Скачать или смотреть FORREST WHITLEY (RHP) - Houston Astros 1st Overall Pick 2024 Updated Prospect Video

Whitley reached Double-A and seemed on the cusp of the big leagues one year after the Astros took him 16th overall in the 2016 Draft out of a Texas high school. But he has enjoyed little success outside of two Arizona Fall League stints while dealing with a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a stimulant as well as minor oblique and lat injuries in 2018, shoulder inflammation and command woes in 2019, the pandemic shutdown and elbow soreness in 2020 and Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2021 and half of 2022. He returned to the mound in June and posted a 7.09 ERA in Triple-A, casting more doubt on his future.

Whitley's fastball sat at 94-96 mph and touched 100 mph in Triple-A last year, though it had different shape and less hop than it had in the past. His mid-80s changeup once ranked among the best in the Minors, but his feel for the pitch and its life also regressed in 2022. He couldn't throw his low-70s curveball for strikes, didn't miss bats with his mid-80s slider that's now more tight than sweepy and barely used an upper-80s cutter that scouts once preferred to both his breaking pitches.

His control and command never were his strong suits because he tinkered with his delivery and struggled to repeat it, and Whitley walked 27 batters in 40 innings last year. He still flashes the potential for five different plus pitches and created some optimism by throwing well during the offseason, but he has gone from possible No. 1 starter to a total wild card. If he claims a role in the big leagues, it likely will be in the bullpen rather than the rotation.

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