2023 Cleveland Guardians prospect scouting report: #42 RHP Davis Sharpe
The former two way player has a standout slider, good control, and has the potential to move quickly as an interesting reliever
Build & Background
Sharpe was a two way play at Clemson, playing both third base and pitching. He was previously drafted (2018, 34th round) by Pittsburgh out of high school and didn’t sign. He’s tall and lean with a good pitchers frame. Long legs and high waisted. Long levers should help him as a pitcher. Some room to add strength.
What Sharpe does well
Sharpe’s slider is his ticket right now. It has good, late break with a sweeping motion. It gets chases out of the zone ad he can throw it for a strike, or throw it like it’s going to be a strike and lets it sweep out of the zone. He’s got good control of all of his pitches, especially the fastball ans slider. His long levers and extension in his delivery should give him some deception on the fastball and other pitches. As a potential four pitch reliever, and his build and athleticism, he could be a multi inning relief type.
Where Sharpe needs to improve
While he has good control of the pitch and gets a good angle on it, with deception from his length, Sharpe could use a velo bump to the mid-90s. It would take his arsenal to another level, especially if applied to his other pitches. He could use more consistent shape on his cutter. He has a changeup but it was minimally used as a pro in 2022 and if he continues to a relief role, he could ditch it. There’s room to add strength and that could be where the velocity comes from.
Intangibles
As a former two way player, Sharpe has shown plenty of athleticism in his career. It takes a lot of work to be a two way player in college, so it’s a safe to say Sharpe isn’t afraid to put in the work off the field to being better and if he’s focusing on pitching, that could translate well for him.
Future
Sharpe is an interesting arm to sort of dream on as a reliever. The slider is there for a useful big league arm, along with the control. Cleveland’s pitching factory could help him add some velo and he could take off as a reliever and make this ranking look low. Even with his current velocity, if he maintains his control from 2022, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be a big league reliever someday soon. IThe velocity could just be the difference between being just a solid low leverage type reliever and a possible impact set up type arm or multi inning relief arm.
Role: 40 - low leverage relief/long relief
