The former first-round pick has garnered some high praise in the dynasty world, especially heading into 2024, touted by some as a potential elite prospect. Perhaps 2024 had some undeserved results, but Petty seems far from polished enough to sniff the bigs. Previous looks have left me wondering about the quality of his fastball game. Don’t quote me, but I believe he had previously thrown a majority of sinkers. Petty’s first outing of 2025 saw four-seamers leading the fastball game. All the caveats apply…first outing of the season, young, weather, blah blah blah…the fastball game still leaves much to be desired.
This outing had its fair share of misfortunes but was also chock-full of poor execution. Both can exist at the same time. Cut up are the 24 fastballs he offered up, a little over a third of his pitches on the day. But you can see how this aspect of Petty’s game is not a feature, despite its praise and high grades handed out by some. There are legitimate reasons to question the quality and ability to use it well. And for an arm some have hopes of being top shelf…are we sure we aren’t stepping into the same pool of hope folks did with the Cole Winn and Mick Abel’s of recent past?