clarke has featured just about every part of his game the last two weeks, slashing .294/.375/.500 while boasting a double-digit walk rate and striking out almost a third of the time. He’s running less, though, and that could be worth keeping an eye on.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fant ... eek-eight/

When the White Sox promoted 2023 first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez to Double-A Birmingham in late May, Barons manager Sergio Santos had the inevitable conversation with incumbent shortstop Brooks Baldwin.

But that is no knock on Baldwin, who led the Southern League in hitting at .362/.440/.493 through 40 games.

Rather, the 23-year-old Baldwin was asked to embrace his professional future by mixing in time at second base and third base.

“That is such a blessing to have because at shortstop, for you to go up, something needs to happen specifically to the shortstop,” Santos recalls telling Baldwin. “But when you play so many different positions and you play them well, now your chances of going up to the big leagues are a lot higher.”

The headline of that chat for Baldwin, a 12th-round pick out of UNC Wilmington in 2021, was that the White Sox see him as a near-term big leaguer.

The White Sox wanted to see how Baldwin would handle regular work at shortstop. He played mostly outfield while winning Colonial Athletic Association player of the year in 2021 and was drafted as a third baseman.

Now it’s just one of a litany of assignments they feel he can handle when called upon.

“Brooks is a really good example of the draft status isn’t the most important thing,” White Sox farm director Paul Janish said. “He’s the kind of guy who you need to see him play for four or five days to really understand and appreciate everything he’s doing.”

The switch-hitting Baldwin won’t hit for standout power, but more because of a line drive-oriented swing that Santos remarks is fairly similar from each side, rather than a lack of major league-caliber exit velocities.

Baldwin entered Memorial Day weekend with 34 stolen bases in 41 career attempts on the strength of his strong baserunning instincts rather than top-line speed.

Standout tools typically aren’t available on the third day of the draft, but the White Sox see Baldwin as proof that standout makeup can lift an otherwise average profile.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... white-sox/

Pitcher of the Day:

Mason Adams, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Double-A Birmingham): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K.

Trades have helped improve the talent level of the pitching for the White Sox as evidenced by the stacked Birmingham rotation. While teammates Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, and Ky Bush might get the lion’s share of the prospect love, homegrown talent, Adams has quietly put together the beginnings of a breakout performance. He’s finding success on the back of his quality breakers and plus command.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news ... ed-ritter/

Blue Jays: Fernando Perez, RHP (No. 24)

The 20-year-old right-hander has moved to full-season ball for the first time with Single-A Dunedin and is handling the transition well. He’s yet to allow more than three earned runs or two walks in any of his eight starts, and he’s completed at least five frames in each of his last five. His 91-94 mph fastball, 79-82 mph slider and low-80s changeup all have called-strike-whiff rates above 30 percent, and his 6.4 percent walk rate is the lowest among qualifiers in the organization.

White Sox: Mason Adams, RHP (No. 19)

Adams has displayed one of the best curveballs and some of the best control in the White Sox system since turning pro as a 13th-rounder out Jacksonville in 2022. Part of a loaded all-prospect rotation at Double-A Birmingham, he has permitted three earned runs in five May starts while fashioning a 0.91 ERA, .178 opponent average and 29/6 K/BB ratio in 29 2/3 innings.

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-club-s-ho ... e-coverage

21. Nasim Nuñez, SS

Drafted: 2nd Round, 2019 from Collins Hill HS (GA) (MIA)
Age 23.8 Height 5′ 9″ Weight 168 Bat / Thr S / R FV 40

Tool Grades (Present/Future)
Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw
30/40 30/30 20/30 60/60 60/70 50

Washington’s Rule 5 selection this past winter, Nuñez has stuck on their roster but has barely played; as of list publication, he has fewer than 10 big league plate appearances. Nuñez is a twitchy, glove-first middle infielder with virtually no power. Long-term, he projects as a team’s sixth infielder, a slick-fielding defensive replacement and runner. For how little power he produces, Nuñez maintains a good feel for getting his bat on the ball, with a swinging strike rate under 10% in 2023. He buoys his overall profile with a ton of speed, to the tune of 52 stolen bases last year and 70 the year before. Nuñez will have some situational utility when his team needs a ball in play or a pinch-runner, but it’s his incredible hands, range, athleticism and infield versatility that should drive a John McDonald-esque career.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/washington- ... ects-2024/

Ky Bush

I asked Ely about Bush last, which I feared gave the impression that the former Angels second-round pick is the last remarkable of the group. Ely resisted that assumption.

