Wilber Dotel fine-tuning stuff amidst step forward in 2024

Dotel took a step forward this year, but some numbers still don't match his stuff.

There are many pitchers in the minors with great stuff; most of the time, it’s just a matter of properly utilizing it.

In the Pirates system, Wilber Dotel is one of those players. Watching him pitch, you can see the stuff. He topped out at 98 multiple times in his last start of the regular season and, according to a previous broadcast, reached triple-digits earlier in the year.

Despite passing the eye test on his stuff, the results haven't exactly matched this year.

Dotel, 21, posted a 5.33 ERA in 106.1 innings pitched, striking out 106 batters and walking another 54. There were some encouraging signs, like reaching triple digits in both innings pitched and strikeouts and having the 11th-best Swinging Strikeout rate (SwStr%) in the South Atlantic League among all pitchers with at least 80 innings pitched. 

He also had an extremely higher-than-average home run-to-fly ball rate, sitting at 17.2% (the average is usually around 10%), meaning he had some bad luck when the ball got in the air, as can happen in the SALLY.