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2025 MLB Draft Profile: Kyson Witherspoon
2025 MLB Draft Profile: Kyson Witherspoon
Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Cutter: 60 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 50 | Overall: 55
The Witherspoon twins have been closely followed since their days in High School, with the Diamondbacks trying to sign his brother Malachi to an over-slot bonus as a 12th-rounder in 2022. While they have similar playstyles, Kyson projects to be a much better prospect and will likely be the first right-handed pitcher off the board.
Let’s start with the good for Witherspoon, it’s his fastball. Sitting in the mid-90s with the ability to get up to 99 mph. It projects to be a great pitch at the next level with the pure power it displays. He sometimes relies too much on that power and would likely benefit from giving it a little movement.
But as is, it already shows an ability to generate swings and misses and doesn’t have too much trouble locating it high in the zone.
Witherspoon’s next best pitch is a slider. Currently, it’s classified as a mid-80s slider that can reach 91. But many scouts expect that he will be able to use that pitch to also throw a mid-90s cutter. The two pitches would play nicely off each other, with the slider having more vertical movement while the cutter would be closer to the fastball.
His downer curveball has shown more consistency lately, sitting in the low 80s. Also serving as a great out pitch for Kyson Witherspoon when he’s ahead in the count.
His changeup is a work in progress. It’s too firm at times and doesn’t produce the desired drop. It has slowly improved, though, and at times, you can see the potential the pitch has, especially for opposite-handed hitters.
It’s a pitch he will need to work on, but it would be a deadly addition to his already plentiful arsenal. The control also doesn’t appear to be a glaring weakness.
He does a good job of not walking to many guys and overall not falling behind in counts. Part of the treason why is just how fluid Witherspoon’s motions is.
At 6’2, he does a great job of using his entire frame to get as much out of his arm as he can. But it never really appears that way when you watch him pitch. His motion is very repeatable, allowing him to better stay in command of games.
Kyson Witherpoon has shown consistent improvement in his time at Oklahoma. Control at one point was an issue for him, but a few tweaks to the mechanics seem to have fixed that. He’s not only throwing more strikes but getting guys to chase more often.
Witherspoon is undoubtedly still a work in progress and will need time to further develop his offspeed pitches. However, there is still a lot to like about Withserpoon, and I believe he can be a frontline starter for many teams here in a few years.
There are a lot of lefty arms available in this draft, which will likely cause Kyson Witherspoon to fall a bit. If that does become the case, some team is going to be getting a gem later in the first round.
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