Thatcher Hurd was selected out of LSU in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, and while the right-hander struggled with command in his time at Baton Rouge, his stuff really popped. Hurd displayed enticing velocity as a starter with good vertical life and tons of swing-and-miss potential, pairing it with a devastating pair of breaking balls that can rack up strikeouts.
The 22-year-old oozes potential and the Yankees have become a hotbed for pitching development in recent years. At LSU, Thatcher Hurd was an enticing pitcher who never lived up to the potential of becoming the consistent Friday starter that he displayed flashes of in his time there, but with the Yankees, he could become a star.
Yankees’ Thatcher Hurd Might Have a Dynamic Season in 2025
Thatcher Hurd posted a 6.55 ERA and walked 24 batters in 44 innings pitched, as poor command would bite him time and time again throughout his final season with the LSU Tigers. The right-hander didn’t have issues blowing hitters away when he could find the strike zone though, displaying a four-seam fastball that generated 17-18 inches of IVB while sitting in the 94-96 MPH range. His four-seamer is a big swing-and-miss weapon at the top of the zone, and his plus extension further plays up just how hard it can be for hitters to make contact with.
A good four-seam fastball sets the foundation for a great arsenal, and while the Yankees do a great job with developing velocity, I’m not sure Hurd is in need of more velocity as much as he may benefit from just maintaining it. College pitchers are not used to the workloads that they deal with at the professional level, and if the Yankees can help Thatcher Hurd stay healthy throughout the 2025 season while keeping his fastball at 94-96, that’s a huge win. In a start against TSU earlier this season, he pitched in Minute Maid Park, which gave us more accurate readings for his pitch data.
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His fastball pops due to its lateral and vertical movement, with so much total movement that some of his four-seamers were tagged as sinkers. Thatcher Hurd can throw a sinker, but his four-seamer has a ton of tailing action, and from a wider release point than the average for a right-handed pitcher, it can provide a unique look that batters struggle with. A big reason for his success also has to do with his breaking balls, with his slider and curveball serving as devastating weapons that can post high Whiff% numbers at the professional level.
Thatcher Hurd’s slider has good two-plane movement, almost being a baby sweeper that can generate a sharp horizontal approach angle if he throws it more to the first-base side of the plate. Breaking ball command is just as important as movement, and if the Yankees can cue Hurd to throw his slider in the parts of the zone where he’ll have the most success, batters will chase and whiff a ton against it. His curveball has good two-plane movement as well with tons of spin, and it results in some gaudy Stuff+ scores.
His performance in the 2023 College World Series made him a household name in the college world, but 2024 wasn’t the kind of year that people were hoping for and that led to the Yankees nabbing him in the third round. There was real helium here for Hurd to go in the first round a year ago today, but perhaps developing at the next level is exactly what he needs to have his stock soar again. Thatcher Hurd’s ability to generate spin and velocity is something you can’t teach, but command and mechanical consistency are things the Yankees can teach.
Count leverage matters a lot in baseball, and if Thatcher Hurd can figure out how to attack early in counts with his fastballs to get ahead, he’ll put hitters in situations where they’ll expand the zone more often. With his devastating slider and curveball, Hurd can put guys away in advantageous counts without grinding through five or six pitch at-bats, and that ends up being the difference between a fringe MLB reliever and a quality MLB starter. When you give the Yankees an arm that has 60-70 grade stuff, special things can end up happening, and I think Thatcher Hurd will pop in 2025.