Here is another check-in on PLV and Fan4+ darlings around the minors. Instead of looking at the biggest names, let’s look at some of the best recent performers who may not have the prospect profile to earn dynasty respect, but could make their real-life value known soon.
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Checking in on Big-name Prospects:
JR Ritchie, 22, Atlanta Braves
MiLB Season Stats: 20 GS/108.1 IP/2.58 ERA/23.9% K%/8.3% BB%/0.95 WHIP
Weekly Stats: 1 GS/6.0 IP/0.00 ERA/28.6% K%/4.8% BB%/0.50 WHIP
Things are coming up aces for right-hander JR Ritchie in 2025. The once-forgotten Atlanta Braves prospect earned a Futures Game start for the National League, and his scoreless outing with two strikeouts served as a bit of a coming-out party after all the time he missed recovering from Tommy John surgery. The velocity is still ticking back up, but Ritchie’s production this season is hard to ignore, and the former 35th overall pick may finally be rediscovering the form that made Atlanta draft him in 2022.
Ritchie hasn’t stayed at any one level for long this season, with his eight starts for the Columbus Clingstones marking his longest stint before climbing the ladder. He’s handled each stop well, even with the jump to Triple-A Gwinnett. On Aug. 14, he delivered his first scoreless outing for the Stripers, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six. That punchout total has become the norm—he’s recorded at least five strikeouts in four of his five Triple-A starts. In that outing, Ritchie threw 92 pitches, generating nine whiffs, but more importantly, he pounded the zone with ease. Most of his swinging strikes came on pitches over the plate, a testament to his growing command.
Take a bow, JR 👏
6.0 IP | 2 H | 0 R | 1 BB | 6 SO pic.twitter.com/WeNLIq8BKC
— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) August 15, 2025
Has he been dominant? No—the strikeout numbers don’t suggest that. But Ritchie continues trending in the right direction, both in box score results and with his velocity slowly climbing back. In his Aug. 14 start, he leaned heavily on his sinker and four-seam fastball, throwing a season-high 59 heaters—64.1% of his total pitches. They averaged 93.3 mph, his second-best mark at Triple-A. That’s still a far cry from the 97–98 mph he flashed as a prep arm in Washington, though he’s touched 96 early in starts. The velocity does fade quickly, a challenge he’ll need to address this offseason, and it forces him to mix in other offerings before he’s even through the order once.
Ritchie’s smaller frame continues to raise questions about his long-term durability as a major-league starter. Yet since returning from the 60-day IL in July 2024, he hasn’t missed time and has already logged 158.1 innings. Conventional wisdom might caution against overconfidence after such a serious surgery, but the workload shows he’s holding up well. At just 22, Ritchie still has plenty of runway for a lengthy career, though there are clear areas for improvement. Added endurance and a better ability to generate chase swings would go a long way in boosting his profile. If he stays healthy down the stretch, a 2026 debut remains firmly in play for one of Atlanta’s top pitching prospects.
Take a look under the PLV hood:
Weekly Four-Seam Standouts
As the season wears on, watching how fastballs improve or change down on the farm has been interesting. As new faces break into rotations or minor tweaks turn from blips to consistent factors, it is important to keep an eye on pitch shapes. Pitcher List’s Fan 4+ is a model based on the “Fan-Tastic 4” stats: velocity, extension, induced vertical break (iVB), and height-adjusted vertical approach angle (HAVAA), compared to the average four-seam fastball. What are some marks from Triple-A and Low-A’s Florida State League that jumped off the page this week?
Andrew Dutkanych IV, 22, St. Louis Cardinals
Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 103 Fan4+ on Aug. 13, 2025, start
MiLB Season Stats: 6 GS/10.1 IP/4.35 ERA/34.8% K%/13.0% BB%/1.55 WHIP
Forgive yourself if you haven’t heard of 22-year-old Andrew Dutkanych IV—he’s still easing back into action after opening the 2025 season on the 60-day IL. The St. Louis Cardinals prospect returned to the Palm Beach Cardinals in late July and has since made three starts totaling 7.0 innings. It’s unclear whether St. Louis will look to stretch out the former Vanderbilt arm next year, but the early box score results have been encouraging. His fastball, sitting consistently at 92–94 mph with lively movement and strong underlying metrics, gives Dutkanych a solid foundation to build on.
