Thursday's Minor League Baseball Notables

It is Friday! Thanks for hanging out with us all week as we break down the Minor League Baseball action. A ton of good things happened yesterday across the baseball world, and I am here to break those down!

Let’s recap what happened across the entire landscape of pro baseball yesterday. If you are unfamiliar with the Dynasty Digest, it is a daily newsletter covering the previous days’ action. From star prospects, to players under the radar, I broke down everything you need to know that happened.

Let’s get to it.

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Each day, I will pick a hitter and pitcher who stand out and deserve the top spot on the sheet. Those players’ reports will be free for all to read. The rest will be paywalled for Dynasty Dugout Subscribers. The article is around 3000 words, giving you detailed player reports to encapsulate everything you need to know.

Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates, 19, A

A four-hit day on Thursday followed a three-hit day on Wednesday, which pushed Griffin’s hit streak to seven games. Over that span, Griffin has 17 hits, good for a .548/.563/.806 slash line.

After having four batted balls hit over 100 mph last night, including two at 110 mph, Griffin has four batted balls over 110 mph and three more just shy at 109.8 mph or harder. This is what they look like, folks. Griffin has a well-filled out, broad shoulder, 6’4” frame, and still has plus foot speed.

We have a pretty strong sample of batted balls at this point and Griffin’s exit velocity data is tremendous. His average exit velocity is north of 90 mph with a 90th percentile exit velocity above 107 mph. His 48 percent hard-hit rate, also really strong.

Currently, Griffin is running an 83.5 percent in-zone contact rate with strong swing rates on pitches in the zone. People have been concerned with the chase rate, which has hovered around 30 percent all year, but let’s take a deeper look.

Griffin’s heart swing percent is near 80 percent, showing a strong approach and the ability to damage mistake pitches. When we filter out to the shadow zone, which includes pitches on the corners, including in the zone, Griffin has a 58 percent swing rate. If we change the filer to the shadow zone, but pitches out of the zone, the swing rate is 50 percent. Again, not bad. Griffin is protecting the corners and close pitches, something you have to do when hitting in a league with the ABS.

On pitches in the chase zone is where we begin to worry a little. Griffin is swinging at 29 percent of pitches he has seen in the chase zone, a touch higher than we would like to see. On waste pitches, Griffin has swung just four times on 49 pitches seen there.

All that to say, Griffin looks like a star in the making to me. The power and speed combo are elite, and his hit tool looks to be at least average.

Jacob Misiorowski, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers, 23, AAA

What Misiorowski is doing right now is unheard of. Not only did he dominate over seven innings, but the stretch run right now is insane. Misiorowski has allowed just two earned runs over his last five starts(30.2 innings).

Misiorowski broke fastball traits last night on the Hawkeye machine as he threw 103 mph. While that is rare to see, what is even crazier is the pitch metrics. He created a -3.05 VAA on the pitch and 13.2 inches of iVB from a 5’2” release height. It had 7’6” of extension on it as well creating a perceived velocity of 105.4 mph. Good luck hitters.

His best swing-and-miss secondary pitch is the mid-80s curveball. The curveball sits at 85 mph with good depth and five to six inches of sweep. Misiorowski's slider/cutter sits 92-93 mph and has touched 96. The pitch has some carry and an inch or two of horizontal movement. He even throws a 90 mph changeup.

The arsenal is absurd here. The Brewers are wasting Misiorowski and Triple-A hitters’ time right now. Get this guy to Milwaukee.

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