The Diamondbacks will promote pitching prospect Drey Jameson before tomorrow’s game against the Padres, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. They’ll need to formally select his contract to do so, but the club already has a 40-man roster vacancy after designating Wilmer Difo for assignment this week.
It’s the first MLB call for Jameson, who has been one of the organization’s more interesting pitching prospects the past few years. A supplemental first-round pick (34th overall) out of Ball State in 2019, Jameson signed for $1.4MM. Credited with a mid-upper 90’s fastball and a promising combination of secondary offerings, the right-hander looked like a potential impact arm if he could develop more consistent control. Jameson didn’t get much of an opportunity until last year, with the 2020 minor league season wiped out by the pandemic. He posted excellent strikeout numbers with solid walk rates between High-A and Double-A last year, solidifying his status as one of the better arms in the system.
FanGraphs and Keith Law of the Athletic each slotted Jameson at the back half of their Top 100 overall prospects entering the season. Baseball America and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN each had him just outside the Top 100 but placed him among the ten most talented players in a strong Arizona system. Jameson dominated through four starts at Double-A to start the year, but he’s struggled to acclimate to the minors top level.
Since being promoted to Triple-A Reno at the beginning of May, the 25-year-old has made 22 appearances (21 starts). He’s surrendered a 6.95 ERA across 114 innings, striking out a personal-low 21.2% of opponents. Jameson’s 8.2% walk rate is manageable, but he’s allowed 1.66 home runs per nine innings and been plagued by a .351 batting average on balls in play. Reno is one of the more hitter-friendly environments in affiliated ball, which has certainly been a factor, but BA’s scouting report on Jameson also notes that hitters are able to identify the ball early in his delivery, causing his fastball to play below its velocity.
That’s something Jameson and pitching coach Brent Strom will work on, but it’s also easy to see the appeal with the 6’0″ hurler. Prospect evaluators suggest his slider is a plus-plus offering (a 70 on the 20-80 scale) at its best, and Jameson also shows an average or better changeup and curveball. Adding him to the 40-man roster at the end of the season to keep him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft was a no-brainer for the D-Backs’ front office, and they’ll take the season’s final few weeks to get an early look as Jameson tries to carve out a role on the 2023 staff.
Arizona is likely to see Zach Davies hit free agency this winter, thinning out their rotation depth. Zac Gallen has cemented himself as a top-of-the-rotation arm, and Merrill Kelly is amidst the best season of his career. Madison Bumgarner has been a fixture in the starting staff since signing an $85MM free agent deal heading into 2020, but his ERA is again approaching 5.00. The veteran may not be in imminent danger of losing his rotation spot, but Arizona has begun to introduce some of their younger starting pitching options at the big league level. Jameson joins Tommy Henry and Ryne Nelson as prospects to make their MLB debuts this season. Henry has struggled but Nelson (who ironically also broke in against the Padres a couple weeks back) hasn’t allowed a run with a 13:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio through his first two starts.
But can he pitch as good as Phil Jamesson can write?
Dbacks continue to roll out their young stable of starting pitchers with Jameson’s promotion. They are being very deliberate and systematic in this process. Tommy Henry, Ryne Nelson and Drey Jameson had the most starts at AAA, with Henry 20, Nelson 26 and now Jameson with 21 starts. Next in line is Corbin Martin with 17 starts.
And they still haven’t called up the best two. Brandon Pfaadt has a 2.52 ERA in 8 starts in the extremely hitter friendly PCL. Pfaadt is the minors strikeout leader with 204 Ks this year, and struck out 11 in his last start. He looks like a Top of the Rotation near ready prospect.
The other pitching prospect is left hander Blake Walston, who is rapidly developing at AA Amarillo. And there are more at AA, plus some fast developing starters at the A and High A level. The pitching future looks very bright in AZ. Even a future Closer is beginning his pro career now, but that’s a couple of years down the road.
The 2019 college players are about to be rule 5 eligible so it makes sense. They took Carroll and a bunch of pitchers with their chest of picks
Dang, he jumped to AAA then AAA jumped him.
suffer for Dbacks and I have started a campaign to have Jameson and his 100 MPH fastball converted to the bullpen as the DBack’s Closer next year.
Why so soon? I get they need bullpen help, but are you thinking a Sale-esque style where he works in the bullpen and they potentially transition or a straight-up permanent move?
I like the idea of starting the season in the bullpen to address the need and get experience, but i would want them to at least give him an opportunity to be a starter. Especially since that’s how he’s worked so far.
The embarrassment of riches that the diamondbacks have with young starting pitching lends itself well to a hybrid pitching approach to limit innings (who knows if that approach lends itself well to developing starters). They are going to be super entertaining to watch in the near future.
Why not? There’s an immediate need in the pen, and this guy’s stuff would fill that need.
I get that. That’s why I asked whether the move they want was similar to Sale. I can understand a move to fill an immediate need but still maintaining that he’s the starter you drafted and developed. Why label him has strictly bullpen already when you have so many pitching prospects?
You can try all your starting pitching prospects as starters then adjust as the results come in.
Keep the guys as starters UNTIL they PROVE that they’re not capable of being a SUCCESSFUL SP at the Major League level. If/when that happens, then & ONLY THEN should they move them to the bullpen. When Mariano Rivera PROVED that he COULDN’T SUCCEED as a SP, they moved him to the bullpen. Look at how successful Spencer Strider is as a SP this year as a rookie. He was successful in the bullpen but he’s proven that he belongs in the rotation.
Anybody here good at math? Next year’s starting rotation will include Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Madison Bumgarner. That’s 3. Tommy Henry, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Drey Jameson…makes 4 more. Others could be involved, but that’s 7 starters for a 5 man rotation. Anybody see where I’m going with this? Looks like all 7 are talented, so keep as many as possible on the major league roster by using 1 or 2 in the bullpen. Logical?
That is assuming every young pitcher is going to succeed at the highest level. Tommy Henry has already shown he might not be able to. And the question marks are there for Jameson who had a great track record until AA but an ERA close to 7.00 is not good, not even for Reno standards. Nelson has had just two (terrific) starts, but just two. Gilbert threw a no-hitter and where is he now? All these guys need a longer look and might encounter problems next year. 4 rookies at the highest level battling for innings is no luxury. But that is why they have to be tested now, with the 40-man crunch.
Maybe MadBum can be moved to the bullpen if all pan out, that arm is looking more and more to become unsustainable as a starter.
Now about that bullpen….
Let’s Go
I don’t think the example of Gilbert, who was not a significant prospect, but came out of nowhere, fits in this discussion. Henry, Nelson and Jameson are all top ranked prospects. BTW, I watched Jameson pitch 7 impressive shutout innings tonight. Padres hitters were fouling off on late swings, if they were able to put bat on the ball at all! I think all three will succeed at the major league level. And, again, the best two pitching prospects are still to come in Pfaadt and Walston. Even if a couple don’t succeed, there is still enough talent here now to fill out a formidable starting 5+, and there is much more on the way.
Jameson has that BDE out there on the mound. Only 5 Ks, but 10 groundouts. The Padres have to be pissed about these rookies coming up lol.
Or keep them stretched out at AAA, because injuries happen. Detroit had a ton of top shelf starter prospects and needed every one this year. You can never have too much starting pitching.the
While i know many people here consider Win/Loss records archaic and stupid, as an interesting aside Zach Davies has the most no-decisions (18) in a season since Odalis Perez (also 18) in 2004. Davies should be in line to make four more starts this season (assuming they don’t skip any of his starts) giving him the chance to pass Bert Blyleven who set the record (20) in 1979