Similar to that of new Oakland Athletic Tom Milone, Adam Wilk is another soft-tossing left-hander that succeeds by limiting base runners, namely by rarely allowing free passes. While Wilk, 24, doesn’t own the strikeout rate Milone does, the former did allow just 1.23 walk per nine innings last season, the ninth lowest total among minor leaguers with 100 or more innings pitched.
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Wilk’s a bigger left-hander – 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds – but doesn’t throw overly hard. Instead, he relies heavily on an above-average changeup and decent curveball to go along with a fastball that rarely touches above 89 mph. Last season, his first in Triple-A, he started 18 games (102.2 IP), averaged less than six innings per start, walked 14 batters, and struck out 76.
His homerun rate, 1.31 HR/9, spiked quite a bit last season, up from the .41 HR/9 career Mark Prior to last season. Given the decent amount of groundballs he’s thrown throughout his career that number should regress next season.
According to Baseball Prospectus, Wilk posted a 1.7 WARP last season with Toledo, but his FIP, 4.12, was a bit on the high side.
He did make his Major League debut last season, tossing 13.1 innings while showing his trademark command.
Wilk’s a good fit for spacious Comerica Park and could excel as a backend starting pitcher or serve as a valuable swing man, and at the very least he could eventually slide in the LOOGY role; he held left-handers to a .222 batting average last season.
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