Monday February 27 Spring Training Dynasty Observations
Chris Clegg breaks down the action from Monday's spring training action for dynasty leauges.
If you missed yesterday’s post, you can check it out here if you wanna know more about Clarke Schmidt’s new pitch, Zac Veen’s 25 pounds of muscle, MacKenzie Gore’s increased velo and more.
Caleb Kilian, RHP, CHC
Caleb Kilian had a dominant Arizona Fall League championship game in 2021 which got a lot of people excited. It did not carry over to 2022 as he posted a 4.22 ERA in 106.2 innings pitched in Triple-A. He also pitched 11.1 innings with the Cubs, posting an 11.91 ERA.
Kilian looked good in his Spring Training debut and posted a perfect two innings with two strikeouts. What stood out about Kilian is the fact that his velocity was up a few ticks from last season. His fastball averaged 95 mph, and his cutter was up 2.1 mph. This seems pretty significant, especially for the amount of strikes that he throws. Again, it was a small sample of 29 pitches, but we will monitor it moving forward.
Brandon Pfaadt, RHP, ARI
If you know me, you know I have hyped Brandon Pfaadt for a long time. Check out my detailed writeup on Pitcher List on Brandon Pfaadt. Pfaadt pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts and one walk on the opposite side of Kilian.
Pfaadt pumped his normal arsenal of pitches, and his fastball sat about one mph faster than it did in the minors in 2022. His slider generated a 43 percent CSW rate and sat near 85 mph. He also flashed a curveball and his changeup. I just want to see more Pfaadt changeups.
My stance has stayed consistent, Pfaadt is the second-best arm in the Dbacks org behind Zac Gallen. He may not win a spot right out of camp because of service time, but Pfaadt should throw 130-plus innings with the big league club in 2023.
Brendan Donovan, 2B, STL
Brendan Donovan hit just five home runs last year in 468 plate appearances with the Cardinals. He now has two in five Spring Training plate appearances. We could just call this small sample noise if not for a significant change to his approach. Check out the Tweet from @CardinalsReek on Twitter.
Donovan is hitting the ball with authority and getting more pull-side power. He already showed an elite approach last year shown by a 23.2 percent chase rate and a 92.9 percent zone-contact rate. If the power uptick continues, watch out! Draft Donovan everywhere.
Darick Hall, 1B/DH, PHI
Seems to me that people are massively underrating Darick Hall’s early season value. He is likely to be the Phillies’ DH until Bryce Harper returns. Between AAA and the Majors last year, Hall hit 37 home runs with a .253 average. He had two batted ball events over 103 mph, including a 109.9 mph single. If you are looking for cheap power in a dynasty, Hall is the guy for you.
Becoming a paid subscriber gets you five more names to watch this spring plus all of this:
Top-500 Dynasty Rankings (Avg, OBP, Win-now, Rebuild)
Top-500 Prospect Rankings
Top-125 FYPD Rankings
Zac Beck’s Dynasty Points Work
Sheet to show best available players in your leagues!
Player Writeups
In-season daily “Dynasty Digest” bringing you up to date on all you need to know for the dynasty world
Dynasty Dugout Podcast
Dynasty Trade Calculator (Coming Soon)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Dynasty Dugout to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.