Richard Fitts

Coming out of fall ball, Fitts looked like a first-round pick. After sitting 88-90 mph as a freshman and 91-93 mph in 2020, Fitts was sitting in the mid 90s in fall ball, touching 97 and showing a buzz-saw of a slider. He began the season as Auburn’s ace, but very quickly everything went sideways. Fitts struggled in two of his first three starts of the year, and moved back and forth between the bullpen and rotation the rest of the year. His stuff rarely reached the heights that it had flashed in the fall. A right foot injury that slowed him may have played a part in that, and Fitts did finish strong by one-hitting LSU for six innings and one-hitting Missouri for eight scoreless innings. But even those two starts were sandwiched around a one-inning outing against Texas A&M where eight of the 11 batters he faced reached base. Fitts sat 91-95 mph in 2021, but his fastball too often flattened out. He was extremely prone to home runs (10 in just 41.1 innings). His slider didn’t have the plus bite and shape it showed in the fall and he rarely threw the split-change that had flashed above-average. Figuring out whether the fall was a glimpse of what’s to come if Fitts is fully healthy or just a blip for a pitcher who has a 5.23 career ERA with more hits than innings pitched is a challenge for scouting departments.