Cole Waites, RHP
DOB: 6/10/1998
BATS: R  /  THROWS: R
ACQUIRED: Drafted 2019, 18th Round
LAST LEVEL: MLB
VOLATILITY: Mild

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GiantFutures 2023 Ranks: #9 Overall, #1 Relief Pitcher

2022 Performance: After missing half of 2021 due to knee surgery, Cole Waites shot up the system, going up four levels and ending the season with his MLB debut.  Waites started his season in Eugene, and he started it poorly, giving up four runs in his first appearance, and one run in his second.  He then went unscored upon for his next 11 appearances in High-A, finishing his run with a 3.55 ERA and a crazy 27 strikeouts to four walks in 12.2 innings.

Waites was promoted to Richmond in early June, and spent most of the season there, being a little more challenged.  He appeared in 18 games, with a 1.71 ERA, and collected 38 strikeouts to 15 walks in 21.0 innings, and holding hitters to a .162 batting average.  In late August, Waites went up to Triple-A Sacramento, where he had a total of seven games with a 0.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts to three walks in 8.0 innings.  He got a late September callup to the bigs, where he mostly stayed the rest of the season, posting a 3.18 ERA with four strikeouts to four walks in 5.2 innings.  Overall in the season, he threw 41.2 innings in 38 games, after having thrown just 30.2 innings combined in his previous two seasons played (2021 and 2019).

In the minors, Waites was pretty even with his splits, as he had a .580 OPS against left-handers, and a .549 OPS against right-handers.

Strengths and Weaknesses: Waites has one of the best fastballs in the system, which some people grade as a true 80-grade pitch.  It’s a high spin pitch, but despite it sitting in the high-90s, it has a lot of life and gets a lot of whiffs.  He pairs it with a high spin slider in the mid-80’s that also gets a lot of strikeouts.  That is a closer’s mix of pitches.

Waites’ biggest achilles heel is, just like many flamethrowers, is his control.  Waites improved his control for this season, but he struggled at times, averaging 4.8 walks every nine innings in the minors.  His control will be the determining factor for how far he can go.

2023 Outlook: His MLB cameo aside, Waites will go to the challenging Pacific Coast League, where more experienced hitters will try to take advantage of his control problems, but Waites could be on the road to the big leagues this season, if his control does well.

Future Profile: Waites has the profile to be a closer, but needs to improve his control to reach that ceiling, and there is a significant amount of work still to go on that.  But Waites looks like a major leaguer regardless, he just might be used more as a late-but-not-final-inning reliever if his control continues to come and go.