Moises Chace, RHP, Orioles
In Baltimore’s first international signing class under general manager Mike Elias and vice president of international scouting Koby Perez, the Orioles signed a group of intriguing pitchers. One of them was Chace, a 6-foot righthander from Venezuela who had reached 93 mph, paired it with a high-spin curveball and showed good pitchability for his age. Now a 20-year-old in High-A Aberdeen, Chace’s stuff has ticked up and he’s off to an excellent start with eight scoreless innings and a 15-2 K-BB mark.
He can run his fastball up to 96 mph with good carry, getting a lot of swing-and-miss on that pitch this season, along with a high-spin slider at 2,700-2,900 rpm. His most effective pitch has been a lively, tailing changeup with more than 10 mph of separation off his fastball that has piled up whiffs. In one at-bat against Nationals lefthanded-hitting outfielder Jared McKenzie, Chace fell behind 1-0 with a fastball, then threw three straight changeups with empty swings on each one. Chace struggled with his control last year—he walked 53 in 68 innings—but there’s a starter pitch mix here if he can continue throwing strikes the way he has in his first two starts.