The Dynasty Digest: May 24, 2024
Chris Clegg breaks down everything you need to know from yesterday's MiLB action.
It is almost the weekend, and somehow, it is almost June. Another great day of Minor League action. Let’s break it down!
MiLB Pitchers
C.J. Culpepper, RHP, MIN, 22, A+
With all the buzz surrounding Zebby Matthews and other Twins pitching prospects, C.J. Culpepper said don’t forget about me! Firing six perfect innings on Thursday, Culpepper struck out eight batters, needing just 66 pitches to do so. He landed 50 pitches for strikes, and had 15 whiffs while generating a 45 percent whiff rate.
The start lowered Culpepper’s ERA to 2.63 on the year with 28 strikeouts and ten walks on the year. He has flown under the radar due to the amount of success that other Twins pitching prospects have had, but it just goes to show you the strong development they have with arms.
Mixing both a two-seam and four-seam fastball, with the four-seam sitting near 94 and the two-seam between 92 and 93 mph. The movement profiles differ as the four-seam has a fairly low ride but high spin, and the sinker averaged over 13 inches of horizontal movement. Culpepper even mixed in a cutter that sat 91-92 with short horizontal break.
The changeup runs a similar movement profile to the sinker but with only five mph of velocity separation. The sweeper is Culpepper’s best pitch, sitting 83 mph with nearly 14 inches of horizontal movement. The curveball is thrown around 80 mph with a ton of downward movement but also 10 inches of sweep.
Logan Evans, RHP, SEA, 22, AA
Evans was one of the buzziest spring training pitching prospect names out there after seeing his fastball and entire arsenal take a major step forward. After striking out just five total batters in his first three starts, it seemed like the buzz was more just noise. Since then, Evans has been rather dominant, especially considering the aggressive Double-A assignment.
On Thursday, Evans fired six scoreless innings without issuing a walk while striking out eight. Evans landed 68 percent of his pitches for strikes while generating ten whiffs.
The former 12th rounder has his fastball sitting 95-96 mph to pair with a devasting sweeper to get whiffs. His arsenal is deep as he also throws a curve, cutter, and changeup, but the fastball and slider combo are the primary swing and miss pitches.
Over his last six starts, Evans has a 0.87 ERA in 31 innings while striking out 36 batters and walking seven. Considering he was a 12th-round find who was aggressively placed in Double-A this year, you have to be impressed.
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