Isaac Stevens | July 18, 2024
The Dominican Summer League season started a few weeks ago, and both of the Rockies DSL affiliates have started adequately. The DSL Rockies are two games under .500, sitting at 11-13, while DSL Colorado has shown more success with a 15-11 record. Records don’t reflect entirely what happens in those games, and today I’ll write about some bright spots that have gone unnoticed.
The players mentioned below were chosen off of the following features: the player has come back from a season in which they struggled, the player has gone into the season with expectations, the player wasn’t top of their international signing class (so no Ashly Andujar), and most importantly, they all boast top-end prospect potential.
Colorado Rockies: DSL PLayers to Watct
RHP Odarlin Cruz – Dominican Republic
2024 Stats: 10.1 IP, 0.87 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 12.19 K/9, 1.74 BB/9, 54.2 GB%
In the 2023 international signing period, the Rockies signed many notable names in the baseball world. Robert Calaz, Yeiker Reyes, and Jeremy Ciriaco are some that stick out. Among those that were signed in 2023, Odarlin Cruz stood out right away. Standing at a towering 6’7”, he joins Hunter Mann as the tallest in the organization.
Statistically, Odarlin Cruz has put together a dominant season. He isn’t giving up runs, he’s striking out a third of batters he’s faced, he’s minimizing walks, and when players get a bat on the ball, it’s likely going to be on the ground. That’s an amazing overall picture.
When you look at Cruz’s numbers from 2023, you wouldn’t believe that they’re the same pitcher. His ERA was 6.75, and somehow, his FIP was higher at 7.07. All while striking out just 7.3% of batters. His improvement has been substantial.
When I asked about what Odarlin Cruz worked on between seasons, he said:
“I have more confidence in my pitches and I use a little more breaking pitches in tight situations” *Translated from Spanish.
Odarlin Cruz offers a low 90s fastball, but because of his 6’7” frame, and good extension that comes in a lot faster than the MPH says (to oversimplify extension: the closer the ball is released to the plate, the faster it’ll come in regardless of measured speed). The fastball has shown good results in getting ahead in the zone.
He also offers a changeup. His money pitch, however, is his slider. It moves similarly to a slurve (where it moves downward to the side with both horizontal and vertical movement). Cruz’s slider generates frequent swings and misses, and he has a good feel and command of it.
To project Odarlin’s future, the most vital component will be adding more muscle onto his slender build. His frame suggests that there’s plenty of room to fill out his ideal pitching frame. His velocity could rocket up, and will only help his case for a future back end reliever. If Odarlin Cruz can maintain his pitch execution, and add more velocity, his path to the Majors could be similar to Former Rockie Gavin Hollowell.
OF Alessander De La Cruz – Germany
2024 Stats: 25 G, 3 HR, 3 SB, .322 AVG, .415 OBP, .540 SLG, 146 wRC+
Alessander De La Cruz had the second-highest signing bonus in the 2023 international signing bonus, second to Robert Calaz. While De La Cruz isn’t necessarily unheard of, the jumps he’s taken in 2024 are extremely promising towards his future.
Signed out of the Dominican Republic (despite being born in Berlin, Germany), De La Cruz was praised early for his elite bat speed for his age and potential for power. That left many intrigued for his first career season. In 38 games, Alessander was able to hit 5 home runs, indicating legit game power for a 17 year old. Albeit those positives, he struck out at a high rate of 33.8%. So going into 2024, the obvious plan was to cut strikeouts while maintaining his power stroke.
Before the 2024 season, the strikeouts were still an elephant in the room, so what did Alessander De La Cruz work to do? Cut it down by over half of what it was originally, now sitting at 15.1 K% through 25 games. With his better approach at the plate, all of De La Cruz’s offensive stats have increased considerably, while even walking more. De La Cruz is completely dominating the DSL right now, and he is well on his way to dominating stateside in 2025.
With De La Cruz’s bat speed being so quick, he easily catches up to fastballs–barely any get passed him. He creates so much power through a large leg kick and uses his insane hand/bat speed to attack the ball. Those assets are perfect for hitting fastballs, but there is concern against changes in velocity. When De La Cruz faces off-speed pitches, he has to slow down his leg kick, causing his swing to be late. While secondaries aren’t typically great in the DSL, it’s shown to not affect his results. However, when De La Cruz starts to face better pitchers that could exploit the hole in his swing. So once he graduates from the DSL, that will be an interesting development to follow.
Expect to see Alessander De La Cruz in top prospect lists following 2024.
RHP Euri Pineda – Dominican Republic
2024 Stats: 10.0 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, 14.40 K/9, 3.60 BB/9, 50.0 GB%
Both Odarlin Cruz and Alessander De La Cruz have dominated the Dominican Summer League with their numbers jumping off of the screen, whilst shoving in all aspects on and off the field. Here, Euri Pineda is different. He’s giving up a lot of runs and a lot of base runners, and people are scoring at a high rate. So what makes Euri Pineda so special to include? … Plenty!!
The first thing that catches the eye about Euri Pineda’s statistics, is that he strikes out a ton of players. His 36.4 K% is the 26th highest in the DSL and is the highest in the entire Rockies organization (min. 10 IP). Typically when a player strikes out batters at a high clip, there’s an easy answer to why results aren’t great. So by looking at Pineda’s stats, you see that he’s giving up lots of hits. An insane amount of hits at that. His BABIP is .522, which is the second-highest in the DSL, and the seventh-highest in all of MiLB.
By looking at film and general statistics, there are two main reasons why players are getting an absurd amount of hits off of Euri Pineda. The first is a lack of pitch flexibility. He offers a fastball that looks low to mid-90s and a slider that generates swings and misses. The two of those are quality pitches, but he doesn’t have any other pitches after that. While both pitches are above average at the DSL level, the lack of a third pitch prevents Pineda from consistently generating efficient outs in the field. However, adding more variety to his pitch repertoire should be a quick(er) fix for the Rockies.
The other reason why his ERA is high is that he’s gotten unlucky. Lots of balls that are being hit, aren’t being hit hard (bloop singles, ground balls that get through, etc). Weak contact isn’t turning into outs. Pineda’s 5.40 ERA compared to his 2.46 xFIP (xFIP goes off of pitcher’s strikeouts, walks, and fly ball rate to calculate the number. When it’s lower than the ERA it indicates the pitcher has been unlucky) proves that his ERA should be lower.
Euri Pineda does have a funky delivery off of the mound. He keeps his body turned inside (towards third base), until right before he releases the ball. That makes his delivery deceptive to batters. Every at-bat, the batter guesses what pitch is going to come. When he adds another pitch or two that will only improve results and strikeouts. Pineda has the finesse on the mound to be a legit strikeout reliever, and it’ll be exciting to see how the Rockies develop him.
Final Thoughts
All three of these prospects have shown intriguing potential, and learning about the prospects is a fun way to see the importance of the Dominican Summer League and development at such a young age.
Thank you for reading!
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