Mike Salas
This past Monday, Sean Linan was named pitcher of the week by the California League. In his four starts with Rancho, this will not be his last.
Linan is a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher out of Cartagena Colombia. The Dodgers signed Linan in 2022 and pitched for the Bautista Dodgers in the Dominican League. With the Bautista’s he played fifteen games with four wins and one loss. He had a 2.08ERA / 26IP / 6ER / 11BB / 27K / 0.962WHIP.
Linan spent most of the 2024 season in the ACL and was brought to the Quakes late in the season. This is Linan’s first full season in Minor League Single-A ball and he is dominating. With the start of the 2025 season, Linan has punched out an MILB best 40 hitters. His 24.5% swing strike rate is atop of the leaderboard, his 51.8% strikeout rate is also impressive.
Linan will not wow you, sitting in the low 90’s but his changeup is what baffles right and left handed hitters. Dodgers director of pitching Rob Hill said. “It comes in around 82-84 mph, and it’s a really, really high-spin changeup,” “It’s like 2,700-2,800 rpm. usually, and about one inch (of induced vertical break) and 17 inches of horizontal break and has the exact same release traits as all of his other pitches”.
Hitters are missing his changeup 55% of the time with a chase of 60%. He sneaks in a slider and cutter that comes in around 86 mph.
His numbers so far this season are incredible and lead the league in many categories, 0.87 ERA 1.23 FIP (6th) 1.82 xFIP (9th) 40 Ks (1st) 54.1 K% (3rd) 5.4 BB% 48.6 K-BB% (1st) .114 AVG 24.1 SwStr% (1st).
Dodgers director of pitching Rob Hill, “As he’s grown more and matured and developed some things of his delivery and his body, the velocity has come up on this fastball, and it’s made the changeup just that much better,” Hill said. “He used to throw the changeup around 80-81—it’s still roughly like 81-84—but when the fastball is 93-95, having to deal with that changeup is just a terrible time for the hitters.” from Baseball America interview.
Linan is improving every year, and the sky could be the limit for the 20-year-old. If he continues to dominate in Single-A ball, the question is when he will be moved up.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
