Reid Detmers: Angels 2021 Minor League Player Of The Year

Reid Detmers was one of baseball’s most polished amateur pitchers when the Angels selected him out of Louisville with the 10th overall pick in 2020.

He was a lefthander who came out of college with excellent command of a low-90s fastball and big-breaking, mid-70s curveball.

That feel for his repertoire and strike-throwing ability enabled the 22-year-old Detmers to advance to a level of development few pitchers reach in their first professional season.

“Just understanding how his pitches work,” Angels minor league pitching coordinator Buddy Carlyle said, when asked to identify Detmers’ areas of growth this season. “It’s understanding where he wants to start pitches for strikes and where he wants to start them for swing-and-miss, especially with his curveball.”

The velocity of Detmers’ fastball ticked up this season, from an average of about 91 mph when he was drafted to 93 with a high of 95. this season An upper-80s slider, a pitch Detmers began throwing at the alternate training site last summer, has emerged as a “huge weapon,” Carlyle said.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Detmers logged a 3.19 ERA in 14 starts for Double-A Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake, with 108 strikeouts, 19 walks and a 1.15 WHIP across 62 innings, thanks in part to his new pitch.

Detmers’ hard-breaking slider barrels down and in on righthanded hitters, and he also throws it to lefthanders. His curve averages 65.1 inches of vertical movement and 12.5 inches of horizontal break, according to Baseball Savant.

“It’s a pitch that gets taken a lot for strikes because guys have a hard time pulling the trigger on it,” Carlyle said of the curve, “especially when he works his fastball at the top of the zone.”

Detmers was called up by the Angels in August and was roughed up in four starts that month, going 1-3, 7.11 with 17 strikeouts and nine walks in 19 innings. But he showed promise with a six-inning, one-run, three-hit effort in a win against the Astros on Aug. 15.