The 2024 season for Chase Petty was one that saw him make 28 starts and pitch at two different levels. When the season was finished he had set a career high in innings pitched while also posting an ERA of 4.20 between Chattanooga and Louisville.
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Chase Petty was coming off of an outstanding 2023 season in his limited and controlled usage and after making two starts to end the year in Double-A, the right-handed starter returned to Chattanooga to being the 2024 campaign. Things did not go well early on for Petty. In his first four starts – all in April – he allowed 17 earned runs in 16.0 innings. That’s more earned runs than he allowed in 2023 while throwing 68.0 innings.
When May began, things started to turn around. Facing off against Montgomery on the road, Petty tossed 5.0 shutout innings. He followed that up three starts where he allowed just four earned runs in 15.0 innings. On May 25th he would hit a speed bump at home against Mississippi, allowing four earned runs and recording just one out before being removed from the game.
Over the next six weeks, leading up to the All-Star break, Petty was solid, but a bit inconsistent as he made eight started and posted an ERA of 4.38. He walked 21 batters and had just 31 strikeouts during this stretch.
The first four starts after the break went well as he allowed seven runs in 20.1 innings (3.10 ERA). In the middle of August, the Reds pushed Petty a bit and in four of his next five outings he threw seven innings – with the only one of the five that didn’t go that far being an outing where he struggled and didn’t get out of the 4th inning. In those five starts he threw 31.1 innings and had just 10 walks to go with 33 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA.
That took the 21-year-old right-hander into the second week of September and also earned him a promotion up to Triple-A where he joined Louisville. In the final week of the season he made two starts for the Bats and allowed two runs over his 10.0 combined innings to close out the year.
For all 2024 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Chase Petty Scouting Report
Position: Right-handed pitcher | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 190 lbs. | Acquired: Trade (Twins, 2022. 1st round pick, 2021) | Born: April 4, 2003
Fastball | He throws both a 2-seam and a 4-seam fastball. His sinker works in the 93-95 MPH range, while his 4-seamer works in the 95-97 MPH range and touched 99 MPH this season.
Slider | The slider works in the low-to-mid 80’s and is a plus offering.
Cutter | This is a newer offering from Petty and works in the upper 80’s to lower 90’s and is a plus pitcher with late biting action.
Change Up | An average to above-average pitch that works in the upper 80’s.
After throwing 100+ MPH in high school at times as a senior, Petty never sniffed triple-digits when he became a professional as he relied more on a sinker and was throwing in the low-to-mid-90’s. But over the offseason he went to work to try and add velocity and it worked as he added a 4-seamer and gave himself another look to offer hitters.
Early in the year he struggled, but he got things figured out and pitched well over the final four-and-a-half months of the season. With the addition of the 4-seamer his overall groundball rate fell and he’s gone from a guy who had an elite groundball rate in the past to a guy who was barely above-average in 2024.
His control, which has always been outstanding, did take a step backwards in 2024. Perhaps it was related to his adding velocity across the board. Maybe it was something else, but his walk rate nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. He can still get away with his current walk rate, but he’s on that borderline spot where things could go either way.
If he can get back to throwing a few more strikes while also maintaining his current stuff, Petty could be a very good big league pitcher, and quickly. If he can’t then he’ll likely take more time to reach the big leagues and likely fill in at the back end of a rotation as an inconsistent guy who can be dominant some days but struggle on days when things don’t go just right for him in the control department.
Stats
Video
Interesting Stat on Chase Petty
Only two spots in the lineup had an OPS against Petty over .755. The cleanup spot had an .879 OPS against him. The other spot was the #8 hitter, who hit .326/.385/.630 against him in 53 plate appearances.