Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Noteable, Successful Softy Tossing Pitchers
Pitch velocity is going up in the baseball world, but these Pirates prospects still throw 90 and under.
By Noah Wright
Righty Owen Kellington
Owen Kellington is one of the Pirates’ best soft-tossing pitching prospects. A high school draft pick out of Vermont in 2021, Kellington is in his first season where he’s getting an extended look. It’s been an up-and-down year for the right-hander.
He has a solid 3.90 ERA, 0.94 HR/9, and 28% strikeout rate, but he’s also allowed walks at a 15.2% rate and has a 4.80 FIP. Kellington has done well recently, with 2.43 ERA, 4.11 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP since June 30th. He’s still striking out batters at a high rate (29.5%) and isn’t allowing many home runs (0.61), but still dishing out too many free passes (14.8%).
In Kellington’s most recent outing, he averaged just 89.4 MPH with his four-seam fastball, topping out at 90.8. However, he does throw with above-average spin with 2300-2500 RPM. He throws three more offerings: a low-spin changeup, a curveball, and a slider. His change-up and curveball are potentially plus pitches and his slider is his least-used offering. Kellington is the definition of a junk baller, with both his curveball and changeup being his best offerings.