“He’s fucking incredible,” Ely said. “That kid could go to the big leagues right now. He’s got command, pitchability. He’s got a four-pitch mix as good as anybody’s.”

Bush worked over the offseason on shortening his arm action and riding longer on his back leg, and hoped to improve command while restoring some velocity lost last season while he was working back from a lat strain. Ely describes Bush’s best nights as sitting 93-95 mph with the occasional 96 mph spiked in there, and lauded an outing where he was able to get by on the strength of tunneling his secondaries for several innings before find his backside mechanics mid-outing and ramping up velocity from there.

“He’s able to beat you with the fastball at the top, he’s able to locate at the bottom and he’s able to locate all his pitches off of that,” Ely said. “He’s able to make everything look the same, kind of like how everyone else is doing right now. He just tunnels pitches so that they either get taken or they get really bad swings.”

Recently Bush has been working on a cutter to add to his slider, curve and changeup, but Ely said it’s been merging with the slider to a degree where it’s been sidelined from games at the moment. But even without it, Bush has a 1.95 ERA in 50⅔ innings with a 28.1 percent strikeout rate.

Mason Adams

As the oldest (24), shortest (six feet even), softest-throwing (low-90s) and lowest drafted (13th round in 2022), Adams is easily overlooked. Rarely is the fifth-most notable starter in a minor league rotation a future mainstay, let alone the sixth now that Schultz has been promoted.

Ely would encourage you to not overlook Adams.

“Realistically, man, he’s just as good as everybody else.”

Adams’ slider probably gets the most attention of any of his pitches (“it’s got teeth”) but his lower profile could be chalked up to excelling in deception, which tends to get talked up as the results pour in against increasingly lauded competition. So far, Adams’ results are a 2.09 ERA with 59 strikeouts and just nine walks in 51⅔ innings.

“You ever watch those Wiffle ball tournaments on YouTube?” Ely asked. “That’s what it looks like. He looks like he’s throwing Wiffle balls. The movement is so late, it catches seams so late in the hitting zone. He has the same hand position on every single pitch. So it’s very difficult to pick up if it’s a curveball, slider, a sinker or a changeup because they all look exactly the same. They go different directions and they all tunnel really well off each other. Plus, he has that low approach angle where if you need to beat somebody above the zone, he can throw that four-seam at 93-95 mph. I sound like I’m talking about the freakin’ Braves in the 90’s, but it’s kind of how they’re performing.”

The discussion of Adams’ five-pitch mix made me wonder if he can flip his arsenal in response to handedness like Erick Fedde, but Ely makes it sound like the distinction isn’t even that apparent.

“He tries to mix up everything to everybody,” Ely said. “I don’t think we had an understanding of who he could potentially be when he was drafted. But once we got him and saw how special of a talent he was, it’s like a no-brainer. He could probably be another guy that could go to the big leagues right now and survive at the minimum. He might even take off.”

https://soxmachine.com/2024/05/gushing- ... -john-ely/

Kyle Karros is slashing .299/.391/.437 with three home runs in 192 plate appearances for the High-A Spokane Indians. Drafted in the fifth round last year out of UCLA by the Colorado Rockies, the 21-year-old this baseman is the son of former big-league slugger Eric Karros.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-note ... -way-days/

In a stacked Birmingham rotation, Mason Adams doesn’t stand out. At 6 feet, he’s the shortest of the six starters who have propelled the Barons to the top of the Southern League standings. Signing for $75,000 in the 13th round of the 2022 draft, he commanded the smallest bonus among his domestically drafted rotationmates, with Jairo Iriarte signing for the same amount out of Venezuela.

Yet despite the lowest profile, Adams has staked his claim as the steadiest of the starters. He’s pitched at least five innings in all 11 outings this year, which comprises 10 starts and a five-inning piggyback appearance in the wake of Noah Schultz last Saturday. He’s also provided plenty of quality for the quantity, with a 2.12 ERA with 65 strikeouts against 10 walks over 63⅔ innings.

It’s a second leap for Adams in as many full professional seasons. He already surprised with a breakout performance in 2023, during which which he posted a 3.14 ERA over 109 innings across three levels.

Few could say they saw it coming.

Adams wasn’t exactly a nobody at Jacksonville University, but while he drew enough attention to receive an entry in Baseball America’s draft database in 2022, the report stopped well short of glowing:

A semi-productive starter at Jacksonville, Adams’ strikeout-to-walk ratio (108-to-31) and fielding independent pitching numbers were better than his 4.80 ERA. Adams is a strike-throwing righthander with feel for pitching and average secondaries (low-80s slider, mid-80s changeup) that help make up for a fringe-average 91-93 mph fastball. He’s a senior sign candidate as a money saver.

