Diamondbacks plan to promote RHP prospect Drey Jameson

Jameson likely to make his MLB debut and first start tomorrow against the San Diego Padres.

© David Calvert - Calvert Photography

The Diamondbacks may be bringing up another one of their top pitching prospects this week, with Drey Jameson likely to get called up from AAA Reno. Jameson, 25, was added to the taxi squad today and could be in line to make his debut and first MLB start tomorrow against the San Diego Padres. Drafted by the D-backs 34th overall in 2019, Jameson has the type of stuff that fits either at the top of a rotation or the backend of a bullpen. He'd be the 4th player from that draft class to debut this season, following Tommy Henry, Corbin Carroll, and Ryne Nelson.

Jameson ranks 6th on our list of the Top 10 prospects in the Diamondbacks system.  He has a short and slender frame at 6'0" and 165 pounds and a violent delivery, both presenting significant reliever risk long term. So far in his ascension up the D-backs system those concerns have not manifested themselves, as Jameson has toned down the delivery in pro ball and hasn't shown any issues maintaining stuff in starts and over the course of a season. It also helps that he is insanely athletic, being named the Best Athlete in the system by Baseball America.

Jameson started the year with 4 starts in Amarillo, the last two allowing a combined 4 hits while striking out 17 hitters in 12 innings. He was then promoted to AAA Reno, where he's seen inconsistent bottom-line results. The long ball has bitten Jameson in Reno, with 21 home runs in 114 innings, but has posted a respectable 109/42 strikeout to walk ratio in AAA. Despite his surface numbers looking poor, he's actually shown enough development in Reno to warrant a potential call-up.

Jameson's 4-seamer averages around 97 MPH and he throws a sinker that sits in the mid 90s. This spring, he flashed 100+ in shorter bursts. He pairs that up the gas with a slider he manipulates the shape well, with Statcast potentially misclassifying some of them as cutters when it's a harder and more subtle break. He also has a curveball, which uses a similar grip to the slider but Jameson has worked on being able to differentiate it from his slider. He rounds it out with a changeup, which is seldom-used but an effective fourth offering. 

Bringing up Jameson allows the D-backs to get him some big league experience at the end of his protection year and give the organization a proper evaluation for this winter.