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Ryan Waldschmidt to Focus on Hitting Breaking Pitches in the Minors
After a strong start to his major-league career, opposing pitchers started to pepper Arizona Diamondbacks outfield prospect Ryan Waldschmidt with breaking pitches in the zone, and he struggled to handle the league's adjustment, according to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. With the D-backs getting healthier in the outfield recently, they opted to send the 23-year-old back to Triple-A Reno to work on some things after he hit .259/.314/.357 with a .671 OPS, no home runs, eight RBI, 11 runs scored, and five stolen bases in 112 at-bats. His 32.4% strikeout rate was 10 points higher than the major-league average, although his chase rate wasn't worse than average. Manager Torey Lovullo said that Waldschmidt needs to improve at controlling counts and not trying to do damage on pitcher's pitches. The team's top prospect, per MLB Pipeline, saw 38% breaking balls, which drew a 56% whiff rate. The former 31st overall pick in 2024 out of the University of Kentucky has lots of power/speed upside and has the skills to be a mainstay in Arizona for a long time, which makes him worth stashing still in dynasty/keeper formats. Lovullo is confident that he'll be back up with Arizona again this year.
Source: Arizona Sports - Alex Weiner
Source: Arizona Sports - Alex Weiner
