2023 MLB Draft Profile: Hunter Hollan
The Reds continue their tradition of drafting pitching by taking Hunter Hollan with the No. 74 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Does the southpaw have what it takes to become a mainstay in this Reds rotation? Let’s take a look at his MLB Draft profile and find out.
Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45
As you can see, nothing really jumps out at you when looking at Hunter Hollan–something I’m not a big fan of in this case, especially considering Hollan is being drafted as a 21-year-old.
The fastball is average sitting at 93-94 mph with some room to be desired in terms of its movement. Hollan masks this with his wide arsenal of off-speed and it’s worked wonders for him thus far.
This could be the saving grace for his fastball, which is currently not a pitch that’s going to scare opposing hitters on its own. Hollan has three off-speed pitches–all of which are similar in terms of effectiveness, but his Eephus curveball slightly takes the cake in my eyes.
When I say eephus I really mean it. It currently sits at 71-75 mph with serious downward movement. Almost like a 12-6 curve, you see many pitchers use in today’s MLB. It still needs some more velocity to be truly effective, but the foundation for it is clearly there.
The slider sits in the mid-80s with decent movement, but nothing that will knock your socks off, though he can still turn it into a putaway pitch with some work. The changeup follows a similar story and has some solid late movement that can be an effective out-pitch for him.
But really Hunter Hollan’s strength is his command and control. He’s never been able to rely on pure velocity or wicked movement, but he remedies this by mixing his pitches well and locating them consistently.
He has an expansive arsenal of pitches but more importantly command of all of them. He can throw them all for strikes and seems to know how to work them off of each other.
If he can carry that trait with him, he can overcome the lack of an overpowering fastball. You don’t have to have a 98-plus mph fastball to be an effective starter, but if you are going to go down that route you need some nasty offspeed and command of all your pitches.
The latter seems to be true for Hunter Hollan so maybe there is a path for him to make the show. But soft-throwing lefties haven’t seemed to do the Reds justice in recent history. Can he shift that change? Let us know in the comments below.
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