Forrest Whitley | RHP
Background
The 18-year-old Whitley attends Alamo Heights High School in Texas, where he threw a 13-strikeout no-hitter last month. He missed about a month earlier this spring with a thumb injury that has given him no problems since returning. Whitley is committed to Florida State and there was some initial thought he wanted a huge bonus to turn pro, though that is no longer the case.
Scouting Report
Whitley went through a big growth sport as a sophomore and is now a massive human at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds. He’s been as heavy as 250 lbs. at times but has done a better job with his conditioning lately. Whitley’s fastball sits mostly in the low-90s and it has touched as high as 97 mph during shorter outings. His top secondary pitch is a hard curveball around 80 mph. He also throws a low-80s changeup. Whitley is a good athlete, but, like most young pitchers this size, he battles his mechanics and struggles to repeat his delivery. He’s also maxed out physically. There’s no projection here.
Miscellany
MLB.com, Keith Law (subs. req’d), and Baseball America respectively ranked Whitley as the 13th, 16th, and 28th best prospect in the 2016 draft class in their latest rankings. The Yankees hold the 18th pick. Whitley has all the unteachables. He has the size, the big fastball, the power curveball, and he even has a changeup. What he lacks is general refinement. Getting a pitcher this big to keep his long limbs in check is not easy. That has never stopped the Yankees from trying though.
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