Welcome to the 20th edition of The Stash List for pitchers!
Ground Rules
- The Stash List is for your redraft leagues and does not consider impact beyond 2023
- Only current minor league players who are expected to make an impact this season are included
- Players who have already made their MLB debuts cannot have thrown more than 50 IP in MLB
- Upside, proximity, health, and opportunity are all weighed for each player
- The focus is on 12-team leagues with standard categories
- Rankings and rostership percentages will be updated weekly
Graduates
This section of the column highlights the pitchers that were on the previous week’s list but have since made their MLB debuts and are no longer considered stashes because they’re still on their team’s active roster. While no one from the previous Stash List has graduated, there was a notable pitcher debut this week.
Emerson Hancock faced the Padres in his first career start and even though he only allowed two hits and one earned run, he posted an unappealing 1:1 K:BB ratio. The SwStr%, Zone%, and O-Swing% all say that the K-BB% should be significantly better than 0, but he carries below-average velocity and poor velocity separation in his arsenal. I’m not rushing to add him anywhere.
Top 10 Pitcher Prospects to Stash
1. Robert Gasser, CIN – ETA August (2)
Robert Gasser reclaims the top spot in the rankings after two consecutive starts with eye-popping strikeout numbers. On Friday night, he was brilliant despite allowing three runs. He got a ton of swings and misses, chases, and filled up the zone with precision. He even executed an almost flawless “Blake Snell Blueprint”, which I haven’t seen before in his location charts.
2. Connor Phillips, CIN – ETA August (1)
Connor Phillips has seen a major dip in his command recently. It’s starting to be concerning that he’s looking more like Ben Brown than Gavin Williams in Triple-A so far. The upside keeps him near the top of this list, but he’ll also have to contend with an extremely hitter-friendly ballpark in the majors. Wait and see before stashing.
3. Jared Jones, PIT – ETA September (NR)
Jared Jones has been quietly touching triple digits fairly regularly in Indianapolis. He doesn’t carry elite prospect pedigree, and his strikeout numbers in the minors haven’t been as high as you’d expect. However, his swinging strike rates have been ridiculous in Triple-A recently. He’s extremely tough to hit and should be even better than he’s shown.
4. Mike Vasil, NYM – ETA September (3)
After the Mets traded Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the deadline, their rotation became significantly less formidable. Several of their pitchers are either destined for the bullpen or retirement within the next year or two. As a team that’s supposedly looking toward 2025, I’m sure they intend to open the doors for some young guys to give the majors a try. Mike Vasil is my pick to make the most of the opportunity, even though his command has taken a step back in Triple-A. He’s posting solid whiff numbers and threw an absolute gem on Tuesday.
5. Clayton Beeter, NYY – ETA September (7)
Clayton Beeter overtakes his organizational companion, Will Warren, on this list for the first time this season. Even though Warren has more experience at Triple-A, Beeter has an arsenal with higher upside. His four-seam fastball is a few ticks faster than Warren’s sinker and is much better at getting whiffs. And while Warren has more secondary offerings, Beeter’s secondaries have been just as effective while also getting more swings and misses. While his ERA isn’t sterling, his approach statistics paint a much more optimistic picture.
6. Will Warren, NYY – ETA September (5)
Will Warren has slowly floated down this list over the last few weeks. He’s failed to take advantage of organizational opportunities and the head start he’s had over other prospects like Beeter and Chase Hampton. While his arsenal is deep and polished, it lacks even average velocity while inducing a lot of contact. He can be a solid back-end starter very soon, but strikeouts and wins will be very tough to come by.
7. Cade Povich, BAL – ETA September (NR)
Cade Povich has pitched three games in Triple-A now and he’s showing us much of the same that we saw in Double-A. The fastball is effective with average velocity, but his secondary pitches are the standouts. His K-BB% has been rough, but he worked through multiple valleys in Double-A and he’s shown improvement across his starts. With Baltimore leading the American league, it’s tough to see him getting more than one or two starts down the stretch.
8. Gordon Graceffo, STL – ETA September (6)
Gordon Graceffo has shown small signs of life in getting strikeouts in his last few starts. His upside is extremely limited without the ability to miss bats consistently, even with the 2023 velocity gains. His SwStr% hasn’t been as bad or as variable as his strikeout rate, so that’s keeping him on the list for now. He doesn’t lack the strikeout stuff. He just needs to be more effective with finishing at-bats and putting hitters away.
9. Joey Cantillo, CLE – ETA September (NR)
Joey Cantillo is the latest rookie pitcher to knock on the door of Cleveland’s starting rotation. While the team is currently in the Central Division race, they have been drifting backwards for a while now. If they fall out of it, more opportunities will arise to audition for 2024. Cantillo has been steady in Triple-A for a while, and he even appeared in the Futures Game this summer. While the walks are an issue, the Guardians have shown with their other rookie pitchers that they’re willing to let guys continue to work on their command in the majors.
10. Mason Black, SFG – ETA September (8)
Mason Black has been treading water over his last few starts. The Statcast data doesn’t suggest that there’s another level of swing-and-miss stuff here, and he’s still using his sinker/slider combo about 85% of the time. His arsenal’s lack of depth hinders his upside, but the walk rate probably shouldn’t be as high as it is right now. He throws the ball in the zone at an above-average rate and he gets an average amount of chases as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if he carries a sub-10% walk rate moving forward.
The Watchlist
This section of the Stash List is aimed towards those of you who play in deep leagues (15+ teams or 375+ players rostered) where some of the guys on the list above might already be taken because of their higher pedigree. These players’ debuts will likely be a bit further out than the players listed above, but the purpose is to be ready to pounce on them as soon as it becomes clear that an opportunity might open up.
The players are listed in alphabetical order, and I don’t have the time to do write-ups for these guys, so I’d highly suggest checking out their FanGraphs pages and/or watching one of their starts. Also, shout out to @SpokaneWaUpdate on Twitter for inspiring this section of the article!
Ben Brown falls off the list for the first time in a long while after it was announced that he’s hitting the IL with a lat issue. Even though the injury isn’t serious, it drastically impacts his ability to recover and get ready to debut as a starter before the end of the season.
Hurt, McGarry, and Monteverde all made their Triple-A debuts in the last few weeks and have had rough beginnings at the level. They each were stellar in Double-A and should see some improvements in the coming weeks. There just isn’t a ton of time to get MLB-ready before September.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)