Tyler Danish heads into this spring as the Chicago White Sox’ fifth overall prospect currently, with an opportunity to showcase his abilities as a non-roster invitee to the teams spring training when they report on February 19. The 21 year-old right-hander is regarded as one of the top pitching prospects in the White Sox system behind Carson Fulmer and Spencer Adams. Danish was selected by the White Sox in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of High School (Durant, HS – Plant City, FL).
Danish spent his first two seasons in the organization splitting time between Bristol, Kannapolis, and Winston-Salem where he compiled some very impressive numbers, pretty much breezing thro
ugh A ball as a 19 year old. He compiled an 8-3 record with an 2.98 ERA over his time with those teams. To go along with those impressive numbers he also had 103 Ks, while only allowing 33 walks.
While those numbers are very impressive, Danish was not able to translate that success into his first season at the Double-A level with the Birmingham Barons. Danish made 26 starts for Birmingham in 2015 struggling to command the strike zone for much of the year. Danish walked 60 batters in 2015 after walking 33 in the previous two seasons combined. Danish walked 3.8 BB/9 in 2015 which largely led to his inflated ERA of 4.50.
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To this point Danish has been a starter throughout his career, but some scouts look at him to become a reliever eventually either as a result of, or to prevent injuries due to his low 3/4 release point. A delivery much like former White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy, who as we know went through Tommy John surgery largely due to his delivery. While his delivery is a small concern for scouts, they also say that his odd delivery gives his pitches some special movement. Danish has a low nineties fastball with excellent sinking movement, a good slider, and a change-up that has drawn some excellent reviews.
Danish is a 21 year-old with good potential to be a middle of the rotation starting pitcher, or maybe even a solid middle relief pitcher. While Danish will repeat Double-A in 2016 after a rocky first year at that level, there is plenty of upside for the young right-hander being much younger than the average aged player at the Double-A level. Danish needs to build some more body muscle and increase the velocity on his fastball, and work on his poor numbers against left-handed hitters in 2016.