10. Alex Wells, LHP, Baltimore Orioles
Wells and his twin brother Lachlan were not kids who played a ton of baseball growing up, but they’ve obviously caught on quickly, as he and his brother are both fairly highly regarded prospects within their organizations. Wells may not ever be a guy who blows away a radar gun, but the South Atlantic League found out that he has much more feel for pitching than the average 20 year-old.
Wells is not a physically imposing guy on the mound, standing 6’1″ and 190 pounds, but he has tremendous mechanics, and he works the strike zone very well, hitting all angles of the zone with his three-pitch mix.
His fastball only sits 88-90 and touches 92-93 at the very top end, but he has excellent control on the pitch, and he knows how to alter his grip on the pitch to get movement on his fastball to get off the barrel of the bat. He also works with a change that may be his best overall pitch with his excellent arm deception and various grips he uses on that pitch as well. Wells’ primary breaking pitch is a curve that he locates very well, but it doesn’t have sharp break, being more of a difficult pitch to square up for quality contact.
As he progresses in the Orioles system, Wells will need to either work in another pitch to have success up the line or see his curve tick up in effectiveness as he did allow 16 home runs in 140 innings, and that could get worse as he climbs the ladder, but For a guy who led the league in ERA and WHIP and walked only 10 hitters in 140 innings, there’s a lot of room for error here.
Wells will progress to high-A in 2018, and if he could develop another secondary pitch (perhaps a cutter?), he could really move up the system quickly.
9. Bryse Wilson, RHP, Atlanta Braves
In a draft season where the the Braves loaded up their system with young pitching in 2016, Wilson was the 4th round selection in the draft after the Braves selected 3 high school arms in the first 45 selections of the draft. Wilson has, thus far, put up better numbers than any of the other pitchers in his Braves draft class.
Wilson was a tremendous athlete in high school with a collection of accolades in baseball and football, highly recruited in both sports. He had a perfect game and two other no hitters in his senior season of high school on the mound. However, coming into the Braves system, he was known as primarily a two-pitch pitcher with a delivery that raised heavy questions.
Wilson’s athleticism has allowed him to make adjustments and maintain his ability to throw well off the mound, as his velocity continues to work in the 93-96 range, and he can still touch 97-98 at his top end, and there’s excellent movement on the pitch, though much more so at the 93 end of the spectrum.
Within his off speed pitches is where Wilson has seen the biggest moves. His hard mid-80s slider has sharpened up as a pro, and his change has really taken a step forward to an average pitch this season, flashing on days where it shows signs of being a plus pitch.
The high-level athletecism of Wilson along with his impressive work ethic will allow him to keep moving forward in the Braves system, even if his pedigree is behind that of some of his fellow prospects. Another season like 2017, and he could certainly surpass many of them.