Minor League PLV Grades: Week 4

I don’t know what is worse: watching the away broadcast when your Triple-A team is on the road or putting a claim in on a player, only for him to be injured when it processes. Did both happen to you this week? If so, your name may be Jacob Milham! Anyways, shoutout to the Pitcher List data team, who are always making the PLV charts and four-seam tracking tools better as the season progresses. Those have been integral in unearthing new players to watch and validating what scouts and fans are saying about some of minor-league baseball’s biggest names. Here’s looking at you, Bubba Chandler.

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Checking in on Some Big Name Prospects:

Carson Whisenhunt, 24, San Francisco Giants

Season Stats: 5 GS/ 23.0 IP/ 5.09 ERA/24.0% K%/5.0% BB%/1.35 WHIP

Weekly Stats: 2 GS/ 9.0 IP/ 7.00 ERA/24.4% K%/9.8% BB%/1.56 WHIP

Before dynasty managers panic after one rough week, let’s break down the highs and lows. Giants pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt delivered both a gem and a clunker in his past two outings. In a six-inning gem against Salt Lake, he struck out nine, walked just one, and surrendered a lone hit. That performance snapped him out of the funk from his roughest start of the young season—a four-run outing at Tacoma. But on Apr. 25 in El Paso, Whisenhunt stumbled again, allowing seven runs and issuing three walks over three innings. That dud overshadowed his bounce-back and underscored his inconsistency. Thankfully, Whisenhunt’s 3.70 FIP this season shows that he isn’t totally shooting himself in the foot, but there is still plenty of work to be done

Whisenhunt entered the year armed with perhaps the best changeup in the minors. His 5.98 PLV on the pitch is absurd for Triple-A, and it alone gives him a ticket to The Show. He disguises the tumbling 78–81 mph offering with identical arm speed to his heater, then tweaks its depth and shape to keep hitters honest. He pairs it with a two-seam fastball that sits 92–94 MPH—topping out at 96—with plus vertical break. Unfortunately, opposing hitters have taken advantage, teeing off on the pitch this season despite those plus metrics.

His secondary arsenal still needs work. Whisenhunt has never shown great feel for spin: his low-80s slider is marginally better than his upper-70s curveball, but neither consistently misses bats. He struggled in the Pacific Coast League’s smaller parks, with his command regressing midseason before rebounding late. With his athleticism and repeatable delivery, he should settle into at least average control. Ultimately, Whisenhunt projects as a mid-rotation starter. His elite changeup gives him a clear path to a big-league role—but he must harness his fastball command and develop a reliable third offering if he wants to stick in San Francisco’s rotation.

Take a look under the PLV hood here:

Cade Horton, 23, Chicago Cubs

Season Stats: 4 GS/17.0 IP/1.06 ERA/35.4% K%/16.9% BB%/1.06 WHIP

Weekly Stats: 1 GS/4.2 IP/0.00 ERA/29.4% K%/5.9% BB%/0.64 WHIP

The Chicago Cubs‘ top pitching prospect, righty Cade Horton, only had 30 professional starts under his belt heading into 2025. The former two-way star rocketed up through the NL Central club’s farm system but suffered a shoulder injury last spring that ended his 2024 season prematurely. But a normal, healthy offseason has served Horton well, and he may be one of the game’s more underrated pitching prospects this season. He has at least five strikeouts in each of his starts so far in Triple-A Iowa, and his ERA on the season has never been higher than 1.46. Walks were a bit of an issue for Horton to start this season, but those rarely came back to haunt him with a stingy .130 batting average allowed to the opposition.

Horton’s control is solid enough for the level, but it is a point the 23-year-old could improve upon. That applies doubly to any of his secondary pitches, especially his changeup and curveball. Horton has essentially been a two-pitch starter so far this year, with a reliable fastball and 70-grade slider that he trusts, but he isn’t lighting up PLV. The seventh overall pick back in 2022 feels like he could debut this week and have a good enough outing for the competitive Cubs, but is that what Chicago wants? Also, Horton remains on a notable pitch limit, hovering around 70 pitches. It isn’t uncommon for pitchers to have such a limit in the minors, but his lack of a true get-out pitch gives me pause for his short-term fantasy value. There are two notable markers that Horton needs to improve upon to change my mind. First, get the overall walk rate down to single digits again, as it was in 2023 and 2024. The batting average allowed feels unsustainable, and if that normalizes, it will expose Horton unless the walks decrease. Secondly, that slider has to tighten up. Horton may be working through a shoulder injury or early-season tuning, but it looks less polished and isn’t getting the same results. If those two things happen, dynasty managers should have some trust in his MLB outlook. But, until then, hit pause.

At the game level, Horton’s performance isn’t terrible. Rather, his current performance isn’t up to par with what his prospect profile and past performances suggested. With this kind of play in the hitter-friendly International League, his back-of-the-baseball-card numbers beg for a promotion, but he hasn’t quite hit his potential. Have faith in Horton’s process.

Take a look under the PLV hood here:

Weekly Four-Seam Standouts

This section could be a combination of Zebby Matthews (123 on Apr. 22), Jacob Misiorowski (144 on Apr. 22), Andrew Painter (118 on 4/24), or Bubba Chandler (149 on 4/25) week in and week out. Those pitchers are among the cream of the prospect crop, and their fastballs are a large part of their success. Instead of honing in on the player’s managers many already know, here are some other above-average offerings and what makes them worth noting.

Miguel Ullola, 22, Houston Astros

Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 118 Fan4+ on Apr. 25, 2025 start

Season Stats: 4 GS/10.0 IP/9.00 ERA/22.4% K%/16.3% BB%/1.80 WHIP

Scouts and analysts rank right-hander Miguel Ullola as the Astros’ top pitching prospect—and anyone who’s seen the Dominican Republic native torch Triple-A hitters can see why. He reached Sugar Land at just 21 and looked on the brink of “The Show” heading into 2025. His four-seam fastball routinely sits at 98.4 mph with 18.3 inches of vertical movement, eye-popping metrics on FanGraphs and beyond. However, Ullola still can’t locate that heater consistently. In his April 25 start, he dotted one fastball in the zone for every four or five that sailed wide, sapping the pitch’s impact. His control issues aren’t new—he posted a career-best 14 percent walk rate in 2024—but he hasn’t yet shown a reliable secondary offering this year.

Now, Houston faces a crossroads: move Ullola to the bullpen and ride his high-octane fastball, hoping a changeup or slider develops later, or keep him in the rotation and aggressively refine his off-speed arsenal. Either way, his electric stuff paired with erratic command makes him a classic high-variance prospect, and his on-field results this season have reflected that volatility.

Nate Dohm, 22, New York Mets

Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 123 Fan 4+ in Apr. 22, 2025 start

Season Stats: 4 GS/15.1 IP/3.52 ERA/29.7% K%/6.3% BB%/1.11 WHIP

Last year, the Mets rolled the dice on Mississippi State’s hard-throwing righty, Nate Dohm. He arrived with the coveted starter’s frame, a plus fastball-slider combo, and SEC success on his résumé. But nagging forearm issues knocked him out of most teams’ top boards, letting New York snag him at No. 82 overall. Though Dohm sat out pro ball in 2024, he’s exploded onto the scene in Low-A St. Lucie. He’s already shown the pinpoint command that limited him to just four walks all last college season, pounding the zone with a four-seam fastball that averaged 95 mph on April 22. That heater has set up a sharp, biting slider, giving him the edge in early counts.

The Mets have taken it slow—capping him around four to five innings—so he’s yet to fire a complete shutout. Still, seven punchouts and zero walks in his last outing reinforce the sense that Dohm’s ceiling is real. His only glaring question mark? Can he sustain this performance and health over a full season? He may lack the eye-popping velocity that dominates today’s arms race, but his reliable fastball and slider mix should keep him climbing in 2025 and beyond.

.@dohm_nate was sharp yesterday for the @stluciemets, with his fastball up to 97 mph 👀

4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 7 K pic.twitter.com/VmHRTangA8

— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) April 23, 2025

Raimon Gomez, 23, New York Mets

Weekly Four-Seam Grade: 161 Fan 4+ in Apr. 20, 2025 start/158 Fan 4+ in Apr. 26, 2025 start

Season Stats: 3 GS/7.2 IP/0.00 ERA/35.5% K%/19.3% BB%/1.17WHIP

When a farmhand uncorks a 104.5 mph heater, you sit up and take notice—and that’s exactly what Low-A St. Lucie righty Raimon Gomez did on April 26. Building on the electric velocity he showed in his previous outing, Gomez fired 11 of his first 12 pitches past 100 mph. His peak 104.5 mph fastball now stands as the hardest Statcast-recorded pitch in the minors over the last five years—a testament to arm strength few can match.

But Gomez isn’t just pure heat. His fastball gains extra bite from 6.9 feet of extension and a 1.5 HAVAA, making it play up even more. Control still wavers, but he’s still punched out 11 batters over 7.2 innings this season. Signed by the Mets as a 2021 international free agent, Gomez missed all of 2022 rehabbing an injury. In his only full campaign (2023) with St. Lucie, the 6′2″, 175-pound fireballer logged a 3.78 ERA in 24 outings (two starts). It might be too soon to bank on him in your dynasty league, but keep Gomez on your radar—his combination of pure velocity and developing secondary stuff could pay dividends down the road.

Welcome to the Bigs

Paxton Schultz, 27, Toronto Blue Jays

Minor League Season Stats: 4 G (0 GS)/2.08 ERA/1.04 WHIP/27.3% K%/6.1% BB%

Major League Debut Pitching Line: 4.1 IP/0 ER/0.46 WHIP/8 K/0 BB/64 P

For every celebrated prospect call-up, there are ten you barely remember—but the Blue Jays’ quiet promotion of right-hander Paxton Schultz from Triple-A Buffalo proved that some role players can be stars for a day.

MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson had a great perspective on Schultz’s promotion process, but let’s focus on the game itself. Sent to mop up after Toronto starter Easton Lucas was roughed up for six runs in 1.2 innings, Schultz defied expectations with 4.1 scoreless frames against the AL West–leading Mariners. He punched out eight batters—tying the record for most strikeouts in an MLB relief debut—on just 13 outs.

Though he’s been a starter as recently as 2022, Schultz settled into a long-man role in Buffalo before earning this call-up. Even if this outing turns out to be a one-off, he showed real upside: his four-seam fastball checked in at a 5.60 PLV (an elite mark), and he threw it with only a 3.6% mistake rate. Overall, Schultz generated an absurd 85.7% strike rate and a 53.6% CSW%, leaning heavily on that heater nearly half the time. His cutter (54.5% CSW) and slider (66.7% CSW) kept Mariners hitters off-balance, too. Toronto fell 8–3, but they may have unearthed a valuable bulk-relief option—just the kind of depth the rotation needs if Max Scherzer isn’t ready to return to the mound.