Let’s examine a few Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospects who have the potential to have a successful 2024 campaign.
There are no elite pitching prospects for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It is currently maybe the most vulnerable aspect of their farming method. The Diamondbacks do, fortunately, have a strong Major League rotation. However, players will ultimately become free agents, and no organisation, no matter how big its salary, can keep the band together indefinitely. The Diamondbacks have several intriguing players in the lower levels, but they still need to develop some pitching prospects.
We will examine a few pitching prospects in the Diamondbacks farm system to watch in 2024. That is what we will be looking at today. Most haven’t played in Double-A very often, if at all. Most of their experience has been at a High-A or below. However, if they pitch as well as they did the previous season, they might put their name on the radars of additional prospects after their 2023 campaign.
Ricardo Yan
During the international signing period of 2020–2021, Ricardo Yan was signed by the D-Backs. Yan’s performance in 2021 and 2022 was mediocre at best. However, Yan had his finest season to date in his age-20 campaign, reaching High-A Hillsboro before the season ended.
Between the two levels, Yan threw 103 innings and recorded a 3.65 ERA, 3.90 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP. With a home run rate of 0.54 per nine, the right-hander limited opponents to a batting average of just.184, which was below Mendoza’s. Yan maintained a strong HR/9 rate last year thanks to his 51.3% ground ball rate. Between the two levels he played at, Yan’s walk percentage of 10.4% was roughly league average. However, his 31.9% K-rate was far higher than usual.
Yan doesn’t usually have the same mechanics as a beginning pitcher. His arm slot and movements resemble those of Kent Tekulve, a former closing pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yan can run his sinker into the low 90s and induce batters to jam it into the ground because of his low arm slot. With a tonne of horizontal break in the opposite direction of his sinker, Yan’s sweeping slider is his strongest pitch. Yan’s change-up has some above-average characteristics, but he finds it more difficult to throw for strikes than his sinker and slider.
Long-term command concerns exist, although since making his debut in 2021, his walk rate has consistently dropped. With a little better command, he could be able to maintain his position as a starter for the long run. Next year, the righty might make it to Double-A, and that will present his biggest obstacle. However, if he can throw well in just his age-21 season, the Diamondbacks’ prospect rankings might see a significant improvement in him.
Dylan Ray
In the fourth round of the 2022 draft, Dylan Ray was selected by the Diamondbacks from the University of Alabama. After recuperating from Tommy John surgery, Ray had only pitched out of Alabama’s bullpen. However, the Snakes selected Ray and put him back in the starting rotation. Although his brief professional debut in 2022 did not go well, he pitched much better in 2023 and, if he keeps up his good work, could make his debut late in 2024.
With an ERA of 4.37 despite pitching 113.1 innings between High-A and Double-A Amarillo, Ray’s underlying statistics were far more encouraging. Ray had a strong 8.3% walk rate while striking out 29.3% of the batters he faced. Although Ray’s long ball prevention was not as outstanding as Yan’s, he still managed a solid 0.87 HR/9 rate and a 46.9% ground ball percentage. Ray’s 3.87 xFIP and 3.75 FIP demonstrate that his ERA isn’t a perfect representation of his numbers.
The main reason for such is that Ray’s next-to-last start of the season included a nine-run outing. His season ERA would have decreased from 4.37 to just 3.76, or 0.61 earned runs per nine innings, if that game had not gone the full 3.1 innings. This is not a small decline in ERA.
Three of Ray’s four pitches have above-average potential. His fastball may sit 92-93 at times, and 94-96 at other times, depending on the situation. Yet, its spin compensates for its uneven velocity by getting it past the zone. His slider can also vary in pace, but when he tosses it hard, it can get as high as the low-90s. Although he has above-average potential with his curveball, his command of it may occasionally be a little off. Pitch is in the upper seventies. His change-up follows, which features some nice fading motion.
Ray might very well make his Major League debut if he pitches well, but he should begin the season in Double-A’s rotation. Ray will make progress if he can improve his command and consistency, but if he can stabilise this, he may be able to make even more progress.
Landon Sims
Right-hander Landon Sims was selected by the Diamondbacks 34th overall in the first round of the 2022 draft, prior to selecting Ray in the fourth round. Sims was Mississippi State’s closing pitcher in his stellar sophomore campaign. However, Sims was promoted to the starting rotation in 2023, and in his first three outings and 15.1 innings, he struck out 27 batters, walked two, and only gave up one earned run in 11 singles that he allowed to leave the park.
But Tommy John’s surgery ended Sims’s season after just his third start. In June of the previous season, Sims made a comeback, but the D-Backs used him sparingly. Pitching only 24.2 innings overall between A-Ball Visalia and the D-Backs’ Arizona Complex League affiliate, he made 13 starts. Despite his strong 1.09 HR/9 and excellent 25.7% strikeout rate, Sims struggled to control free passes, resulting in an 11% walk rate. Sims’s low sample size was shown by his 5.47 ERA and 5.42 FIP.
However, Sims pitched less innings than a three-game series and it was his first innings since his Tommy John surgery, so don’t take his bottom-line figures too seriously. Sims is eligible for two extra pitches. His four-seam fastball has a high carry rate through the K-zone and sits in the mid-90s. Sims’ sweeping action slider has a mid-1980s setting. However, there are some concerns regarding his switch. Although he still needs to work on it a bit, his transition has some depth and fade. Sims conceals the ball effectively despite having a fairly short arm in his wind-up.
Next year, Sims will have another year off from surgery. It will be his first opportunity to pitch at capacity in a long time in 2024. Sims has the potential to rise rapidly in the prospect rankings if he can perform as well as his stuff appears. He was, after all, a former first-round selection with outstanding talent. Though surgery may have limited his speed, he is back and ready to pitch as a starting pitcher on a full-time basis.
Be the first to comment