North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; Undiscovered Treasure series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the Pirates prospects who fall outside of the Top 30. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss how the player came to the Pirates, how he has been playing and what to expect from them moving forward.

Wilber Dotel:
The Pirates signed Dotel as an International Free Agent in 2020. He was signed as a starting pitcher and to date has remained in that position. He currently stands at 6’3″ and roughly 178 pounds, it is reported he can reach upper 90’s on his fastball and comfortable sits mid 90’s with it. The issue that Dotel has it that he walks a lot of batters and does not strike out a ton of them. Where his strength lays is that the contact made against him is generally weak which tends to get him out of jams. However, part of that is the levels he is playing at as he progresses the speed of his pitches won’t be outclassing better hitters.
Dotel is 21 to start 2024, he will turn 22 in late September. He will also be Rule 5 eligible in 2025 so he will need to show progress quickly if wants to be protected. So far this year there have been some steps forward, and a few steps backwards with his pitching. In so far about half as many innings his K/9 has gone up from 6.64 to 9.08, a remarkable and necessary jump. His BB/9 has remained close to the same up to 5.15 from 5.03, a rate too high if he wants to progress to Altoon and AA at some point. However, the biggest issues so far, his season is the homeruns. Last year he was at .34 per nine, this year he is at 2.21. Furthermore, his BA against, WHIP, FIP and BABIP are also all up this season. Now this is his first season in A+ he spent the last two in lower A. So, there will be adjustments made as the season progresses. Also, he had two very bad starts in early May that may have hurt his stat line quite a bit, giving up 8 in 3.2 innings and then 6 in 3 innings in back-to-back starts. If he is able to limit the home runs and walks, while keeping his strikeout numbers up he will continue to improve on the talent he possesses.
Dotel will likely remain in A+ this season, but if his progression continues, he could be in AA next year, with the chance to impress before a Rule 5 decision needs to be made. Dotel also may end up in the bullpen at some point, especially if he wants to make the big-league club considering those in front of him on the depth chart. If the starting continues to struggle then the switch may be a foregone conclusion. Still, a projectable frame and good speed on his pitches could make him a very nice piece of undiscovered treasure moving forward.