2017 Acquisition: Will Gaddis, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 3/12/1996 (22)
2017 teams/levels played for: advanced rookie Grand Junction Rockies
2017 Stats: 11 G, 9 GS, 44 1/3 IP, 5.68 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 3.5% BB, 13.1% K
Info: Gaddis had an elite season numbers-wise in his final season at Furman, pushing him to a 3rd round selection by the Colorado Rockies this past June.
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Gaddis is a guy who requires elite command/control in order to succeed. He works with a low-90s fastball, touching 94-95 that he can manipulate to sink, fade, and run based on his grip. He uses three secondary pitches – a hard curve, change, and a cutter – that are all fringe-average pitches.
Without elite stuff, he was very hittable in his pro debut, but many saw velocity drop and noted that Gaddis had spent plenty of innings already with his college season plus the additional 44 1/3 innings. Notably, in his first four pro outings, Gaddis tossed 14 innings with a 2.57 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and a 1/9 BB/K, but he then hit a wall, and from that point forward, he put up a 7.12 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, and allowed a .963 OPS.
When he’s on his best stuff, Gaddis has the chance to be an excellent back end starter, and the Colorado Rockies have seen a number of guys with Gaddis’ profile be able to add strength and velocity in their system and move up from a back end guy to a solid mid-rotation guy. He’ll get his first shot at full-season ball in 2018, likely in low-A Asheville.
Next: CTTP's Top 150 prospects
So that is the Colorado Rockies top 10 prospects for 2018. Who is too high? Too low? Missing entirely from the list? Comment below!!