Jean Cabrera and Estibenzon Jimenez Continue to Carry Threshers

The Clearwater Threshers returned home to BayCare Ballpark on Tuesday night with their season on the line. They Threshers have been the best team in the Florida State League near wire to wire, but much of the team that had carried them to a postseason spot had been promoted to Jersey Shore. Down 1-0 to Jupiter they turned to the pitcher who has pitched the 2nd most innings for them and had set their postseason run in motion with 6.1 scoreless innings. After Jean Cabrera was done holding the Hammerheads to 1 run in 6 innings, he handed the ball and a 3-1 lead to the Threshers most used arm, and Estibenzon Jimenez struck out 6 over 3 scoreless to nail down the save and guarantee a Game 3 on Wednesday.

You won’t find either 21 year old Venezuelan right handed pitcher on MLB Pipeline or Baseball America’s midseason list. You won’t find them on a list of big international signings either. Cabrera signed on signing day in 2019 (July 2) and Jimenez signed 4 months later in late November. Both were 17 at the time they signed and would have been 18 before they even stepped on a mound for the Phillies, and predictably I don’t have a signing bonus or pre-signing report on either. As you can guess based on the dates, neither would take a mound in Phillies uniform until they were 19, both for DSL Phillies White. They were both dominant. Jean Cabrera would win the Paul Owens Award for best pitcher in the organization going 52.2 innings with a 1.54 ERA, 10 walks, and 61 strikeouts. Jimenez worked in starting and relief, but would nearly match Cabrera with a 1.59 ERA in 45.1 innings with 13 walks and 41 strikeouts. They would finish 8th and 10th in the DSL in ERA that year (min 40 IP). Cabrera made some prospect lists that offseason as a projectable arm that flashed up to 97, Estibenzon was an afterthought in the prospect world. In 2022, the Phillies jumped Cabrera straight to Clearwater where he struggled with just about everything, posting a 5.24 ERA in 46.1 innings. Estibenzon in contrast would have a great year between the Florida Complex league and two dominant starts for the Threshers.

A surface look at Cabrera and Jimenez might lead you to think they are similar pitchers. They are listed at 6’0″ and 6’1″ respectively, though Jimenez is much thicker than Cabrera who is long and lanky with plenty of projection visually remaining. They both primarily throw a fastball, slider, and changeup with the fastballs split between those labeled as sinkers and four-seamers (Statcast pitch assignment in the minors is rough). From there they diverge strongly.

Cabrera opened the year throwing four seamers and firm changeups, but has moved more to sinkers and his changeup has been softer with more fade. The Phillies also scrapped his curveball and he now throws a horizontally oriented slider, though short of a full sweeper. Cabrera’s velocity is also up this season and he has averaged 94 on his sinker and 95 on his four seam fastball, up from 93 in 2022. He has topped out at 97 and there is definitely room for a bit more. Cabrera lives in the strike zone, and that has hurt him this year as his .432 BABIP was far and away the highest in the minors (min 80 IP), but he has not given up the long ball, with 3 home runs allowed all season.

Jimenez’s arsenal is all vertical. His fastball averaged 92 for the season, but was around 93 by the end of the year, and he will touch up to 95-96. While lacking the raw spin rates of Cabrera, Estibenzon gets good vertical life on his fastball. Whereas Cabrera’s changeup fades armside, Jimenez’s has the same horizontal life as his fastball, but with about 6 inches more drop. The pitch was rated the best changeup in the league by Florida State League managers. The real putaway pitch for Jimenez is his slider, which batters have whiffed on 38% of the swings they have taken on it. It is much more vertically oriented than Cabrera’s featuring much less sweep, and he will use it for chases below the zone. On the season, Jimenez shows more ability to miss bats, but at times his control has been much looser than Cabrera’s.

Neither pitcher is the youngest player in their league, but both have shown they still have additional growth opportunities and look like they could be major league pitchers in time. For now, they also will both wait on their teammates to bring home a championship tonight.