Pro Scouts who are able to accurately project whether a pitching prospect will have more value as a SP or RP long-term can give their organization a significant advantage when putting a value on a prospect. DL Hall is a good example of a pitching prospect with an electric, well-rounded arsenal whose FB command and overall control give many individuals concerns as to whether he’s capable of harnessing his stuff enough to be a starter.
Hall recently made his ML debut start for the Orioles on 8/13 and was optioned back to Norfolk the next day so that he could focus on transitioning to a relief role for Baltimore’s Wild Card push down the stretch. Bringing up a promising starting pitching prospect to use in the bullpen to both upgrade the club’s bullpen and dip a prospect’s toes into the waters isn’t a new concept, but bringing Hall up to make a start and then deciding to switch to relief after said start is something new.
Hall is a medium-framed southpaw with a lean, athletic frame that still has some room for adding additional strength in the future. He only threw about 30 innings in 2021 after an elbow injury but stuff wise, there doesn’t seem to be any lingering effects from that elbow issue.
Hall carried a 5.1 BB/9 throughout his nearly 300 innings of work so far in the Minors and much of that is due to his inability to square up his timing with his long arm stroke. There are no significant hitches or red flag attributes in his arm path other than his inability to sync it up with the rest of his delivery. Hall has plus deception in his delivery. He utilizes a crossfire stride from the 1B side of the rubber which creates an odd angle and look for RH batters, and a look every LH hitter dreads. Hall also gets above average extension out front upon release which obviously contributes to the fuzz that is present on his heater.
The bread and butter pitch in Hall’s arsenal is his four-seamer FB (93-96/T98) that not only has plus raw velocity on it, but also plus-plus carry through the zone. There’s no doubt it’s well below average command at present on the heater, but Hall isn’t really an arm that needs even average command due to the profile of the pitch. For me, Hall’s FB control is the variable I’m going to keep an eye on because he doesn’t have to be on the edges with this offering to beat batters. He goes through streaks of not being able to find the zone at all with his FB and has to go to a secondary pitch in hopes of regaining feel for the zone. When Hall is in the zone with the offering, he’s generating a lot of swing and miss and defensive swings due to the fuzz the offering has.
Here’s of an example of Hall beating Roman Quinn slightly elevated up in the zone in his ML debut last weekend:
Hall has two breaking balls in his arsenal, a CB (80-83) and an SL (86-89). In his ML debut, Hall’s SL had minimal depth and showed only average bite. However, in the 2022 Minor League starts I watched there’s more two-plane breakers with solid teeth shown. For me, it’s a consistent average offering in the future. The CB is a 1/7 shaped breaker that has depth and tightness to it. The CB sits around 2500 RPMs and plays especially well off elevated four-seamers, but it is an offering many RH batters seem to see pretty well. With his crossfire angle, it makes his CB especially tough to hit for LH batters.
The video on the left is an assortment of Hall’s CB’s from the 2022 season in the Minor Leagues and the video on the right showcases his SL.
He also features what I think is his best secondary pitch, a CH (83-86). I project his CH to be a plus pitch for him, and that’s due more to how well the offering plays off his four-seam than to the action the pitch possess. Hall sells the pitch very well by maintaining FB arm speed, and while most of the ones he throws are straight and lack action, he’ll flash some with bottom action to them. I’d like to see him throw it more frequently against LH batters, but there could be other variables at play I’m not aware of as to why he didn’t in my video looks. Minor League hitters have hit .092 against Hall’s CH this year to give some additional context to the quality of the pitch.
The video below on the left shows one of Hall’s CH’s that lacks movement, but generates a swing and miss due to other aspects of the offering. The video on the right is to show one of his CH’s that has slight bottom action to it as I mentioned above.
Hall projects to be a starter who isn’t going to take you past the fifth inning in most outings, but getting 4-5 innings out of him every fifth day is still more valuable than his likely potential as a top-shelf, high leverage reliever. Hall’s stuff is more than good enough to beat Major League hitters in the zone, but his ability to tame his stuff enough to do so is admittedly still a huge question mark going forward, and the likelihood of him ending up in the back-end of Baltimore’s bullpen long-term is very real. If Hall were a two-pitch mix arm with his control/command profile he’d absolutely be a bullpen bound arm in my eyes, but with his four average or better offerings and his athleticism, there’s very little downside in giving him every opportunity to be a starter. If he proves he is unable to be efficient enough to stick in a rotation, I think he has the floor of a high-leverage reliever.
FB Velo: 60/65
FB Life/Mvmnt: 70/70
FB Command: 30/35
Overall FB Quality: 55/60
CB: 50/55
SL: 45/50
CH: 55/60
Overall Control: 35/45
Delivery: 40/50
Arm Action: 40/40
Deception: 60/60
Athleticism: 60/60
Feel to Pitch: 30/40
Future Value: 60 (#3 Starting Pitcher)