We have three arms just starting their pro careers. Two international signings and a 2nd round pick coming back from surgery. Come and see
Tank (Feat. Big Body Bes) - Action Bronson
The ARM
Aiden May (1% Owned - Age 22 - 800+ Specs) Marlins
The outro from Season 3, Volume 9
The two arms I was watching were Brady Tygart who made it onto Season 3, Volume 10. The other was Aiden May.
The Marlins took Aiden in the 2nd round out of Oregon State in 2024. There was a little Twitter buzz after a game versus Arkansas that had Statcast data. The sweeper got everyone excited.
He was pretty pumped after striking out 12 Ducks in 8 innings.
Aiden had arthroscopic elbow surgery to remove loose bodies in March, so we didn't get a chance to see him until he popped up at the complex in July. He made 4 appearances for a total of 6.2 innings, with a 68% No Hope % and a 15.8% swinging strike rate. He was promoted to Low-A on July 30th.
His outings were 2.2IP, 2.2 IP, 3.2IP, 2.2IP, and 3.1IP in his first 5.
On 9/2, they took the training wheels off.
71% NH %, 13% SwStr - 69 pitches, 5.1 no hit innings, no runs, walked two, and struck out 7.
The signs of life I was looking for. He is far from being all the way back. The Marlins promoted him to High-A to start game 1 of their playoff series. He went 3 innings, gave up no runs, 3 hits, struck out 3, and walked 6...
Stay with me, let me show you where my head is at.
In 2023 with Arizona, he had a 9.2% walk rate, and in 2024 for Oregon State, he had a 7.4% walk rate. The high walk rates will not continue like this. His batting average between the complex and Low-A is .146. Right now, his biggest enemy is his rust. He managed a 49% ground ball rate in Low-A.
The Marlins are sending him to the fall league. Perfect. Let him get his feel back. This is a 2nd-round pick with a killer breaking ball who is free in your league. I'm early, but that's the risk we take around here to get the advantage.
The Abyss
Chung-Hsiang Huang (0% Owned - Age 19) Dbacks
Huang was signed out of Taiwan for a reported $500,000 in December of 2024. He started the season in the complex where he had some solid numbers: a 30% K rate, a 7.4% BB rate, a .198 average, and a 46% ground ball percentage. Not that important, but what is important is that he was promoted to Low-A on July 26th.
That’s a 64.2% NH% with a 17.5% SwStr. A 3.6% walk rate? Give me all of it. He got up to 86 pitches in his start on 8/30. Right-handed hitters hit just .193 with a .560 OPS. Left-handed hitters didn’t do much better at .209 with a .599 OPS. Every single start in Low-A he had double-digit whiffs. His changeup and breaking stuff look the most polished. I heard 94 on one broadcast for his fastball.
There was not a perfect carrying game or a slow start with a big finish. Smack dab in the middle was a rough outing where he went 3.2 innings, gave up 4 hits, 4 earned runs, walked one, gave up a HR, and hit a guy while striking out 5. If you just took that one outing out of the lineup, his NH% goes up to 67%. In his other six starts, he went at least 5 innings in each and went 6 twice. The Dbacks might not be the elite pitching developers that some other organizations are, but they do a nice job. Now they have a 19-year-old who is extremely interesting to work with.
Ramon Marquez (1% Owned - Age 19) - Phillies
The Phillies signed Ramon out of Mexico at the start of the year.
Just like Huang, he started in the complex. He also had solid numbers there: a 30% K rate, 7.1% BB rate, a .243 average against, and a 43% ground ball rate. That's great, but what he has looked like since his promotion is what's impressive.
The sample size is smaller, with just four starts compared to Huang’s seven. In those four starts, Ramon has a 68.6% NH% with a 20% SwStr. His average against is not as low as Huang’s, at .254. I’d like to see it lower since it’s Low-A, but there are some other things that are interesting. Look at the whiff percentage: three pitches at 50%+ while he was throwing almost 70% strikes. He also gets extremely high chase rates. He doesn’t have anything that grades out as elite, but they’re all at least average or a tick above average.
The Phillies also do a nice job with their player development, and they do a great job at the pro level as well. Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez went from interesting to rotational stalwarts since they arrived. There is a long way to go still, but this is a really interesting player the Phillies have. Ramon isn't the biggest guy, but he is 6'2". He could easily add some velo as he ages.
It’ll be a few years' hold with either of these guys, but it could all be worth it. They have bat-missing ability, low walk rates, and high ground balls. It didn’t take Zebby long to make noise. You just never know.
Get it when it shows you something and hold on. These arms are all showing something. If you can only grab one, I’d grab May. If I could only grab two, I’d grab May and Marquez. Marquez looks like he has a bit more life on his fastball than Huang at this point.
PS.
There were two bats I wanted to include. The more I dug, the more I wasn't sure if I really liked them enough.
Dillon Lewis (2%) and Wuilfredo Antunez (1%).
I can't put my finger on exactly what I don’t like about Dillon. He's a super athlete, and there's a chance he puts it all together. He has such a low line drive rate that it was almost impossible to find a comparable player. I found one who has been a good MLB player and three others that never made it out of the minors. He is 2% owned on Fantrax due to being a Yankee. The hype machine is pumping him up as the second coming. I’ve seen some T100 tweets thrown around, all from Yankee specific accounts. He put together a 22/26 HR/SB season with 21 doubles. In his last 34 games, he hit .205 with a .719 OPS. In his last 18, he has hit .156 with a .582 OPS, with a bloated 16.5% walk rate and a 24% K rate. His batting average on balls in play is low, but that could be because he hits so few line drives. A high fly ball rate will also keep the average and batting average on balls in play down. He had an 87 wRC+. His barrel rates are low. He has power, speed, and can play center field. If you have a spot or own him, it's not a bad dart throw. I just can’t make myself get into it.
Wuilfredo is 23 in AA. He hit .341 with a .959 OPS, a .250 ISO, .423 wOBA, and a 172 wRC+ in his last 22 games. He has a 30% line drive rate in AA. I was all in. Then I started digging a bit. He has zero home runs against left-handed pitchers this season. He has only hit three home runs in 325 total games played against left-handed pitchers. He only plays corner outfield. He is another player you could throw a dart at, but I just can't get in yet. A future platoon corner outfielder who doesn’t have elite power is not really something I’m looking to fill my minor league spots with. He is young for the level and headed to the Arizona Fall League. He could be a guy who shows out and gets a bunch of helium like Marsee did. I just don’t like that zero home runs for the entire season came against a left-handed pitcher.
All player cards are from
’s appsAll data screenshots are from Fangraphs.