Those of us who mainline prospects will occasionally pick a player to write an article on. Perhaps he’s on a prospect list, or had a nice couple of games. Perhaps, he’s showing an unexpected degree of versatility. Today, I’m looking at pitcher Blake Whitney, because he’s an outlier.
A 24th-round pick this year from South Carolina-Upstate (Spartanburg, SC), Whitney put up good numbers for a team that, otherwise, struggled to pitch. Their second-best ERA was 3.96. Their team mark was 4.68. Whitney’s was 2.81, with a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of just under 4-to-1.
In recent seasons, the Cubs would pull the plug on a pitcher at or around the 20-inning mark in their draft year.