This guy is gonna rise fast up prospect rankings if he keeps this up.
I'm looking forward to mid-season updates, or, in the case of Fangraphs, their 2024 report on the system. Lara was kind of heralded but really hasn't shown much results until this year. I even think he was exposed to Rule 5 and no one took him.
I'll be curious how hard the Nats push him this year. He's gone about 100 innings in 2022 and 2023, and 43 so far between A+ and AA (just 12.1 in Harrisburg). In 2022 and 2023, he was about 2:1 Ks to BBs, with 6 HBP each year. homer prone even in Wilmington in 2023 (11, or about 1 per 9 innings in league that's tough on power). this year, the K:BB is 52:14, or 3.5, so that's a big jump. xFIP so far this year is around 3.01/3.02 at both levels, which is more than a 2 run improvement from last year.
Longenhagen's report on the system last year had him out of the top 31, below a 35+, saying he lost velocity on his fastball, down to 92-93 from mid-90s. Curious what his velocity is looking like this year.