TEMPE, Ariz. – Keynan Middleton ought to be Exhibit A for every struggling prospect whose career seems to be going nowhere.
A year ago, he was a tall, skinny starting pitcher in minor league camp, with one pitch and not much else going for him. Jim Gott, the Angels’ minor league pitching coordinator, said Middleton, a kid from Oregon, was “really raw, like one of our Dominican kids.”
Today, Middleton is in big league camp, on the 40-man roster. Thanks to a newly discovered 100 mph fastball, Middleton is one of the most intriguing prospects in the Angels system.