2023 Cleveland Guardians Top Prospects #56 LHP Will Dion: Scouting Report
2023 Cleveland Guardians Top Prospects #56 LHP Will Dion: Scouting Report
Dion racked up impressive numbers in his first full season of pro ball between Low-A and High-A using a deeper arsenal of pitches and control.
Will Dion Info:
Age: 23
Acquired: 2021 Draft, 9th round
2022 Level: Low-A/High-A
Height: 5’10
Weight: 180
Throws: Left
2022 Stats:
GS: 25
IP: 128
ERA: 2.11
K/BB: 154/37
K%/BB%: 31%/6.7%
FIP: 3.16
WHIP: 1.10
Pitches/Grades
Fastball: 40 - (86-88;t90)
Curve: 55 - (76-77)
Slider: 45 - (80-83)
Build & Background:
Dion is on the smaller, more compact size for a pitcher. He doesn’t have the traditional size of a starting pitcher, but he’s not far off in stature from Guardians pitching prospects like Xzavion Curry and Logan Allen, who all haven’t had their size deter their success. You’ll notice Dion’s delivery is as close to a carbon copy as you will see to Clayton Kershaw’s mechanics, something he did to help with his pace and control. Dion was one of the Guardians 19 pitchers taken in the 2021 draft, and one of the few that actually pitched in 2021, briefly. He spent all but two of his starts in 2022 at Single-A Lynchburg with good results. Cleveland plucked Dion out of a small Division I school, McNeese State.
What Dion does well
By grade alone, Dion’s curveball is probably his best asset and pitch, but it’s his control and full arsenal that creates the package for him. His fastball, through well below average velocity, has carry and ride thanks to a high arm slot and unique release. The fastball and curveball play well off of each other thanks to the high release. Dion also improved his changeup from college and that helped him keep hitters off his curveball that comes with his scouting report. He has good control of his four pitches. His changeup gets just enough separation from his fastball despite the velocity. Dion also fields his position well.
Where Dion needs to improve
Dion can’t improve his frame, but he can get strong. What that really coincides with is Dion’s fastball velocity. A pitcher with his arsenal and control has a good floor and can shoot up the rankings with improved fastball velocity. Aside from a non-traditional stature for a starting pitcher, he’s athletic enough to make it work. But to work as a starter, his velocity in the mid-to-high 80s, topping out at 90-91 leaves him with little room for error. In college, he showed a little more velocity and the challenge for him to be able to stick in a bigger role as a starter is finding it again while pitching every five days.
Intangibles
The Kershaw-like mechanics for Dion came out of a coaching suggestion to help him with his control as an amateur. Kershaw’s mechanics aren’t exactly basic. So that Dion took to coaching to give this a shot, and was able to pull it off mechanically speaking, suggests that Dion is more than able to take to coaching and has a good degree of athleticism. Those are two good qualities to start with. He was acutely aware that hitters would be looking for his big curveball and also was able to take to scouting reports and coaching to sequence around that. Dion is certainly a pitcher, and not just a thrower.
Future
Unless at age 23, Dion finds two or three more inches of height and two more LBs, his stature will continue to be something that is looked at with regard to his long term future as a starter. Again, pitchers like Xzavion Curry and Logan Allen have been able to vault themselves through the system despite smaller statures. However, both throw 91-94. So Dion needs to prove he can sit in the low-90s at the least as a starter going forward to continue in the future as a starter. Given his arsenal and control, he’ll probably continue as a starter in the meantime anyway. What he has now should work in High-A and then Double-A will likely tell how far it carries him without an uptick in velocity. Added velocity could take his ceiling to something as a sixth starter/swingman role, and where he is now, more of a system depth arm or would see him shift to a bullpen role that could help his velocity and perhaps he could find something of an Eli Morgan type future, who also has a smaller frame, lower velocity, but plus control and an above average secondary to fall back on.
Role: 35 - Swingman/depth starter