Kyle Harrison, LHP
DOB: 8/12/2001
BATS: R / THROWS: L
ACQUIRED: Drafted 2020, 3rd Round
LAST LEVEL: Double-A
VOLATILITY: Mild
GiantFutures 2023 Ranks: #1 Overall, #1 Starting Pitcher
2022 Performance: After having a great 2021 pro debut, Kyle Harrison absolutely blew away everyone with his 2022, starting with the Northwest League.
Harrison made a huge impression when he started the season at Eugene, as through seven games, he struck out 59 batters in 29.0 innings, literally striking out half of the batters he faced with Eugene, and he earned a late May promotion to Double-A Richmond. All but one of the eight runs (five earned) that Harrison allowed with Eugene came down to one game where he was under the weather. He finished in Eugene with a 1.55 ERA and allowing just a .179 batting average to opposing hitters.
Harrison stumbled a little bit early in the start of his Double-A run, with his ERA spiking to 7.71 in the second game. He whittled down that ERA all the way down to 2.56 before it bounced back up a bit, finishing with a 3.11 ERA at Richmond. At Double-A, he finished with 127 strikeouts to 39 walks in 84.0 innings, and allowing a .201 batting average.
Harrison had interesting splits on the season, as the southpaw allowed more hits to left-handed batters, with a .239 batting average to a .179 average against right handers. However, Harrison allowed 12 of his 13 home runs to right handers, which meant righties slugged .333 to lefties slugging just .310. These splits kept the pattern up from his first pro season.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Harrison dominates with his fastball, which sits in the mid-90’s and cuts across the zone, baffling hitters. He got swings and misses on his fastball 40.5% of the time, a crazy thing for fastballs and the most of anyone in the minors. He pairs it with a slider that’s just as good, sitting in the low-80’s and dives away from left-handed hitters.
A big part of Harrison’s 2022 season was working on his changeup, which has improved a lot but still has work to do, to help keep the home runs off the bats of right-handed hitters. Harrison also struggles with control sometimes, as pitchers with 3/4s deliveries often do, but it’s unlikely to get much sharper. Luckily, he’s got the stuff that it doesn’t have to.
2023 Outlook: Sacramento is Harrison’s near future, though perhaps not for too long. Harrison has become one of the team’s most exciting prospects, and fans are ready to see what he does in San Francisco. There’s still a little polish to put on, so don’t expect him up until after midseason, but 2023 should be his Major League debut.
Future Profile: Harrison is a rare pitcher who has clear front-of-the-rotation ceiling. If he can’t get his changeup to improve and doesn’t tighten his control, there’s a bit of a downside, whether it be deeper in a rotation, or becoming a dominating two-pitcher reliever. But Harrison looks more like a ceiling player than a floor pitcher coming into this season.
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