Draft Prospect Series: Reid Detmers

Reid Detmers is a 20 year old left handed pitcher who is currently a third year member of the University of Louisville Cardinals. Detmers is among the highest rated pitchers in the draft, and is expected to be selected in the range of the fourth to seventh pick.

Despite a shaky first year, Detmers has turned his career around in the last two years, becoming an elite prospect going into the 2020 draft. In his first season, he struggled to maintain an ERA under 5.00, finishing the year with a 4.85 ERA while allowing over 5 runs per game on average. His main issue that season was control of the strike zone, walking 5.5 batters per nine innings, leading to a poor strikeout to walk ratio of 2.03. Since that season, Detmers has been a very different player.

In Detmers second season with the team, he more than cut in half his walks per nine, and elevated his strikeout game to a whole new level. From a 2.03 K/BB rate in year one, he finished with a 5.06 rate, improving his walks, and strikeouts over the year. He also brought his ERA down to 2.78, leading to him being named the 2019 ACC pitcher of the year, as well as being named to the All-America first team. As if this wasn’t good enough, Detmers continued to dominate before the 2020 season was cut short. This looked like his best season yet, as he started the year with an elite 1.23 ERA in his 4 starts, where he would run with a 3-0 record. He brought his K/9 all the way up to 19.6, which is an incredible strikeout rate. He also showed improvement yet again in his walk rate, and HR/9.

Detmers is a pitcher commonly compared to former fourth overall pick by the Rays, Brendan McKay. He throws three primary pitches (fastball, changeup, curveball), and according to the MLB grading scale, is about average with all three pitches. If he continues to find more control with these pitches; as he did over his school years, he has a shot to be an excellent pitcher. With the Jays looking for a pitcher, he is a serious candidate to be drafted by the team, especially if Asa Lacy (LHP) is selected before Toronto’s pick.