One aspect of the MLB Draft League that sets itself apart from other collegiate summer leagues is its implementation of technology and data. With the help of each team’s data coordinators, prospects of the league have information and analytics available in real-time to help evaluate, scout and develop their tools and game while it's distributed to the 30 Major League teams. The final week of the season is here as teams compete for the Draft League Championship, and here are our picks for this week’s data darlings.

OF Chase Nixon, Mahoning Valley

When talking about the most prominent and consistent hitters in the Draft League, Nixon is a name that has to come up. Batting .366 with a .971 OPS across 34 Draft League games, he consistently gets on base with a .483 OBP and 25 walks. He currently leads the team in hits, doubles, average, OBP, SLG and OPS, and is second in many other categories. His metrics that have led to his on-base ability stand out even more, with a 10% K% compared to a 16% BB%, and an 84% contact rate. He has dominated right-handed pitching, posting a .500 wOBA and a 24% hard hit rate, while only striking out 8.5% of the time.

OF Marcus Brodil, Williamsport

Brodil has been an excellent power bat for the Crosscutters and even become one of the most powerful bats across the league. He has accumulated 35 hits in his 37 Draft League games, 12 of those being extra base hits. He leads the team in home runs and triples, and is second in runs batted in with 24. Brodil also excels at drawing walks, as he has a team second best 21 walks, with a .382 OBP and a .817 OPS. He is able to get on base as well as he does by reducing bad swings. With only a 22% Chase% and a 77% Contact%, Brodil is able to get the pitch he wants and do damage. His 14% Barrel% and 27% Hard-Hit% are both excellent and give way to his Draft League-leading 93-mph average exit velocity.

1B Donovan Cash, Trenton

When the calendar flipped from July to August, Cash kicked into a higher gear with improvements in nearly every category with an even larger sample size. While averaging a hit per game to open the second half, the first baseman was only slashing .250/.325/.250 with a .575 OPS. Since then, in the 19 games of August, Cash is hitting .386 with a .901 OPS and doubled his slug to .514. He’s done so by cutting down on chase which has helped limit his strikeouts while tapping into some of his top 20 power. During July, Cash was chasing at pitches 23.8% of the time with a whiff rate of 25.3, cutting to 20.7% (Chase%) and his whiff rate in half to 12.9% in August. With the improved discipline and awareness, he went from striking out 17.5% of the time to 10.7% over the last month. Hard contact was still there for Cash with a July average exit velocity of 86.6 mph (101.8-mph max) and Hard-Hit rate of 31%, but when he began to earn extra bases in a 27-for-70 stretch, he raised his Hard-Hit rate to 38.5% with his current maximum exit velocity of 106.2 mph.

RHP Josh Leerssen, Williamsport

Leerssen made his transition into the Crosscutters starting rotation in August and has been able to showcase swing-and-miss stuff out of the zone with a true three-pitch mix. Striking batters out 23.4% of the time, the right-hander out of Samford has seen chases at a 26.2% clip with a whiff rate of 27.8%. Leading his arsenal with a 90-mph fastball, it spins at an elevated rate of 2453 rpm on average, helping it carry at 19.9” IVB with armside movement of 8.5”. Leerssen keeps it away from the heart of the plate better than most and paints the edges with a 39% Shadow%, resulting in an arsenal-leading 28.9% Chase%. He’ll follow the heater by dropping 10 mph for an 81-mph curveball that spins at 2306 rpm with tight movement of -4.1” HB with -5.9” IVB. Leerssen rounds out his offerings with an 84-mph changeup that spins at 1868 rpm with 9.6” IVB and 9” HB. While it generates the least share of swings, it’s been whiffed at the most at a 42.3% overall clip and in-zone 35% of the time. Thrown for strikes only 50% of the time, it still showed great effect with a 25% Put Away rate and has the highest strikeout rate to his other two pitches at 28.6%.

RHP Davis Smith, Frederick

Smith locked things down out of the Keys bullpen throughout August, allowing just one earned run across 13 innings of work. The former Georgia Southern right-hander works with a three-pitch mix consisting of a fastball, slider and changeup. Smith works off the fastball that averages 94.4 mph and gets ahead with it, boasting a Strike% of 68.1% and utilizing it on the first pitch 67.4% of the time. Opposing hitters whiff on the fastball 31% of the time and chase 28.3% of the time. The slider is the separator for Smith with shorter shape at 2.8” IVB, -3.7” HB and generates a Whiff% of 45.7%. The pitch averages 86.2 mph and is difficult to hit in zone with a Z-Whiff% of 40.9% and Put Away% 32.4%. These two quality pitches, along with his ability to locate them, have made Smith tough down the stretch with a 0.69 ERA in August, along with 17 strikeouts to five walks.

RHP Wes Burton, West Virginia

Burton was mighty tough on hitters this past month and boasted some of the best numbers among relievers in the entire league, leading the three saves in August. Before even getting into his stuff, the Black Bears right-hander stands at 6-foot-8, 230-pounds, allowing his stuff to get on top of hitters with seven feet, one inch of extension. Burton comes at you with a five-pitch mix, but it’s heavy on the fastball-changeup combination, utilizing the two over 95% of the time. The fastball averages 92.2 mph and creates good ride with an average of 20.3” IVB and 5.5” HB on the pitch, helping generate whiffs up in the zone with a Whiff rate of 37.3% and Put Away% of 34.1%. The changeup at 82.3 mph has been devastating on hitters, generating whiffs 54.5% of the time. The pitch is difficult in-zone, as well, with a Z-Whiff% of 41.7% and works as the put away pitch with a 40% Put Away%. Burton’s changeup possesses an equal amount of horizontal action and drop at -8.4” IVB and 8.9” HB. The fastball/changeup combination has led to some impressive strikeout numbers this month with 20 strikeouts over eight innings, surrendering just six walks and one earned run.

RHP Jeff Heinrich, State College

Heinrich has struck out 31 over 19 2/3 second half innings for the Spikes, along with an impressive .164 batting average against. The 6-foot-4, 187-pound right-hander has been especially difficult on right-hander hitters with a 0% Barrel% this summer, but Heinrich actually strikes out left-handed hitters at a higher clip. The Spikes reliever works with a fastball, curveball and slider, and misses bats in the zone with an overall Z-Contact% of 75.8%. Heinrich works off the fastball that sits at 93.1 mph, topping out at 96 mph, and the pitch effectively creates groundballs and whiffs with a 55.2% GB% and 25.5% Whiff%. The former Loyola Marymount Lion utilizes both the curveball and slider roughly 21% of the time and the curveball generates groundballs at a high-rate, while the slider generates whiffs and chase at a high-rate. The curveball at 78.1 mph (-10” IVB/-10.7” HB) creates groundballs 60% of the time and opposing hitters are batting just .083 against it. The slider creates heavy sweeping action at 83.6 mph and has -10.4 inches of horizontal break to just -1.7 inches of induced vertical break. The slider has a Whiff% of 41.9%, Chase% of 41.9% and Z-Whiff% of 28%. Heinrich put together a strong month of August with a 2.77 ERA and 22 strikeouts over 13 innings.

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