The White Sox saw enough in Adams to draft him, but they didn’t immediately prioritize him. Adams opened the 2023 season as a long man/bulk boy who handled the middle innings after Tanner McDougal’s weekly 60-pitch starts, and it wasn’t until about this time last year that he started drawing starts of his own.

In the defense of those making the initial reads, Adams needed some time to develop two pitches that expanded his possibilities.

The first was his primary fastball. Adams came into professional baseball exclusively throwing four-seamers, but the White Sox’s A-ball pitching coaches got him to buy into his sinker.

“Middle of my first full season, I mixed the sinker in a little bit more. I saw good results with it, felt like I could pitch with it,” Adams told me on Sunday, a day after his five-inning relief appearance against the Tennessee Smokies.

“Our pitching coach down in Low-A last year (Blake Hickman), he was helping me with the sinker a little bit. And then [John] Ely, when I got to Winston last year, he was also pretty big on it.”

His slider is the other pitch that renders the aforementioned summary of his arsenal outdated. It went from a low-80s offering that blended with his curveball to a distinct breaking ball with some power.

“We kind of just gave him a better path to use it with, and put a grip in his hand that made sense,” Ely said. “Something that he could really pull through, and just the cueing was probably a little bit different.

“He’s not trying to manipulate it. He’s just throwing it from the same hand position as his fastball and realizing, ‘Oh, hell, it’s going to catch seams a different way and it’s going to move the way I want it to. OK, now I can let it eat.'”

Armed with a sinker that keeps more than half of batted balls on the ground, and a breaking ball that reduces the total number of batted balls, Adams now has five-pitch arsenal, and throws strikes well enough with all of them to open up all sorts of sequencing possibilities, whether because everything’s working or because he knows what’s not.

“You can’t really sit on anything in any count, because he throws anything in any count, and he’s able to throw it all for strikes,” Ely said. “You can just see it, if something’s not there that day? His temperament is what does that for us, because it’s, ‘All right, well, I guess I’ll just go to this today.’ It seems to work.”

The numbers seem to back up that notion, as Adams has a career 2.86 ERA and 194 strikeouts over 176⅓ professional innings. So what’s the catch?

While his walk rate is the best on the Barons, he also leads the team with eight hit batters, which both Adams and Ely said is the result of “overcooking” potential putaway sliders to left-handed batters. He also faces the same doubts that every righty without standout velocity encounters: Will his ability to execute hold up and/or stand out against the toughest competition? Because he isn’t somebody who can rely on getting swinging strikes in the zone, he’ll need counts on his side more than most.

Unless Adams discovers how to gain 2-3 ticks on his fastball — and given the progress he’s made in other areas, never say never — he’ll have to keep performing, and delaying a reckoning until people finally give up on the inevitability of one. The upside is that a “money saver” Day 3 signing already has plenty of experience beating odds. If Adams hasn’t already won over some doubters, it’s only because he hadn’t been considered enough to doubt in the first place.

https://soxmachine.com/2024/06/semi-pro ... ox-system/

24. Allan Winans, SP

Drafted: 17th Round, 2018 from Campbell (NYM)
Age 28.8 Height 6′ 2″ Weight 175 Bat / Thr R / R FV 35+

Tool Grades (Present/Future)
Fastball Slider Changeup Command Sits/Tops
30/30 50/50 60/60 40/50 88-91 / 92

A 2021 Minor League Rule 5 pick from the Mets, Winans was moved from the bullpen into the rotation after the Braves brought him on and has grown into a viable spot starter. A lanky, strike-throwing changeup artist, he has had success at Triple-A but not yet in the big leagues. Sudden acceleration in the middle of his delivery can catch hitters off guard, but mostly Winans succeeds because of the sinking action of his mid-80s changeup. He’ll likely serve as a depth starter during his option years and has a chance to shift into a Trevor Richards style relief role down the line. Even though he’s 28, Winans is a limber gent with a relatively fluid delivery, the sort of pitcher who could have greater athletic longevity than his barrel-chested peers.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/atlanta-bra ... ects-2024/

18. Allan Winans, RHP

Ht: 6'2" | Wt: 165 | B-T: R-R

Age: null
BA Grade/Risk: 40/Medium

Track Record: Never a top prospect, Winans signed for just $10,000 as a 17th rounder with the Mets in the 2018 draft, but has quietly put together excellent minor league performances for five years. The Braves took him in the third round of the 2021 Rule 5 draft and converted him to a starting role in 2022. He dominated Triple-A Gwinnett in 2023 and also made six big league starts.

