Daniel Camarena Stats & Scouting Report

IP	36
ERA	9.75
WHIP	2.11
BB/9	6.25
SO/9	7.25

Full name Daniel Ricardo Camarena
Born 11/09/1992 in Bonita, CA
Profile Ht.: 6'0" / Wt.: 210 / Bats: L / Throws: L
School Cathedral Catholic
Debut 06/19/2021
Drafted in the 20th round (629th overall) by the New York Yankees in 2011 (signed for $335,000).

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Camarena has performed as well as any prep player in Southern California this spring. If you throw out his lone loss of the season (when he walked four in three innings), Camarena issued just two walks in 49 innings this spring while striking out 76, illustrating his superb feel for pitching and ability to carve up the strike zone. Camarena's fastball ranged from 85-88 mph last year, and he sat at 87-88 in the MLB Urban Invitational in February. But he worked hard to add strength and his velocity jumped a tick this spring, ranging from 87-91. Though his arm action is clean, his 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame lacks projection. He makes up for it with his polish and command. Camarena has excellent feel for his changeup, which some scouts rate as an average pitch, but he rarely needed to use it at the high school level. His curveball has good depth and projects as a solid-average pitch, as he already flashes a big league breaking ball sometimes. Most scouts see Camarena's future on the mound, but he could be a standout two-way player if he honors his commitment to San Diego, and he has pro talent as a hitter as well. Camarena has a smooth, balanced lefthanded swing with some looseness to it and a gap-to-gap approach. He's an adequate runner who would fit at a corner defensively.

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The Yankees took a chance on Camarena in 2011 based on his ability to spin a curveball and his potential to gain velocity as he matured. He went to high school at Cathedral Catholic in San Diego, which has produced 2014 No. 1 overall pick Brady Aiken and where he was teammates with Twins lefthander Stephen Gonsalves. He reached Double-A in 2014 but missed all of 2015 after having Tommy John surgery. He returned to Trenton this year and was part of a trio lefthanders with Jordan Montgomery and Dietrich Enns who found tremendous success under the tutelage of pitching coach Jose Rosado, a former two-time all-star lefty with the Royals. Camarena's fastball typically sits in the low-90s but touched 93 in the middle portion of the season before backing up again as the fatigue from a lost year set in down the stretch. He coupled the fastball with a full offspeed arsenal that included an above-average changeup, a get-me-over curveball and a slider he added this year to give him an extra weapon against righthanders. His 3.68 ERA and 106 strikeouts were each among the top 10 in the Eastern League. He'll move up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2017 and has a chance at a back-end starter's role in the big leagues.