AAA Prospects to Watch

We have a few promising prospects that I suspect will be part of September call-ups (possibly earlier). Just wanted to fill y'all in in case you don't follow it closely.

Ryan Gusto – Starting Pitcher

• After a rough start to his AAA career, Gusto has settled in VERY nicely. In his last 10 starts, he has pitched to the following stats: 61.2IP, 1.17ERA, 0.86WHIP, 55K (22% K%), 3.01FIP, Opponents slashing .189BA/.237OBP/.267SLG/.504OPS. He has earned pitcher of the week in the PCL this week.
• He is a fly ball pitcher who fills up the zone nicely. 70% of the pitches thrown in this 10 game stretch were strikes. Of that amount, just 18% of those were strikes looking (called strikes). Of course there are many conclusions that can be drawn from this but I believe it suggest he is generating a lot of whiffs.
• His insane progression this season makes him a better candidate to be called up over AJ Blubaugh, who has been regressing lately to a 4.15ERA and an opponent .811OPS in his last 10 starts. AJ had given up 1 HR in his first 9 AAA starts, and has given up 7 in his last 10. For this, I suspect Gusto sees the mound first.
• He throws a low to mid 90's FB (hits 95 often) combined with a change-up, slider, cutter, and CB. Great pitch mix that I suspect the org loves and will push his change-up usage in the pros as we have with most pitchers this year.

Shay Whitcomb – INF/OF/DH

• Ranks 4th in the PCL in wRC+ at 127, and wOBA at .402. Currently slashing .302BA/.388OBP/.549SLG (.936OPS). He is 3rd in the PCL in wRAA at 18.0. All of this, in the PCL, makes for a promising transition to the bigs.
• Along with being able to hit for power and average, Whitcomb also has a quick foot leading to 26 stolen bases this year. He has a 6.0 Spd grade on Fangraphs which is "great" in their ranking (for reference, Pedro Leon is graded at 6.2)
• His defensive versatility is interesting. This past Saturday was his first game at 1B so it is clear (along with DB recent comments) the organization might be trying to make him a fixture here. However, he has also played 3B, SS, LF, and RF at the AAA level this year.
• MASSIVE pull hitter where 50.2% of batted balls are pull side. This will play very well in MMP obviously. His most recent HR last night has a LA of only 20deg and an EV of 107.3. Maybe not high enough to get out of MMP but very impressive that he got this ball over the wall regardless.
• Both he and Pedro are flyball hitters that have about a 22% FB/HR% (in line with players like Teoscar Hernandez and Rafael Devers), so expect them both to try and lift the ball often because when they do, a fan is likely to catch a souvenir.
• He struggles in his first year at AA before lighting it up and getting promoted to AAA to start 2023. He struggled there again until he found his stroke this year. The part that sticks out MOST to me is he has dropped his K% from 31.1% to 20% this year while also increasing his BB% by 5% to a total of 11.4%.

Zach Dezenzo – 3B

• Perhaps the most intriguing prospect at the moment for one simple reason; He was struggling at the AA level in only 22 games (92wRC+) before getting called to Sugar Land a few weeks ago. Since his arrival in SL, he has crushed nearly everything he has been thrown. Obviously the org saw something in him that they thought could play in the PCL and they were right so far.
• At 6'5", 220lbs, he profiles more as an OF and I bet the org feels that LF/RF will be his landing spot eventually. However, he has played 1B in his limited appearances in SL too so that could also be an option.
• He has only played 11 games in AAA so obviously a few bad games can tank these stats but as of now, he has an insane slash line of: .391BA/.472OBP/.739SLG (1.211OPS). All that good for a 194wRC+
• He has a BB% at 11.3 and a K% at 18.9 so far.