"Coming into the year, Didier Fuentes was mostly on potential breakout prospect lists, appearing near the back of a top ten or two, but he wasn't terribly well-known nationally. By the end of the year, he had made it through three minor league levels and made his major league debut. Those four big league appearances ... didn't go very well. But did I tell you that he just turned 20 in June?"
"Heading into the year, I imagine the organization really just wanted a healthy, successful season that was mostly at High-A and a few appearances at Double-A. He was 19 when the season started, so no one had any real big ideas. He wasn't projected to be useful in the majors, because, well, he was going to be a 20-year-old who hadn't pitched above A-ball yet."
"If you were just looking at ERAs for some unknown reason, you'd be underwhelmed. They were 5.54, 4.98, and 3.63 at various minor league stops before his ... *checks notes a couple of times* ... 13.85 ERA in MLB action. The peripherals, however, were much better. His strikeout rates were all about 30 percent in the minors, with the exception of Double-A where it was 25 percent. His walk rates didn't balloon, either."
Didier Fuentes, a right-handed pitcher signed for $75,000 in the 2022 international period, advanced rapidly from Low-A through three minor-league levels to reach the majors by season's end. The Braves managed his workload, allowing 75 innings in Low-A during his breakout 2024 season. Traditional ERAs through the minors (5.54, 4.98, 3.63) obscured stronger underlying metrics: roughly 30% strikeout rates in the minors (25% at Double-A) and stable walk rates. A late-season MLB promotion occurred amid numerous Atlanta injuries; his big-league results were shaky (13.85 ERA) but contextualized by his age and circumstances.
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