At just 20-years old and with just 26.1 innings above rookie ball, Luis De Leon comes in as the #14 prospect based on perhaps the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the Orioles system.
Luis De Leon
Throws: Left
Age (as of Jun 30th) : 20
2023 Level: FCL/A
Pitches (current/future value)
Fastball: 50/70
Slider: 40/55
Change: 40/50
Command: 35/50
Most Likely Future Role: Too early
Ceiling: Top of Rotation starter
What we know: Quite simply, there is no pitcher in the minor league system with a higher ceiling then this 20-year old Dominican. De Leon is a 6-foot-3 lefty with plenty of room to fill out his frame who already possesses a mid-90s (94-95 mph) bowling ball of a fastball that has touched 98 MPH this season. His fastball does lose some velocity later in his outings, but still sits 92-93 MPH. He also brings a solid average slider to the mound that can be tough on lefties ,though it’s horizontal movement can be inconsistent at times and sometimes backs up. The southpaw has pretty good feel for a changeup that also flashes average with good fade and drop at times, though he leaves it up a bit in the strike zone a little more than he would like. The slider is a bit ahead of the changeup currently, but they both could develop into at least average major league pitches
He’s an uncomfortable at bat for any hitter and put up the best ground ball % (68.3% overall, but was an unbelievable 73.4% in his 26.1 A ball innings with Delmarva) in the organization. Between the FCL and Delmarva (Low-A), batters slashed just .190/.290/.232/.523 with Carolina League batters hitting just .177 off him with a ridiculous 6.7% line drive rate. His overall 21.4% swinging strike percentage was the best in the system for anyone who pitched high than the rookie ball though that did drop to a respectable 14.1% in A ball.
He’s a bit of a slinger with a low 3/4 delivery that helps his fastball play up even more than it’s already plus velocity.
While he’s a ground ball inducing machine who also misses bats, his downside is a lack of command that saw him put up a 5.47 BB/9 in A ball, but some of that was from two bad appearances in September. The good news is that he really doesn’t throw all that many uncompetitive pitches and while he misses too much, he doesn’t miss by a lot.
He’s a young man who is still growing into his body and part of that may be what is leading to the inconsistent command. Like some other young pitchers, he can let a bad call affect him and allow it to snowball his inning a bit, so controlling those emotions will be something he’ll need to improve as well.
What we don’t know: Can he find more consistency with throwing quality strikes? Can he go deeper into games? The Orioles never let him throw more than 65 pitches with Delmarva, but were probably treating him a bit cautious since he only threw 24 inning last year in the DSL. Either way, we don’t if he can maintain his velocity up to 100 pitches or not and the fact it trails off to the 92-93 MPH range when he never threw more than 65 pitches means it’s still up in the air whether he can stick as a starter.
What we think: De Leon was put on our radar last year despite the less than stellar stats in the Dominican Summer League and after seeing his this year we can see why. While this might be an aggressive position to put him on the list, the fact remains that he has the best ceiling of any current pitcher in the system if he fully fills out, is able to maintain or even adds to his velocity, and improves his command. There are a ton of unknowns, but if he’s stays healthy, he’s an electric pitcher to watch in 2024. He’ll most likely start the year back in Delmarva where they will most likely try to stretch him out into more five innings appearances. Don’t be shocked though if he finishes with a taste of AA next year if things come together for him.