Altoona Curve pitching coach Matt Ford had previously worked with Wilber Dotel when the two were with Low-A Bradenton. At the time, the right-hander flashed velocity and a slider, but it didn’t translate to many strikeouts, as he averaged 6.6 strikeouts and 5 walks in nine innings. Those figures won’t turn heads, but Ford saw potential in Dotel.
Fast-forward two years later. Dotel is once again Ford’s pupil, now with Double-A Altoona. This time, however, Dotel is one of the best strikeout pitchers at his level. So far, he’s averaged 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings compared to just 3.5 walks, and his 41 punchouts are tied for the sixth most in all of Double-A baseball. He entered the week with the second-most strikeouts in Double-A in May. Now boasting a 2.87 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, Dotel is arguably the sleeper in one of the deepest pools of pitching prospects in the game.
Dotel still has that mid-90s fastball and slider that grabbed Ford’s attention in A-ball. The main difference is Dotel now has a splitter, a diving 85 mph offering that’s racking up punchouts.
"It’s a career-changer for him,” Ford said. “Obviously super good fastball, really good slider … To get to the upper levels, he needs that third quality pitch. We started that process in camp and when Spring Training rolled around, it’s been something we’ve been hyper-focused on.” |
Originally, Dotel featured a changeup as his third offering, but struggled to get it into the strike zone. During a pitching camp this January, he was approached about turning it into a splitter.
Unlike his changeup, Dotel can throw the splitter out of the same arm slot as his fastball. That gives him a pitch that changes velocities and tunnels off of his heater. As he would explain, "it’s the same as the fastball, it just goes down.”
And seeing those cuts hitters are taking against sinkers bouncing off the plate, well, they aren’t swings. They’re “swords,” and Dotel is loving it.
"It feels good because I’ve been working hard on being consistent,” Dotel said, with catcher/infielder Shawn Ross interpreting. “I feel comfortable in myself right now.”
Dotel had a unique early relationship with his new offspeed pitch. When he first experimented with it, he liked how it was coming out of the hand, but he quickly lost it in subsequent bullpens. That little taste of success was enough to keep working on the pitch, and it’s really started to take shape again over these last three weeks. Over his last four outings, Dotel had one abbreviated start where he was limited to just four outs. In the other three starts, he struck out at least eight hitters each time.
“I want to get a job better than [pitching] at Double-A,” Dotel said. “I didn’t look back because it was difficult. I just decided to attack it and trust that split, and now the results are here.”
If Dotel keeps pitching like this, he’ll go on to bigger and better things than Double-A. He was identified as an under-the-radar prospect early this season, with control being the underlying issue that could make him more of a reliever prospect than a starter. If he keeps throwing strikes the way he has been early, walks aren’t going to be an issue. His first-pitch strike percentage has jumped from 42.6% in 2023 to 51.1% this year, and his K-BB% (or how often you strike out a batter minus how often you walk them) has nearly doubled from 11.2% last year to 22.1% in 2025. For reference, Bubba Chandler’s K-BB% was 22.3% in 2024.
That third pitch makes all the difference.
"When he can command it, it’s a really good pitch because he has the big fastball, he has the slider,” Curve manager Andy Fox said. “That’s just another weapon for him to get the hitters off of things.” |
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
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On Monday, Andrew McCutchen matched which New York baseball and Seinfeld alum on the all-time hit list with his 2,182nd career hit? A. Bernie Williams
B. Keith Hernandez
C. Paul O'Neill D. David Puddy
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Checking in with some top performers in the Pirates’ farm system:
• Right-hander Mike Burrows (No. 15 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 list) struck out a career-high 11 batters over 4 2/3 scoreless innings in his start with Triple-A Indianapolis on May 11. Burrows has turned in an ERA of 0.71 (one earned run over 12 1/3 innings) over his three outings in May, two of which have been starts.
• Catcher/first baseman Axiel Plaz (No. 28) entered the week hitting .308 (16-for-52) with three home runs over his last 15 games. He currently ranks sixth in the Florida State League in batting average (.298), tied for eighth in RBIs (20) and 10th in OPS (.835).
• Left-hander Garrett McMillan (not ranked) tossed five scoreless innings in his first appearance with Double-A Altoona. He has pitched to a 1.32 ERA over 34 innings with High-A Greensboro and Altoona this year, which is the second best ERA in the farm system (Hunter Barco has a 0.30 ERA). |
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