Prospect Sleeper Alert - Keep Your Eyes On Sterling Sharp

Dx7-ci9X0AEhIvP — Photo via @DatDude_Ster42 on Twitter

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Sterling Sharp, RHP
2018 Opening Day Age: 23
2018 Highest Level: Double-A Harrisburg
2018 stats: 11-6, 3.70 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 105 K in 148.1 IP, 6.4 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 2.23 K/BB

Last month, I put together my Top 50 Nationals prospects list and coming in at number 15 needs some more hype in my opinion. Sterling Sharp was recruited to play basketball in college but decided to stick with baseball. He played for two different colleges, East Michigan and Drury, losing a year of eligibility in between, then was drafted by the Nationals in the 22nd round in the 2016 MLB Draft. Sharp might lack the pedigree of playing for a larger school but his athleticism is off the charts.

Incase @MiLB or @MLB ever decides to have a dunk contest 🙋🏾‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/ZnE2kgyJir

— Sterling Sharp (@DatDude_Ster42) November 19, 2017

Sharp is not the “sexy” pitcher, meaning he won’t blow you away with strikeouts. What Sharp has going is his finesse. The righty uses deception and a bunch of movement to generate weak contact from hitters. Sharp is a fastball/changeup guy and the fastball sits in the low nineties. Scouts have also indicated he has an advanced changeup and it his best offering. His closed-off delivery adds to his deception, which he needs as his fastball is below average. He made his first All-Star game in A+ and made it up to Harrisburg (AA) in 2018. He’s also tinkering around with a slider grip he learned from Blake Treinen. Over the offseason, he has been tinkering with his sinker and cutter. Take a look at this! It is just sick.

Sink/Cut guna be a problem ‼️ pic.twitter.com/SMFrWFw2t8

— Sterling Sharp (@DatDude_Ster42) January 29, 2019

From a non-baseball standpoint, Sharp is an amazing person. He works with younger baseball players in the offseason and also answers questions about his baseball life on Twitter.

So glad we were able to get in another great session with Sterling before he heads out for the season. Thanks for spreading your knowledge and love for the game, have a great season. @DatDude_Ster42 @AFHbaseball pic.twitter.com/IHBI74V1pe

— C. McPherson (@32Baseballboss) February 11, 2019

Sharp, in my eyes, has made the biggest jump in my personal rankings. He goes out there everyday and gives you the innings you need, which is a greatly needed in any big league club. However, you can tell he is putting in the work. He started the year a super thin/lanky guy around 170 pounds but you could tell he was putting on muscle towards the end of the year. 2019 is going to be a big year for Sharp. I think he will start the year off in AA Harrisburg, which is where he ended the season last year. If all goes according to plan, he should make his debut in Fresno by the end of next season. There is some untapped potential in Sharp. I can see him having an everyday role in the bigs at some point, most likely as a back-end of the rotation type of starter, which is an awesome find in the 22nd round of the draft.

Almost that time! #ST19 pic.twitter.com/pcWY9kfQUI

— Sterling Sharp (@DatDude_Ster42) January 27, 2019

Shelly Verougstraete

Shelly Verougstraete is the Nationals writer here at Prospects1500. Even as a diehard Red Sox fan, and author of sabermetric based Red Sox blog greenmonsterbb.wordpress.com, the goal here is to keep you up to date with all the happenings down on the Nats farm. Shelly lives in Virginia and has many minor league parks (A to AA) close by. Let's Go Nats!