The Dodgers #23 prospect is Kendall Williams, a right-handed pitcher drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2nd round of the 2019 MLB Draft. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired him from the Blue Jays along with another player to be named later for Ross Stripling back in 2019. He is only 20 years old standing 6’6 weighing 205 pounds.
He is currently pitching for Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Single-A Advanced League. His ERA is 4.70 in 46 innings. He has 41 strikeouts with 13 walks which is a nice ratio. Dodgers must be in love with this guy’s size and how young he is. With that mix of height and youth, the Dodgers can build him however they want him to be because his potential is endless.
His pitching mix is Fastball, Curveball, Slider, and a Changeup. Fastball consistently hits 93-94 MPH and can touch 96 MPH. The fastball has a ton of spin but doesn’t move that much. The Dodgers player development staff will use that spin rate to their advantage and make that a plus pitch for Williams. His curveball has a true 12-6 break. This was his favorite pitch to throw in prep school before he was drafted. The pitch is thrown out of the same arm slot as the fastball so batters think the pitch is going to be a high fastball and then it just falls off a table and can get easy strikeouts. The slider is a brand-new pitch for him so not a lot of information on the pitch, but he has a great feel for it. He is a smart baseball player and loves to experiment with new pitches so I can see him having another new pitch before his career is over. His changeup is a very advanced pitch for him, which is surprising due to his young age. Players this young usually have the potential to have all his pitches to be plus pitches but being 20 years old and already having a plus pitch is a huge deal. The changeup is great against lefties but struggles with the control of it. Kendall Williams is a young pitcher who doesn’t have great control of any of his pitches but throws a lot of strikes. He misses a lot of his spots but misses in the middle of the strike zone.
ETA for Kendall Williams is 2023 as a back-end starter. I can see the Dodgers calling him up in 2023 but as a mean hard-throwing bullpen piece as we have a great starting rotation for years to come. Usually, as a relief pitcher, you only need 2 plus pitches. Kendall Williams will hopefully have at least three plus pitches so with that talent, it is hard to not build this guy up as a starter.