detailed update<\/a> on Baltimore\u2019s hottest pitcher just the other day. Dykstra profiled De Le\u00f3n and catching prospect Ethan Anderson\u2019s pairing in the AFL.<\/p>\n\u201cThis hot run is a sign of a pitcher peaking at the right time and a culmination of something that began long before August,\u201d Dykstra said. He added that De Le\u00f3n held a 1.08 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 12 strikeouts of 8.1 innings in the Fall League while providing a scouting report on his arsenal.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-3 pitcher is largely a sinker-slider pitcher, but both pitches flash comfortably plus. The sinker largely sat 95-97 mph Thursday with 16-20 inches of armside run, giving it heavy movement on top of impressive velocity. The slider comes in at 84-88 mph and with tighter movement with 0-7 inches gloveside. That difference and his command of the breaker is enough to keep hitters consistently frustrated<\/p>\n
That type of stuff moves the needle\u2014especially from the left side. De Le\u00f3n possesses an innate ability to keep the ball on the ground, but he routinely made hitters miss with a lethal combination of horizontal and vertical action.<\/p>\n
Perhaps more exciting is the notion that De Le\u00f3n is still getting better. He referred to his slider as \u201cone of his worst pitches\u201d at the beginning of last year before using it to his advantage in 2025. The high 90s heater from the left side would play as a reliever, but De Le\u00f3n appears to have the mix to make it as a starter. He\u2019s not overly reliant on his fastball, and he\u2019s learning how to pitch in Baltimore\u2019s system.<\/p>\n
Like most young hurlers, De Le\u00f3n could cut down on the free passes. He walked 41 hitters over 87.1 frames last season, but his strong strikeout numbers kept the K\/BB ratio in check.<\/p>\n
De Le\u00f3n will likely return to Double-A in 2026 but could receive a quick promotion if his positive run continues. Dykstra speculated that Baltimore \u201ccould be within reach by the second half of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel Basallo broke through as the face of the Orioles commitment to the international market, but talented players like De Le\u00f3n are not far behind. It\u2019s not difficult to imagine De Le\u00f3n punching out hitters at Camden Yards and generating ground balls for Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow: Irish\/Bodine\/Aloy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orioles system features several talented pitchers that could potentially debut in 2026 but cannot be counted as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,38559,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-391887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-orioles","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles-prospects-minor-leagues","11":"tag-baltimoreorioles","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-orioles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115412140634476990","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}