Daniel Espino

No pitcher—high school or college—has as much upside as Georgia righthander Daniel Espino in the 2019 draft. His pure stuff is the loudest of any arm in the class thanks to a fastball that is routinely in the upper 90s and has touched 99-100 mph several times throughout the summer and spring. But it isn’t just elite velocity that makes Espino’s fastball tick, as the pitch, at times, has riding life to his arm side and cutting action to his glove side. After his fastball, Espino has two seperate breaking balls that look like plus pitches. His curveball sits in the mid-70s, and his slider is thrown in the low 80s. Both have sharp, late-breaking action and are legitimate swing-and-miss offerings when combined with his 80-grade fastball. Espino also throws a firm, upper-80s changeup that has some potential and flashes the look of a solid-average offering, but the pitch will need further refinement. Just grading out the tools, there are only a handful of players who would make sense to be listed above Espino in any draft ranking, but teams are split on the prep righthander because of an unconventional arm action, reliever risk and the recent poor track record of high school pitchers who throw as hard as Espino does at such a young age. Espino’s arm action is long, and while his control is solid, scouts believe that he’ll need to refine his command at the next level, where hitters won’t be as likely to chase secondaries out of the strike zone. Scouts have also noted that Espino’s stuff and control are both better when he pitches on longer rest and question how he will perform when he is throwing on a pro schedule. For those who don’t knock Espino quite as hard for his arm action, it’s easy to point to his elite lower-half strength and mechanics to show why he’ll be able to hold up in the future and avoid unnecessary stress on both his elbow and shoulder. The Panamanian-born pitcher gets off the rubber with tremendous force and has solid athleticism and body control, keeping his upper and lower half synced up. Those high on Espino will point to him having the best stuff in the country and the upside of a front-of-the-rotation starter, while those lower on him will see a 6-foot high school righthander with an unconventional arm action and significant risk to end up in the bullpen. Those factors lead to a wide range of potential landing spots in the draft for the Louisiana State commit.