Scouting Report: Winans has the dubious “pitchability righthander” tag that isn’t a premium prospect phylum, but does adequately sum up his east-west game. He throws a four-seam and two-seam fastball with well below-average big league velocity in the 88-92 mph range, but both pitches have above-average arm-side running life. His slow breaking ball checks in around 78-82 mph with slider shape but more typical curveball power and is most effective as a chase pitch that starts on the mid-to-outer third and then sweeps out of the zone. His top offering is a low-to-mid 80s tumbling changeup that he threw almost 30% of the time in the majors and generated a 31% whiff rate. He fills up the zone consistently and is a solidly above-average strike-thrower with a career 7.5% minor league walk rate.

The Future: Winans will be in his age-28 season in 2024, and he has little to no projection remaining, but he offers solid value as a depth starter/swingman type who can attack the zone with four pitches.

Scouting Grades Fastball: 40 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 60 | Control: 55

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

Allan Winans, RHP, Atlanta Braves (Triple-A Gwinnett): 12 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 17 K.

Season Stats (Triple-A): 3.42 ERA, 52.2 IP, 20 BB, 50 K.

As a 28-year-old righty who was claimed by the Braves off waivers in 2021, Winans is unlikely to make anyone’s top prospect list. However, he is the type of player that good teams have in the high minors, ready to provide quality innings should the need arise. The fastball is not overpowering, sitting in the low-90s, but the change and sweeping slider play well off of each other and help Winans stay off the barrel of opposing hitters.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... l-returns/

14. Ryan Clifford, 1B/OF, Mets

Team: Double-A Binghamton (Eastern)
Age: 20

Why He’s Here: .353/.538/.941 (6-for-17), 9 R, 4 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBIs, 6 BB, 6 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: The Mets landed Clifford from the Astros in the 2023 deadline deal that brought Justin Verlander back to Houston. The most alluring part of Clifford’s skill set is his lefthanded power, which can produce tape-measure home runs as easily as any prospect in the minors. The lefty’s power is not in question. To access it more often, he’ll need to make more contact. Across both High-A and Double-A, Clifford is sporting a strikeout rate of roughly 31%, and nearly 30% at the higher classification. He balances it with a walk rate of exactly 22%, though, leaving him with the profile of a three-true-outcomes hitter. (JN)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... t-6-18-24/

There’s somewhat of a professional bromance brewing between starter Jonathan Cannon and senior advisor to pitching Brian Bannister. The former’s trust in the latter has only been heightened by a recent grip change that only has given Cannon’s changeup more sinking action, but allows him to throw it at regular effort without having to be so conscious of his arm speed. A similar modification has allowed him to regularly get more velocity on his sinker.

And it turns out an Astros lineup missing Yordan Alvarez (personal matter), Kyle Tucker (shin contusion) and José Abreu (Father Time’s merciless wrath) provided a good test kitchen for what the pair has been cooking. Though absent so much of their best left-handed thump, what the Astros really bought was a front row seats to see Cannon’s sweeper.

“It’s an aggressive team over there, they like to hit fastballs,” said Korey Lee, who would know. “I can [call] whatever I want in any count. He has full confidence in all his pitches. Like I said, they are a good fastball hitting team. That’s when changeup and slider all comes into play. He did a good job of controlling the count.”

The biggest criticism you could mount toward Cannon’s 8 2/3 scoreless innings is that they passed along in too orderly of a fashion to deliver much catharsis. Early count groundouts pay the bills, but don’t fill the highlight reels. The Astros did not get a runner to third until Victor Caratini’s soft liner escaped the infield in the seventh to put men on the corners with two outs. One first-pitch sweeper and rollover later, Cannon was out of it.

“This kid went stronger as the night went on” said Pedro Grifol. “He threw 19 pitches in the first inning and never hit that mark again.”

Filling the need for drama, Grifol brought Cannon out for the ninth at 93 pitches after a pair of deep fly outs got him out of the eighth. A quick two of Cannon’s 12 induced groundouts for the night had him on the precipice of a complete game, but Jon Singleton’s excuse-me check-swing roller up an unoccupied third base line was followed by Mauricio Dubón’s more legitimate hard bouncer up the middle to put the tying runs aboard. John Brebbia, who quietly has been rolling for all of June, got Victor Caratini to chop a high fastball down to Andrew Vaughn to close things up cleanly.

