Yes, it seems the career of a left-handed pitcher never ends, especially one with a nasty slider. For Dalton Moats, his career took a step up on Saturday when he was signed by the Cubs and assigned to the Tennessee Smokies after spending the last year in the American Association playing for the Kansas City Monarchs.
BASIC INFO
Height – 6-foot-3
Weight – 210 pounds
Age – 28
Throws – Left
Colleges – Coastal Carolina and Delta State
From – Kansas City
Drafted by Tampa Bay Rays in Round 15 in 2016 out of Delta State
Moats’ story begins way back in 2014 as a freshman at Coastal Carolina. It did not go well as he made 10 starts with a 6.46 ERA and he only struck out 12 in 39 innings. He did not return to the Chanticleers roster in 2017. In fact, he did pitch anywhere in 2015.
Moats popped up at Delta State in 2016 and was very good in 16 starts. He tossed 112 frames with 115 Ks and an ERA of 2.65. As well, he only walked 25. That was quite the turnaround and was good enough to get him drafted in the 15th round by the Rays.
He played rookie ball that first year and got in 20 more innings with a 2.40 ERA, all in relief at Princeton in the Appy League.
In his first full year as a pro in 2018, Moats mowed through two levels. He was dominant in relief at Bowling Green, then Low-A. In 12 games, he hurled 12 games with a total of 27 Ks in 22.1 innings. That got him a bump to High-A Charlotte where continued to pitch well in 62.1 more innings with 65 Ks and a 2.21 ERA.
And then came AA Montgomery in 2019. It did not go well as his ERA was over 5.
Then in an instant, everything changed when he was sent to the Arizona Fall League and he just shoved. He got in 7 games, threw 10.2 frames and struck out 15 while posting an ERA of 0.84!
Things were looking up!
In 2019, he returned to Montgomery and improved with a 3.17 ERA and then he never pitched in 2020 because of COVID.’
When baseball resumed in 2021, he spent the better part of 2 seasons trying to get over that Triple-A hump to get to the majors but did not get there… After season ERAs of 5.52 and 3.60, Moats and the Rays parted ways.
Moats tried the Twitter route before landing with Kansas City as previously mentioned.
In 2023, he started 13 games for the Monarchs with a 4.61 ERA and struck out 57 in 66.1 IP. This year, he was back and only made one start going 5 innings, allowing 1 run, and striking out 4.
What his role is going to be going forward is unsure. He’s basically a two-pitch guy with a fastball-slider combo with his fastball sitting in the low 90s. He will throw an infrequent change. But that slider, as seen in all the videos above, is nasty, especially up in the zone!
Full article can be found at: https://northsidebound.com/2024/05/22/prospect-profile-dalton-moats-and-his-slider-find-a-home-in-part-2-of-todays-profile-frenzy/