We’re going to begin our countdown of top prospects here at The Good Phight, counting backwards from 20 to our top prospect.
Dominic Pipkin, RHP, 22 years old
The big-framed Pipkin has grown into the sort of velocity hoped of him when he was an amateur prospect, and he sat mostly 94-96 mph when healthy in 2021. He’s had trouble developing dynamic secondary stuff (though his relatively new mid-80s slider looked pretty good in its early stages) and staying healthy, dealing with shoulder inflammation during his career. Still notable due to his frame, velocity, on-paper performance (when healthy), and the new hope for a second out-pitch, Pipkin enters his 40-man evaluation year without a starter’s innings foundation, having never worked more than 71 innings in a season.