There were three rookies getting their very first taste of the big leagues on the D-Backs’ active roster in Ryan Waldschmidt, Tommy Troy, and most recently LuJames Groover. They represent a growing youth movement for the D-Backs that has helped fuel them into the postseason chase alongside their usual veterans. It hasn’t been completely smooth sailing for the trio as they have a combined 0.5 bWAR, a .237/.329/.338 slash line, and none of them currently has an OPS+ over 100. Of course, Waldschmidt is the only one with over 100 ABs so a small sample size qualifier is in effect, but they’ve all had the expected growing pains to one degree or another as they become more accustomed to the speed and skill that’s required at the big league level. However, all three of them are obviously position players and their emergence made me wonder if there were any pitching prospects who might make their debut and contribute to the team at some point this year. Of the team’s top 30 prospects, nearly half are pitchers of some kind with half of those sitting either at AAA Reno or AA Amarillo, giving them a realistic opportunity to make their debut this season. I am excluding players that have already made their debut like Yilber Diaz and ones that have injuries precluding them from contributing like Cristian Mena who will miss the remainder of the season. Additionally, since beginning writing this article, both Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka have gone down with injuries, adding more urgency to these prospects’ debuts.
The youngest of the three players listed here, the organization’s 14th-ranked prospect is also arguably having the best season of the three on the list too. In 11 starts with Reno, he’s pitched to an impressive 2.84 ERA, a 0.947 WHIP, and a .190 BAA. That’s particularly noteworthy given the elevated offensive environment the entire Pacific Coast League represents and that it’s Bratt’s first taste of the highest levels of the minor leagues. Since coming over from the Rangers as part of the Merrill Kelly trade, he has done nothing but impress the club – prompting them to add him to the 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. That move definitely increases the likelihood for Bratt to make his debut this season alongside his left-handedness for a starting rotation that leans righty pretty heavily, but given his age (he’ll turn 23 in July) and his lack of experience at AAA, he faces an uphill battle to get a call this year. But if and when he does make his debut, he’ll need to take advantage of his excellent control to make up for a lack of velocity on his fastball that usually sits in the 90-93 range that he can place excellently.
The other headliner in that Kelly trade at last season’s Deadline, Drake has gone in the other direction so far with his new organization. Drake was the Rangers’ 13th-ranked prospect before the trade and immediately slotted in at nearly the same place within the D-Backs’ system this year. Unfortunately, while he’s the more experienced player between he and Bratt with 21 starts at AAA, he has looked overmatched there to this point. He struggled to a 7.15 ERA in seven starts between Reno and Round Rock last year with a WHIP of 1.705 in those appearances. Those numbers have all worsened so far this season with a 7.83 ERA and 1.759 WHIP in 14 starts and he’s particularly struggled walking batters with 4.3 walks per nine. Even by the inflacted PCL standards, those kinds of statistics just simply aren’t very competitive. Still, he’s shown enough potential at the lower levels that if the coaching staff can fine tune his pitch mix and control, he could compete for a backend rotation spot at the end of this season or the beginning of next season.
By far the most dark horse candidate on the list, Giesting has never been a ranked propsect, but has absolutely feasted in his time with Reno so far this season with a 2.87 ERA and a 0.973 WHIP in six appearances and 12.1 IP. Originally an 11th round pick out of the University of North Carolina, Giesting was mostly deployed as a starter for the beginning of his pro career with decent results at the lower levels with a 3.67 ERA at AA last year, but struggled as a starter at AAA with a 6.47 ERA. But since moving to the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever (MIRP in the FanGraphs parlance), the lefty has been a completely different player – increasing his strikeout rate from 8.7 per nine to 13.8 this year. He isn’t currently on the 40-man roster which likely does slightly decrease the likelihood of making his debut, but he’s also Rule 5 eligible this season and has opened enough eyes that the team will probably have to protect him from being scooped by an opportunistic club. Even still, it isn’t often that you’re able to develop a mid-rounder into a productive bulk reliever, but the “deceptive lefty” may be able to parlay an unusual delivery into a bullpen role that could desperately use such a pitcher.