Kyson Witherspoon - Prospect Profile

Kiley McDaniel - ESPN - July 8th: "His shorter arm circle looks like Dylan Cease or Lucas Giolito, while his arsenal is very similar to Gage Wood (ranked below), with a four-seam fastball; hard cutter; and big, power curveball as their primary pitches. I tend to like betting on pitchers with athleticism, a hard-breaking pitch and an upward development trajectory, and Witherspoon fits."

MLB.com - July 1st: "Witherspoon has swing-and-miss stuff, starting with a mid-90s fastball that peaks at 99 mph and stands out more for its power than its modest life. His mid-80s slider can touch 91 mph while featuring both horizontal action and depth, and he'll turn it into an upper-80s cutter that he uses just as often."

Keith Law - The Athletic - July 1st: "He has such good arm speed on that last pitch that it looks like it should be a real weapon for him, especially against lefties, but he prefers to go to the cutter against them despite worse results. His arm action is very short — after separation, he barely brings his pitching hand down, tapping an imaginary button behind him with the ball before he begins moving forward — which is the trend right now but in his case has produced plus control."

Baseball America - June 25th: "Witherspoon is an athletic righthander with a 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame and an unconventional delivery that features a jerky, plunging action in the back of his arm stroke and a drop-and-drive lower half before he fires to the plate from a three-quarters slot. Witherspoon’s fastball sits in the 95-97 mph range and has been up to 99."

Tyler Jennings - Just Baseball - March 24th: "Kyson’s one-two punch with his fastball and slider is utterly dynamic. The heater holds station in the mid-90s and has reached upwards of 99 MPH with excellent life on the top rail of the strike zone, generating ridiculous cut/ride shape."

Prep Baseball Draft HQ - March 19th: "The Sooners righty is 5-0 this spring with a 1.91 ERA in 28.1 innings, and he’s punched out 47 batters against just six walks and 17 hits allowed. It’s 94-97 mph on a steep, carry fastball with a feel slider that’s been a go-to for him, as well as an interesting cutter, and he pitches with a ton of energy and competitiveness."

Carlos Collazo - Baseball America - March 10th: "So far, so good for Witherspoon. He owns a 1.17 ERA and 46% strikeout rate through his first four starts and 23 innings. Early this season, he’s dialed back his fastball and slider usage to show more of an arsenal, and his whiffs have gone up. He could easily go higher than this."

Keith Law - The Athletic - March 4th: "He’s sitting 96-97, up to 99, with two short but sharp breaking balls — they’re almost one pitch beyond about 3-4 mph in separation — working with a very short arm action. His changeup is his worst pitch, straight at 89-91 without a lot of feel, and he may have to work on that or try his seldom-used cutter to keep getting lefties out."

Kiley McDaniel - ESPN - February 21st: "Witherspoon is a riser who looked more like a reliever last season and into the summer, but has shown starter ability with some plus qualities early this spring."

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