Specs on this Andrew Dutkanych IV fastball:
92.5 MPH
2421 RPM
20.6″ IVB
6.5″ HB pic.twitter.com/bSTYhQdjgk— Kareem Haq (@KareemSSN) August 14, 2025
Brandon Sproat, 24, New York Mets
Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 116 Fan4+ in Aug. 14, 2025, start
MiLB Season Stats: 23 GS/104.1 IP/4.40 ERA/20.7% K%/10.8% BB%/1.27 WHIP
While his teammate got the call to The Show (more on that later), right-hander Brandon Sproat is still dealing for the Syracuse Mets. Facing the Rochester Red Wings, the Nationals’ affiliate did plenty of damage on the scoreboard, but Sproat’s fastball was electric. He touched 99.5 mph, generating a 31.3% whiff rate and holding hitters to a .148 xwOBA on 31 heaters. Unfortunately, his two-seamer betrayed him, and a bit of bad luck turned the outing into an ugly line. Still, Sproat remains one of the Mets’ most exciting pitching prospects in a loaded Triple-A rotation.
Robby Snelling, 21, Miami Marlins
Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 109 Fan4+ in Aug. 10, 2025, start
MiLB Season Stats: 20 GS/106.0 IP/2.89 ERA/29.8% K%/6.7% BB%/1.13 WHIP
Miami Marlins prospect Robby Snelling is heating up in Triple-A Jacksonville. I highlighted him last week for his rebound from a down 2024 to a dominant 2025, and he’s only kept building momentum. Fresh off an 11-strikeout performance on Aug. 7, Snelling followed it up with another gem on Aug. 13, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out nine. It marked his fourth straight quality start for the Jumbo Shrimp. In the Pitcher List Discord, we were discussing what makes his fastball so valuable in PLV’s eyes, and it ultimately comes down to his elite command of the pitch. That showed again against Norfolk, where the fastball held hitters to a .175 xwOBA and didn’t allow a single barrel. When a pitch he throws 41% of the time is that effective, it’s impossible to ignore.
Welcome to the Bigs
Nolan McLean, 24, New York Mets
MiLB Season Stats: 21 G (18 GS)/113.2IP/2.45 ERA/27.2% K%/10.7% BB%/1.13 WHIP
Debut: 5.1 IP/0.00 ERA/38.1% K%/19.0% BB%/1.13 WHIP
When the New York Mets called up Nolan McLean from Triple-A Syracuse, expectations weren’t exactly set in stone. The 24-year-old had been outpacing his Triple-A peers and had done everything an organization—or a dynasty fantasy manager—could want to earn a promotion. But making his debut against the AL-contending Seattle Mariners, with the Mets mired in a slump, only added pressure to the moment. Under those circumstances, McLean delivered a sterling first impression—one that, as the New York Post’s Joel Sherman put it, left both fans and the franchise wanting more.
Pitching at Citi Field, McLean tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while walking four and striking out eight. The erratic command was the one blemish, but he kept New York in the game, and the Mets’ 3-1 victory gave him his first big-league win. McLean’s athleticism was on full display in a bases-loaded jam against Julio Rodríguez. After a comebacker ricocheted his way, McLean calmly snagged it with a behind-the-back grab to start an inning-ending double play—an instant highlight in his debut.
“I guess the ball just found me on that one,” McLean said. “Got a little lucky. Hit my glove. Wasn’t really something you draw up, but it worked.”
McLean’s sweeper was unsurprisingly the star of Saturday’s start, with a 5.00 PLV from the pitch McLean used the most. The east-west offering set up a two-strike approach that largely leaned on a curveball which received another above-average PLV grade on the day. Like Nick Pollack said in the roundup though, McLean’s control of both fastballs limited his breaking arsenal’s effectiveness, and McLean really struggled to land either the two-seam or four-seam fastball consistently. Was it debut nerves or something that Mets fans should just get used to? I believe it is a mix of both, as McLean’s four-seam pitch has a paltry 46.5% xZone% this season. Meanwhile, he throws the two-seam fastball more usually and that has a much better 57.9% xZone% in 2025.
Even so, the overall results were impressive. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza praised McLean’s energy and poise, and it’s hard not to come away from his debut feeling the same way: it was a strong start, and it leaves you wanting more.
Pitchers that made their MLB debuts this past week:
