CHI

Daniel Espino, P

Edit player ✎
Baseball Reference → FanGraphs → MLB →

Scouting report

We still don't know whether Espino can hold his prodigious velocity for an entire season's worth of starter innings because the pandemic put a premature end to what would have been his first full slate. Instead he pitched manicured innings at the alternate site, then did some remote development before instructs, where Espino did not throw in games due to a minor shoulder injury. This comes after he was only allowed to throw one or two frames per outing for his first several pro appearances, then three to four for his final few -- Espino sat 94-97 and touched 99 with two plus breaking balls and starter's command during those. Whether he retains that level of heat over an entire season's worth of innings on regular rest (he was 92-97 in longer starts before the draft) we simply don't know, but there's no reason to think he is any more of an injury risk than other teenage pitchers unless you twist your brain into knots and conclude that his velocity is somehow a negative, or that he strength trains excessively. His arm action is atypical and quite long, similar to Madison Bumgarner's, but it works for Espino. If, like Bumgarner, Espino loses some velocity even before he reaches the majors, be it due to a pro workload or injury, I think he has a command-centric, four-pitch strike-thrower outcome. His changeup is much better than I gave it credit for last year, and realizing that during calls with scouts to prep for this list is why Espino is moving up a FV tier even tough he was kept at the alt site all year. He's an All-Star talent with a risky profile. (Alternate site, at-home dev)