Wilfredo Ledezma

Organization Prospect Rankings

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  Ranked Detroit Tigers #22 prospect in 2003
  The Tigers wound up with three players in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft, though Ledezma was the only one they selected themselves. In addition to acquiring Travis Chapman, they also added righthander Matt Roney from the Rockies via the Pirates. Ledezma has tremendous upside but has been hampered by injuries. He emerged as a prospect when he made his U.S. debut in 1999, before his elbow began bothering him in the middle of the next season. Ledezma had a stress fracture in his left elbow, which kept him out from late July 2000 until April 2002. He pitched well in five low Class A starts, before a nagging lower back strain sidelined him again. Ledezma did return for an August appearance in the Gulf Coast League, and was 100 percent for instructional league and the Venezuelan League after the season. In Venezuela, he pitched for Magallanes manager Phil Regan, who doubles as a skipper in the Tigers system. Before Ledezma went down, he was throwing 93-94 mph from a deceptive angle and showed a consistently hard curveball. His lack of innings has made it hard to develop a changeup. His 41-8 strikeout-walk ratio in 27 innings in 2002 is indicative of his ceiling. Boston planned to return him to low Class A, so Detroit may have a difficult time keeping him on its 25-man roster all season. If the Tigers can't, the Red Sox almost certainly will take him back for half the $50,000 Rule 5 draft price.