Dillon Maples

Maples threw 11.2 big-league innings in 2019, his highest total yet. The story was much the same as with his first two brief stints in the majors: he struck out a good number of batters (33.3%) but walked far too many (18.5%), leading to a high ERA (5.40). In 43.0 innings with Triple-A Iowa, his walk problem was even worse (19.2%), but his incredible 42.0% strikeout rate led him to a 3.77 ERA. Maples misses bats by throwing his hard, 89.5 mph slider nearly 60 percent of the time, but it's quite evident by now that he doesn't have much of an idea where it's going. The righty generated a strong 15.6% swinging strike rate, but not swinging seemed to work just fine for opposing batters, whose 36.3% swing rate was well below the major-league average of 47.0%. Maples' strikeouts give him the building blocks to be a high-leverage arm, but his command remains very far from where it needs to be.

Maples appeared in nine games for the Cubs last season, allowing seven runs in just 5.1 innings. Scouting reports like Maples' hard fastball and slider but hate his command and control, and he's done nothing to change the narrative thus far in his career. He recorded a 42.4% strikeout rate at Triple-A with an appalling 22.0% walk rate. Maples has a long way to go before being considered as even a low-leverage reliever; no reliever who threw at least 30 innings in the majors last season had a walk rate higher than 16.6%. The strikeouts remain enticing and could give Maples deep-league value should he ever find the plate, but there's been no evidence that's he's any closer to doing that.

A power righty with a nasty breaking ball, Maples fell to the 14th round due to signability issues last year, but the Cubs offered him a $2.5 million bonus and landed the would-be first or second rounder. He'll start the year in the low minors, but his ascent could be rapid.