Look at this career stat line:
1.92 ERA. 1.09 WHIP. A .197 batting average against. A stunning 310 strikeouts to just 114 walks over 90 appearances spanning 291.1 innings over parts of five seasons.
You would think you are looking at one of baseball’s finest pitching prospects, but you may be surprised to find out that it’s quite the opposite.
Those are the career numbers of little known New York Yankees left-handed prospect Dietrich Enns. Sure, the true minor league buff may know the name, but this is a guy who didn’t even crack most people’s Yankees Top 25 prospect lists. In fact, Enns slipped right through the Rule 5 Draft this past season.
Enns is a bit older than your traditional prospect, now 25-years old, but he has made both his Double-A and Triple-A debuts look quite easy. The 6-foot-1, 210 pound lefty was drafted by the Yankees in the 19th round of the 2012 MLB Draft out of Central Michigan where he was a reliever. Aside from a minor hiccup in his first taste of High-A ball, Enns has never had a bad season.
His first three seasons saw him used as a swingman starter and reliever, but he did most of his work coming out of the bullpen. Enns made 63 appearances between 2012 and 2014, with nine of those appearances coming as a starter. He compiled a 2.45 ERA over that span, striking out 171 and walking 60 over 150.1 innings. Injury would strike just 13 appearances into 2014, and Enns would have Tommy John surgery.
2015 saw him fight his way back from injury. Taking the mound in June for the first time in over a year, Enns zipped through three starts in the Gulf Coast League, not allowing a run 11.1 innings. He jumped to High-A Tampa, and his days of being a reliever were seemingly behind him. Enns made nine starts, some spanning just four innings on his road to recovery, but went 1-1 with a 0.76 ERA and 0.87 WHIP, striking out 40 over 47.1 innings.
In 2016, Enns has been a man on a mission, nearly untouchable.
He has hopped back and forth between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre with ease. Enns made his Double-A debut on April 11th. He didn’t allow a run to score that night, nor would he for the rest of April. He started the season going 3-0 over four April starts, not allowing a run to cross over 23.2 innings — which set the Trenton Thunder record in the process — while striking out 25. He would earn Eastern league Player of the Month honors.
Enns hit a rough patch and lost two consecutive games to start off May, but he earned a two game promotion to Triple-A. He went 12 innings, striking out 10 and walking four while allowing only two earned runs to cross. He would go back down to Trenton and pitch well before returning to the RailRiders this weekend to fill in for Chad Green who is now in San Diego with the big league club.
It was more of the same from Enns Friday night back on the hill for SWB.
How has Enns handled his most recent promotion to SWB? What kind of arsenal does he have? Can he be help to the struggling staff in the Bronx? Find out by heading on over to Minor League Ball for my full article by clicking on the link below.
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