Unowned
Luis Patino, P
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Scouting report
Even though I don't share it, I think it's fair to say Patiño's 2020 debut reinforced the doubt that some front office personnel have expressed each of the last two offseasons about his ability to start. Some of that doubt is the result of his size (I specifically don't have these concerns), while the rest is the result of his sub-par control/command. Indeed Patiño's BB/9 rose as he was promoted to each of his previous four minor league levels, culminating in a gnarly 16.5% walk rate during a small 2020 big league sample. For someone as short as Patiño is, his arm swing is actually quite long, and his tactile feel for release has seemingly regressed as he's gotten more muscular. But remember that this is one of the better on-mound athletes in the minors, who is still only the age of a college prospect, and who hasn't had elite velocity for very long. Since he signed, Patiño has gained about 40 pounds and added about 10 ticks of fastball velocity. More important context: Patiño is a converted infielder who has only been focused on pitching for about five years, and one of those was seriously disrupted by the pandemic. Certainly Patiño needs to find more mechanical consistency and his fastball location needs to move north. Plus, his changeup feel is still quite raw. But if this guy were at LSU or UCLA, we'd be talking about him as the odds-on favorite to go number one overall in this year's draft. I still project Patiño as a multi-time All-Star starter. (Alternate site, MLB)