Todd Johnson

Prospect Profile: Dalton Stambaugh Might Be a Guy to Watch Next Summer

When the Cubs signed left-handed pitcher Dalton Stambaugh last summer, I was intrigued. He had put up good numbers in the Orioles’ system after being drafted out of Morehead State. In 2019, he had a 1.69 ERA in 21.1 innings. He struck out 18 and had a batting average against a .145. Those are some pretty solid numbers for rookie ball after pitching a full season at Morehead State.

For some strange reason, the Orioles released Stambaugh during the pandemic and the Cubs did not sign him until late in June of 2021. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of things that I really like.

Basic Information

Age – 21

Position – Pitcher

Height – 6-foot

Weight – 190

Throws –  Left

Acquired – Signed as a free agent on June 27, 2021

Stambaugh’s time at Morehead State was as a starter. He went 17-12 with a 5.61 ERA over three years. The statistics that I like are that he improved greatly each year. By the time he was a junior, opponents were just hitting .230 against him and his walk rate dropped from almost 4 game to under three. In addition, his junior year saw him strike out 10.3 batters every nine innings. In total, he whiffed 104 guys in 91.1 IP. The only issue that I saw was his home run rate.

After getting dropped by the Orioles, Stambaugh played independent ball for the Evansville Otters. He had a 3.57 ERA in 4 starts. He struck out 24 batters in 22.2 IP. It was there that the Cubs picked him up.

Once Stambaugh signed as a Cub, he went to the Arizona Complex League to begin his Cubs career. He didn’t stay there long. He pitched in all of two games. He spent most of the rest of the summer in South Bend where I got to see him pitch a couple of times in different roles. He did go down temporarily to Myrtle Beach for two games and then returned to South Bend a week later.

What I like about Stanbaugh is that he has a nice breaking ball that complemented by a load of low to mid low 90s fastball. Sometimes it might top out at 94. But he is that’s a nice deception to him and his stuff plays a much better out of the pen. 

In the one game that he started, he was rocked pretty hard. I saw that start in person in the Quad Cities and it was not pretty. But still, his ERA for the year was only 3.99 at South Bend. As a reliever, his ERA for South Bend was a very respectable 2.93. He struck out 34 in 29.1 IP for South Bend and hitters only batted .214 against him. The issue for him was walks. That can be fixed.

Heading into today,  Stambaugh’s contract status is unknown to most people. As a second organizational player, the Cubs could’ve signed him to a multi year deal or a one year deal. HIs Twitter page says he is still a Cub and I am hoping that he is come next year because I really like what he can do out of the bullpen, especially against lefties.

If he is with the Cubs, I’ll also be interested to see just exactly how they tweak him a little bit over the winter and how much different a pitcher he is come next spring. I wonder if they’ll add a slider or work on his changeup or even tweak his curve a little bit. He is still pretty young at 24. I would like to see the Cubs give him a full year in the organization just to see what he can do and how he responds to coaching at the professional level.

6 comments

  1. Todd,

    I’m fascinated by the breadth of players you give leash to as prospects. What’s your process? This guy put up an ERA around 6 at Morehead State, will be 25 for all of 2022, pitched mostly terribly for the Cubs, but it’s hard to see the huge upside in Richard Gallardo? What are the rules?!

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    • I don’t know why you think there has to be a process? He’s just a guy I had not profiled before but I liked watching him pitch, especially against lefties. Sometimes it’s just one thing they can make a prospect a Pro. Everyone is a prospect whether you or I like them or not. I’m just intrigued by what could happen after a year in the system. That’s it. This is not some deep seeded analytical conspiratorial process. In fact, you’re going to get to see a Gallardo post this winter in my offseason series. That series starts the day after turkey day. In fact, there is almost a profile on every prospect in the system at some point. If you click on the menu and go to depth charts, You will see that I profile almost every prospect and high A and above.

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