The Dynasty Digest: April 11, 2025

Happy Friday folk, it is almost the weekend! Minor League Ball feels like it is in full swing, and there is plenty to talk about. I have been around the ballpark regularly since the start of the Minor League season and will even have some amateur looks this weekend covering some high school prospects for the MLB Draft.

But first, let’s recap what happened across the entire landscape of pro baseball yesterday. If you are unfamiliar with the Dynasty Digest, it is a daily newsletter covering the previous days’ action. While the main focus is usually Minor League Baseball, I will also be hitting on MLB performances to know as well. 

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Each day, I will pick a hitter and pitcher who stands out and deserves the top spot on the sheet. Those player’s reports will be free for all to read. The rest will be paywalled for Dynasty Dugout Subscribers. The article is around 3000 words, giving you detailed player reports to encapsulate everything you need to know.

Alex Clemmey, LHP, Washington Nationals, 19, A+

Clemmey was a dog on the mound on Thursday night! After getting the ball on High-A Opening Day last Friday and walking five batters in three innings, he bounced back in a big way. Five innings of one-hit ball for Clemmey, who struck out ten batters and allowed just two walks.

Landing 61 percent of his pitches for strikes, Clemmey generated 11 whiffs and posted a 39 percent CSW. The slider was dominant as Clemmey threw it to both lefties and rights, and his fastball was dominant up in the zone. Watch the video below and see how fooled several of these hitters were.

Clemmey’s arsenal starts with a fastball in the mid-90s with nearly ten inches of arm-side movement and average IVB. He reached 98 mph this season and still has plenty of projection left on his frame.

The slider sits in the mid-80s, generating very high whiff rates. The pitch gets late depth and sweep. The horizontal movement on some of these pitches that Clemmey threw on Thursday had an insane amount of glove-side movement. I can’t wait to get the pitch-level data here. The changeup is firmer, sitting at 88 mph, and gets high amounts of whiffs.

Jimmy Crooks, C, St. Louis Cardinals, 23, AAA

Crooks was cooking on Thursday, collecting three hits and ending the day just a triple shy of the cycle and driving in six runs in the process. Striking out in the first inning, Crooks shook it off and nearly collected an opposite hit that was struck 89 mph off the bat and traveled 297, and was robbed of a hit by a good play on Mike Antico.

In the sixth inning, Crooks pulled a deep fly to right that landed on the warning track for a double on a 101 mph exit velocity. A seventh-inning single left the bat at 99 mph, and Crooks returned to the plate in the ninth inning in a 5-3 game and broke it open with a three-run home run.

Crooks is not lighting the world on fire, but he has a .286/.333/.536 slash with two home runs and three extra-base hits. The under-the-hood data does look good in a small sample, as Crooks is rocking a 105 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and an 85 percent zone-contact rate.

One of the more underrated catchers in the minors, Crooks slashed .321/.410/.498 slash line with 11 home runs in Double-A in 2024. Crooks missed a chunk of time at both the beginning and end of the 2024 season, but when he was on the field, he was highly productive. 

The Cardinals have a lot of catching talent in their system, but Crooks might be the best of the group. He is a skilled bat who threw out 33 percent of attempted base stealers. I am watching Crooks very closely this year.

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