Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | LAD | RHP | 44 | 35 |
Grades Update: Dec 2020
| OFP | Role | FB | SL | CH | Cnt/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 30 | 50 | 45 | 40 | 50/40 |
Dec 2020 Report
Evaluator: Rhys White
Age: 23 yr
Height: 6-4
Weight: 190 lbs
Hits/Throws: L/R
Acquired: 2019 Draft - Round 5
RuleV: 2022
Physical Description: Long and well filled. Thick lower half, ready made frame. Built like an NBA shooting guard.
Delivery & Mechanics: Low funky three-quarters delivery with some deception. He is slow and deliberate in the wind-up. The delivery is started with a high leg kick where he has both hands go over the head, then followed by a drop and drive where his glove arm goes towards home while the right-hand with the ball goes towards second. His stride towards the mound is decent, he lands with his heel, and his back leg swings around and lands towards the first-base side where his shoulders are square with the first-baseman. In the stretch he speeds things up, to reduce the time in which a potential baserunner may have, and he ditches the over-head motion to start his delivery.
Fastball: Mostly sits 90-92 and occasionally will touch 95, Little's fastball plays slightly up thanks to the funky delivery where it gets on batters. He is able to keep his velocity throughout an outing, but in 2019 his longest outing was three innings. The fastball gets average arm-side run. He can spot the fastball to both the glove and arm side. At times he becomes over reliant on the fastball, leaving one too many in the zone for hitters to attack. The more advanced hitters he saw were able to attack the fastball after seeing it a few times in a plate appearance. Grade: 50
Slider: When watching Little he plays around with the shape of the slider, going from a slider with slight cut to more of a slurve depending on what he wants to accomplish and where he ends up putting the pitches.. The tight slider gets more cutter movement and is trying to throw it in the upper reaches of the strike-zone against right-handed batters. The movement profile is below average where it gets slight horizontal movement and no vertical movement. The slurve is a offering that is consistently 81-83 with average horizontal movement and above average vertical movement. He uses this offering to try and entice batters to chase out of the zone, starting low and outside for right-handed batters and having it dive out of the zone. Against left-handed batters he uses it to attack them on the inside part of the zone. He will avoid using the tighter slider against left-handed batters. Grade: 45
Changeup: The changeup sits in the low 80's, and can get decent depth. He has a tendency to overthrow the changeup which will negate any arm-side run the changeup has. It is an offering that will only be thrown against left-handed batters, where he can use it as a third offering to catch them off guard against hitters gearing up for the fastball. It is a below-average offering with the chance to become an average offering if he can develop a better feel for the offering. Grade: 40
Control and Command: Little does an average job of filling up the strike-zone, especially with the fastball. He is able to pitch in all four quadrants of the zone. He has below-average command of all his offerings, while he throws strikes he does not consistently throw each of his offerings in spots where they will be effective. Control: 50 | Command: 40
Overall: As a starter Little will need either the changeup or slider to take a tick up if he wants to remain in a rotation, even as an emergency option. As things stand he should move to the bullpen where he can be an emergency option for a team and even then the fastball may be lacking as he is over reliant on that offering and it does not have premium movement or velocity. The secondary offerings also lag behind if he wants to be a consistent reliever at the big league level.
OFP: 35
Role: 30 - Up/Down Emergency Depth
Risk: Moderate