“They told me to go finish it, I wanted to finish it,” Cannon said afterward. “It’s funny like that sometimes, to pitch a game like that, and the two little bleeders find some holes and they get on base. But you know what? My defense played a great game behind me all game, Korey called a great game back there. It was fun to be a part of.”

... A season like this one almost encourages the idea of not wasting any runs, and with the night Cannon had, the Sox had all they needed and more.

Bullet points:

*Cannon has allowed one run in 18.2 IP since being recalled, lowering his ERA from 7.24 to 3.32 in the process. His changeup generated five whiffs on nine swings.

https://soxmachine.com/2024/06/white-so ... nnon-fire/

Grant Taylor, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Low-A Kannapolis)

Before being placed on the IL prior to his scheduled June 14th start, Taylor had essentially established himself as a pitcher whose stuff and skills had evolved beyond what Low-A hitters could handle. Chicago took him in the second round of the 2023 draft almost sight unseen, as the North Alabama prep had missed all of that college season with a UCL problem. There was evidence from 2022 of a strong fastball/curve combo, but to be seen as a legitimate starter prospect more would be necessary. It seems that there is now more. In addition to the fastball, which sits mid-90s and touches upper-90s with good carry, Taylor spins a mid-80s curve with plus upside and a high-80s slider that could get to at least above-average. He also throws a cutter and a change that seem relatively scarce. This suite of stuff has been overpowering for Carolina League bats, and the former LSU man had been dispatching them to the tune of a 1.13 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 16 innings over four starts. The delivery is still a bit relieverish, high-effort with a slight head whack, and his present command and breaking stuff execution would probably play a bit shorter at higher levels of the minors—he was in the midst of an injury recovery after all. Taylor has a strong, thick frame and the raw stuff is likely nearly fully formed. With health this could be a quick rise, depending somewhat on his ultimate role. —Ben Spanier

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

Denzel Clarke, OF, Oakland Athletics (Double-A Midland): 6-10, 2 HR

Clarke made the Top 101 on the basis of a potential plus power/plus speed skill combination in center field, even after missing the last bit of 2023 with a shoulder injury. The first bit of 2024 has been some tough sledding—the strikeout rate is closer to 40% than 30%—but Clarke and the org will be hoping that this weekend will represent a positive inflection point, and the Canadian has already raised his slash to .237/.293/.424 from .218/.275/.378 within that time frame.

Mason Adams, RHP, White Sox (Double-A Birmingham): 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 6 K, 1 BB.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... n-on-fire/

8. Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics

Team: Double-A Midland (Texas)
Age: 24

Why He’s Here: .400/.429/.900 (8-for-20) 5 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR,6 RBIs, 0, BB,4 SO, 1 SB, 0 CS

The Scoop: If you want to be a skeptic, Clarke’s approach will feed your fears. His last walk was 21 games ago. He has struck out 24 times since that last walk. If a pitcher gets ahead of him, he can be beaten by quality velocity up or sliders away. But then, there’s also the moments where he connects. If you want to be an optimist, Clarke has all-fields power, as he showed this week with three opposite-field home runs. The tools could still be special, but there’s work to be done. (JC)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... t-6-25-24/

The White Sox are promoting prospect Ky Bush from Double-A to Triple-A.

The 24-year-old Bush, who was acquired from the Angels in the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López deal last summer, had been one of the Southern League’s best pitchers, going 5-3 with a 2.12 ERA and a 78/33 K/BB in 80 2/3 innings. He’s not a particularly exciting fantasy prospect, but he does offer middle-of-the-rotation potential and there’s a good chance he’ll make his major league debut this summer.

https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/ky-bush/0 ... fdeb4f0329

20. Kyle Karros, 3B, Rockies

Team: High-A Spokane (Northwest)
Age: 21

Why He’s Here: .500/.536/.769 (13-for-26), 5 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 SO, 2-for-2 SB

The Scoop: Yes, Kyle is the son of former Dodgers star Eric Karros. Kyle looks to be following in his famous fathers footsteps as a slugging corner infielder and former UCLA star. Last week, Karros showed off his advanced hitting ability collecting hits in all six games, including four multi-hit showings. Karros’ banner night came on Friday when he went 4-for-5 with a home run and a walk. Karros shows strong plate discipline with fringe-average bat-to-ball skills and fringe-average raw power. (GP)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... et-7-2-24/

Kyle Karros, 3B, Colorado Rockies (High-A Spokane): .447 (17-38), 6 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 SB.

Season Stats (High-A): .307/.389/.452, 7 HR, 7 SB.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... -triple-a/