My Guys - ProspectTilt's Favorite Pitching Targets Outside the Consensus Top 100s

Part 2 of 3 - we go over another 6 arms

Tanner Franklin (High-A) — St. Louis Cardinals

Two starts in, 62 and 61 pitches respectively, and Tanner Franklin is blowing through hitters with a fastball that sits in the upper 90s and can touch triple digits when he reaches back for it. Seven strikeouts in three innings last night. That’s not a contact-suppressor working the edges — that’s a man with a weapon and the conviction to use it.

The pairing is a mid-80s sweeper with good action. Right now you’re looking at a fastball-sweeper combination that gives hitters almost no chance to sit on one pitch because the shapes are so dramatically different. When you can throw 98 and then roll something with that kind of horizontal break in the mid-80s, you don’t need four pitches to get outs. You need execution. And Franklin has been executing.

The Cardinals are stretching him out in the loosest definition of that term — 62 and 61 pitches are controlled, deliberate outings from an organization that is clearly being patient with something they believe in. They’re not rushing him to 90 pitches. They’re building the arm, letting him feel what dominance looks like at this level before asking for more. That’s the right approach. A fastball that touches 100 with a sweeper that has real action doesn’t need to be rushed.

I won’t rule out added secondary development in the offseason either. The Cardinals have a track record of arm development and if they see what I see — a starter’s mentality with closer-level stuff — they’re going to invest in a changeup or a curve to give him a third weapon. When that arrives, the conversation changes from breakout to legitimate top pitching prospect. This is a true breakout. You heard it here first.

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