Sawyer Gipson-Long Prospect Report:

Physical Description and Background: Gipson-Long came over from the Minnesota Twins in the Michael Fulmer trade in 2022. He was originally drafted in the 6th round (179th overall) in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Mercer College. He stands at 6’4′ 225lb with wide shoulders with muscular thighs and legs. Long throws in a low three-quarters arm slot with a smooth long, loose arm action as he throws cross his body.  He features a fastball, slider, and a change but has recently developed a cutter that helped increase his strikeout numbers.

Fastball-40

Long’s fastball sits 92-94 that generates a lot of groundballs to the tune of 40% in his time in Erie and now Toledo. The reason for this is that it has a natural tail and sink to the pitch. The pitch serves to draw contact but a recent development of a cutter. This has helped glove-side lateral movement. As a result, his strikeouts have increased and gives a different look than his slider.

Slider-50

Long’s slider is his best pitch that sits around 82-84 with good, late breaking action. This is a good chase pitch as it has good sweeping action against righties and can bury on the back foot of lefties. Shows consistent command with the pitch.

Change-50

His change has late dive and tumble action in the zone and quite effective when he can keep it down in the zone. Good fade action and is able to keep the same arm speed and slot with the pitch.

Overall

Sawyer Gipson-Long has made significant strides this season to be a better overall pitcher. With his cutter added to the mix, Gipson-Long as stated earlier, has gone from a K/9 of 8 to just over 10 and half in Erie. He is Rule 5 eligible this season, giving Detroit plenty to consider as either a 4th or 5th starter or a long man out of the bullpen.  Both his slider and changeup set up the ability to get his fastball over. Now, he just needs to make sure it can on the next level.