Player Breakdowns: April 27th
Notable Performances, Rhett Lowder, & Quinn Mathews
Notable Performances:
Dane Acker (TEX) - AA: 5IP 6H 2ER 1BB 8K
This is coming off the back of a performance in which Acker went 4.2IP 0H 0ER 2BB 7K. Acker seems to be healthy for the first time in a while and the results are backing it up. He now has a 1.47 ERA through 4 starts and a 26:6 K to Walk ratio. I went over Acker in my Player Breakdowns last week and here is what is a bit of what I wrote:
Dane Acker was drafted in the 4th round of the 2020 draft out of Oklahoma. He’s a Sooner, and I think we see him sooner rather than later. He threw 85 pitches last night and racked up 16 whiffs over 4.2 IP. His final line was nearly perfect. He pitched to a line of 4.2IP 0H 0ER 2BB 7K. He was racking up the whiffs often and early and used a 4 pitch mix. Fastball was mid 90s touching 96-97 and his changeup was just nasty early on leaving hitters out ahead. The slider looked hell-bent and had steep movement. In the 3rd and 4th innings, he started mixing in his curveball which caught my eye. The curve was a knee buckler and he used it to generate both whiffs and called strikes. I was thoroughly impressed with Acker last night and he is someone to jot down, monitor, and write down in your notepad, whatever you use. He’s already had TJ surgery in May of 2021 so 2022 was about getting a few innings in and in 2023 he built his workload up to nearly 70 innings.
Acker racked up 17 whiffs last night and now has racked up 33 whiffs over his last 9.2 IP. Acker is somebody I would value over a Caden Dana right now as I think the stuff is better overall. Although Dana has more of the name value at this point and is younger, he’s probably a better stash as you can get more in a trade with Dana if he continues to perform. My statement about Acker is purely on a performance and stuff basis, not any sage fantasy advice if you’re looking to trade. And that’s not a shot at Dana who I’ve been high on. It’s just that Acker’s health is a positive development — although there’s still an obvious risk.
Thomas White (MIA) - Low-A: 5IP 4H 1ER 1BB 9K
White’s biggest question mark will be his command. Over his last 9 innings, he’s walked just one batter while striking out 14 which is a positive sign and definitely encouraging to see. He’s been hit hard at times to start the year and last night’s game didn’t have a broadcast so I can’t tell you if he was hit hard or not but the line speaks for itself. He looked to be in command — He threw 41 4-seamers and averaged 95.6 mph on the pitch. The iVB is average and nothing stuck out in terms of pitch shape, but it doesn’t matter when you’re a lefthander throwing 96 with proper command. The kid’s slider looked like a hellacious offering based on the numbers. It averaged 80.1 mph with an average spin of 2677 and it generated a 50% whiff rate. His changeup which he threw 17 times generated an even more absurd 72.7% whiff rate. The changeup did some dirty things as it had more than 16.4 inches of horizontal break. It’s good to see White go back-to-back games being a near-control freak. White’s ceiling is fairly high if he can manage his command and pick up on yesterday’s outing.
Brett Wichrowski (MIL) - High-A: 3.2IP 5H 2ER 1BB 7K
Wichrowski seems to be on a bit of a pitch count to start the year. He threw 67 and 68 pitches in his last two starts, respectively. The 68 pitches last night are the most in any outing so far this year and it seems like they’re capping him at around 70. We’ll see if they’re slowly building him up or are just going to have him pitch under 70 pitches each outing in his next start.
He had a rough start to this outing as he gave up 3 hits and 2 earned runs in the 1st inning. His line after the first inning was 2.2IP 2H 0ER 1BB 6K. He still racked up the most whiffs at High-A last night with 18. I usually feature Wichrowski on my player breakdowns but it would’ve just been a compilation of the hard hits he allowed in the 1st inning and the Whiffs he racked up after the 1st inning. On second thought, I think I should’ve done it — but today’s breakdown features two arms I haven’t gone over yet and am excited about. So we’ll leave Wichrowski here. Here is a small sample of what I wrote after his last start: