After a quick start in Delmarva, De León came crashing down in Aberdeen
Left-handed pitcher Luis De León was signed out of the Dominican Republic in December 2021 for just $30,000. He was 18 years old at the time and put in some time in the rookie leagues before arriving at Low-A Delmarva in July 2023, where he excelled.
He had an impressive full-season league debut in nine games with the Shorebirds. He struck out 31 and allowed just 17 hits in 26.1 innings. But just as he had in the rookie leagues, he struggled with walks. He issued 16 free passes, which is a whole lot. But still, he was just 20 years old with a mid-90s fastball that he can dial up to 98. That’s promise.
De León returned to Delmarva to begin the 2024 season and he looked like he had taken the next step. He made seven starts between April and mid-May and looked incredible. He dialed up his strikeouts, racking up 41 in just 28 innings. He cut his walks way down with just seven in that same time span. And when he wasn’t striking people out, he was getting groundouts like crazy. He pitched to a groundout rate of 62.7%. At just 21 years old, he looked like he had conquered Low-A.
Then he was promoted to Aberdeen and things went south in a hurry. All those walks he wiped out in Delmarva? They were back. His strikeout rate dropped to its lowest since he joined pro ball. And unlike every stop he’d made so far, batters finally started hitting against him.
In Aberdeen, De León walked 42 batters in 59.2 innings and had just two appearances in which he didn’t issue one. Usually it was a multi-walk affair as he walked at least three batters 10 times in 19 games. And it wasn’t the case that he started off poorly and improved. His walk issues plagued him for his entire time at at High-A.
The strikeouts dropoff is the same story as the walks: bad. He went from a 35.3% strikeout rate in Delmarva to 22.6% at Aberdeen. And as batters in High-A struck out less, they also hit the ball harder. He gave up more line drives than ever before. It was a disappointing turn of events for sure.
Disappointing, yes. But hardly a reason to give up. At just 21 years old, De León was a full two years younger than the average player at in the South Atlantic League. He’s a hard-throwing lefty who throws a fastball, slider, and changeup. He’s listed on MiLB.com as 6’3”, 168 pounds. It stands to reason that he’ll continue to add muscle which could help with his progression.
An 18-year-old kid who signs for $30K is a true lotto ticket, and for now the team is just waiting to see if he can live up his potential. He is currently ranked by MLB Pipeline as the #9 Orioles prospect, up from #13 at the start of the 2024 season. He is the team’s third-highest ranking pitching prospect and the only lefty thrower on the top 30.
With his disappointing progress in ‘24, De León will start 2025 right back at Aberdeen, where we’ll see if a year of experience and maturity will help him capture the magic that we saw when he was in Low-A to start the season.
Previous 2024 prospect reviews: Heston Kjerstad, Frederick Bencosme, Justin Armbruester, Leandro Arias, Brandon Young, Creed Willems, Trace Bright, Braylin Tavera, Michael Forret, Thomas Sosa, 2024 draft picks, Aron Estrada, Alex Pham
Tomorrow: Patrick Reilly