Player Breakdowns: April 7th

Jaden Hamm, Ryan Birchard, Jesus Rivero, Aidan Curry, & Notable Performers

Jaden Hamm (DET):

It seems like Jaden Hamm is getting a lot of hype these days and that comes after just one start and a lot of praise in Spring Training by scouts. That’s not enough to herald someone as the next crown jewel but it’s worth digging into to see what we have here.

I wrote about Hamm in the offseason after noticing he had an outlier fastball with a relatively high iVB that sat low-to-mid 90s and generated a ton of whiffs. I wrote about him specifically in my 18 Pitching Prospects Outside the Top 100 to Target post on February 19th. Here is what I wrote:

Hamm was drafted 143rd overall in the 2023 draft to the Detroit Tigers. His fastball is usually 92-95 from an over-the-top slot with a ton of carry. He averaged 93.3 mph on his fastball last year with an IVB of 19.6”. The fastball alone induced a 20.7% SwStr% for him. He also has a changeup and a good curveball with good depth. The breaking stuff will be his bread and butter but the fastball with the vertical break can be a difference-maker to pair with the breaking stuff.

So far in his professional career, Hamm has a 0.00 ERA. Before you get too excited, he’s pitched just 11 innings. Okay, now relax. He won’t be putting up zeros forever — but it was a good debut for the 5th rounder. He’s a potential pop-up prospect this year and I hope the Tigers are aggressive with him and have him start the year in High-A so that we get a better understanding of how the stuff will play. As of now, he’s someone to keep tabs on and a name to know. Bookmark him, highlight him, write him down in your notepad — whichever your preference. Just know that you’ll hear his name more often as he navigates through the minors.

What I didn’t anticipate is that we’d hear his name this often after his first start of the season. I guess that’s a good thing because he’s now on a lot of people’s radars and I had him hand-delivered on a plate for you almost a month and a half ago.

Jaden Hamm made his High-A debut yesterday with a line of 3.1IP 3H 0ER 1BB 7K.

1st inning:

Hamm had both his fastball and curveball working for him in the first inning. He worked around a lead-off walk and a single later in the inning by getting two crucial strikeouts to get out of the inning.

2nd Inning:

Hamm got a strikeout looking against his first batter of the inning and then gave up a single to Angel Zarate. He closed out the inning by striking out the next two batters swinging. He was looking really sharp at this point, locating the breaking ball and fastball and getting some chases low and out of the zone on the breaker.

3rd Inning: