Nick Yorke, Deyvison De Los Santos Headline 10 Trade Deadline Statcast Standouts (2024)

Deyvison De Los Santos, 1B, Marlins

Traded from the D-backs to the Marlins

Why would the D-backs trade a young player that has already hit 30 home runs this season? Let’s take a look:

A lot of purple on the left side of these charts shows a player doesn’t have good plate discipline and contact metrics. De Los Santos chases a lot, against basically every pitch type, and he does a poor job making contact against those pitches. That’s a recipe for a ton of strikeouts. When he does connect, he’s going to do a lot of damage, but major league pitchers just won’t throw him any strikes. We’ll see if he can refine his approach, or turn into a 30-homer, sub-.300 OBP guy, likely ticketed for first base.

Agustin Ramirez, C Marlins

Traded from the Yankees to the Marlins

Ramirez ranked as the best prospect traded at the trade deadline. However, he has struggled somewhat in his first stop at Triple-A compared to his monstrous run at Double-A. His exit velocity metrics are down compared to what he showed in the Florida State League last year, though still hover around MLB average. I was expecting to see scintillating Statcast data for Ramirez. However, his early run at Triple-A suggests that he’ll need an adjustment period. We’ll keep an eye on him and see if his underlying data start looking like his earlier numbers, or if he’ll be close to an average power, average contact hitter against better pitching. That’s still a good outcome, but will bring the defense into question more.

Will Klein, RHP, Athletics

Traded from the Royals to the Athletics

Klein’s four-seam fastball is his signature pitch. It only gets slightly above-average ride, but it plays up because of his velocity, which averages 97 mph and has touched 99.9 mph. Here’s roughly how the value of his fastball breaks down, according to SMOKE, a system I developed to estimate the components of fastball quality.

We see that Klein’s velo is always there for him, worth roughly 0.4 runs per 100 pitches, but his net vertical break can waver.

Hunter Bigge, RHP, Rays

Traded from the Cubs to the Rays

Bigge generated the bulk of his fastball value from his big-time velocity before the Rays got their hands on him. Let’s take a look at his data before the trade:

Note how the fastball’s ride is mostly clustered around the expected line, giving him about average value from fastball shape. Contrast that to his three games with Tampa Bay:

Let’s break down the changes, which are quite substantial:

• IVB on the four-seam fastball up around 1.5 inches. That’s a significant amount of ride. That increases the value of the pitch by roughly 0.25 runs per 100 pitches.
• Slider velocity increased by roughly 1 mph. This may be noise, but worth tracking.
• Sweeper gained four inches of sweep, which makes it a substantially better pitch.

In short, the Rays took a reliever that wasn’t being optimized very well, but had big time velo, and immediately improved his fastball shape, sweeper shape, and boosted his slider velocity. Rays doing Rays things.

Jake Bloss, RHP and Joey Loperfido, 1B/OF Blue Jays

Traded from the Astros to the Blue Jays

I like Bloss’ fastball shape. It gets plenty of ride compared to his arm slot. He shows an inconsistent sweeper, but the gyro slider has some promise. The changeup is inconsistent as well:

He has a huge 12-6 curveball that fits nicely into his arsenal, and it’s a decent whiff pitch for him. I think he needs more time to refine his pitches in Triple-A, but he looks like a No. 3 or No. 4 starter with at least four viable pitches, potentially five if the sweeper can get more sweep.

Loperfido is a very good hitter, limiting chase, and hitting the ball harder than the MLB average while he was in Triple-A. However, he has struggled in his first taste of the big leagues:

He’s chasing a lot more and struggling to make contact when he chases. However, he makes a good amount of contact in the zone, and he’s getting the ball in the air. Once he adjusts to major league breaking balls, he looks like he could be an average or better bat. Neither Bloss nor Loperfido project to be game-changing talents, but they should provide a lot of value over the next few years.

Connor Norby, 2B, Marlins

Traded from the Orioles to the Marlins

Let’s compare Norby in 2023 to Norby in 2024:

We see a slightly improved chase rate, but significant regression in contact and zone contact. It looks like he worked to improve his quality of contact, increasing his launch angles and exit velocities. He’s likely maxed out in terms of what he’s going to be. Perhaps he’ll find another gear now that he has a realistic pathway to playing time.

Niko Kavadas, 1B, Angels

Traded from the Red Sox to the Angels

Sometimes, a chart paints a really clear picture. Kavadas has pure gold for the chase metrics, rarely chasing pitches. It comes at the clear expense of his aggression, as he doesn’t swing at zoned pitches very often. The contact quality is fantastic, but his contact metrics are so poor, his ultra-passive approach might be what he needs to succeed. He just needs to punish enough in-zone pitches to keep pitchers honest. If he can, Kavadas may ascend as the New Greek God of Walks.