The Dynasty Digest: August 17, 2024

Chris breaks down everything from the DSL to the Majors.

MiLB Pitchers

Ian Anderson, RHP, ATL, 26, AAA(Rehab)

Anderson looks ready to return to return to the major after turning in his best rehab start to date, firing six scoreless innings against Norfolk. He allowed just three hits and two walks and struck out seven. He generated 12 whiffs, good for a 31 percent rate, and added 22 called strikes, which landed him at a 37 percent CSW. Anderson landed 66 percent of his pitches for strikes.

The velocity was up closer to his marks before Tommy John surgery, with the changeup sitting at 88.1 mph and the fastball back up to 93.3 mph on average. The fastball velocity has trended in the right direction and I would guess its back close to the 94 it used to sit pretty soon.

Anderson has tweaked his release point ever so subtly, and we have seen his pitches play slightly differently. The fastball is seeing less IVB, but in the process getting more arm-side run. The changeup is showing more depth but the curveball showing added horizontal movement is huge.

In the process, Anderson is throwing a new slider that has some ride and horizontal movement. The arsenal could lead to success at the MLB level, and people seem to have forgotten that Anderson was really good early on in his career and a big part of the Braves winning the World Series in 2021. He is still a young 26-year-old and could return to form and become a viable starting pitcher.

Brody Hopkins, RHP, TB, 22, A+

Since joining the Rays org, Hopkins has appeared to take a huge step forward on what was already a great arsenal. The 6’4” righty cruised through 6 innings allowing just four hits and not walking a batter. Hopkins struck out eight, did not walk a batter, and landed 65 percent of his pitches for strikes.

This followed a start I was at last week, in which he pitched 5.1 innings, and Hopkins allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out five. He landed 51 of his 75 pitches for strikes, which was highly efficient. The only damage he allowed was a massive solo home run to Luis Baez, who took a 97 mph fastball the other way for a three-run homer.

The fastball sat in the 95-97 range all night and touched triple digits on the stadium gun, but it was more like 99. Still, it was impressive. Hopkins throws two variations of the fastball, a four-seam and sinker, with the four-seam showing respectable ride and run, but his sinker getting a ton of running life, touching over 20 inches of arm-side movement often.

It comes from a low, funky arm slot at 5’, which you can see in the video below, making the riding four-seam even more impressive. Hopkins sweeper was his best pitch that generated the most whiffs on the start, sitting 87-89 mph with some depth and 13-15 inches of sweeping action. He will mix in a curveball in the 85-87 range with more depth than the slider and also throws a cutter with shorter horizontal break and more ride.

His changeup, which is around 89 mph, has nice depth and arm-side movement. It plays well off the sinker and is his go-to pitch against left-handed bats.

On top of the impressive arsenal, Hopkins is an athlete. He moves extremely well on the mound and was all over the field on grounders and bunts, making plays look smooth. It is important to remember that Hopkins is newer to the pitcher and was an outfielder in college. He pitched a total of 31 innings prior to his draft year at Winthrop.

On the year, Hopkins has a 2.73 ERA across 99 innings with 114 strikeouts and 43 walks. The strike rate has improved all year, which is encouraging, and Hopkins misses a ton of bats. Buy in now.

Get the full report and breakdowns by subscribing below.