Dahl adds top arm to vast Coors Field outfield

The Rockies are promoting power-hitting outfielder David Dahl, and it’s not difficult to see why: The 10th overall pick in the 2012 Draft has been crushing the ball ever since he arrived in the pros. In more than 1,600 plate appearances, Dahl has hit a scorching .310/.357/.513, despite an on-field injury in 2015 so serious that it required his spleen to be removed. He’s been even better this year, hitting .314/.394/.569 combined at Double-A and Triple-A.

But while the focus will be on Dahl’s offense and especially how Coors Field might make it look even better, that’s not the only tool that him brings to the Majors. Ever since he was selected, references to a good throwing arm were tucked away in scouting reports. When Dahl was ranked baseball’s 55th-best prospect by MLBPipeline.com in 2013, it was noted that he had “a plus arm.” Now that he’s Colorado’s No. 2-ranked prospect, it’s “a strong, accurate arm [that] is better than most.” And because Dahl played at Petco Park in the Futures Game earlier this month, we were able to get him in front of Statcast™’s tracking radars to see if the numbers held up to the reputation. They did.

Dahl didn’t get into center field until the sixth inning, but he nearly immediately made two outstanding throws that lit up the scoreboard. First, he hit 95.6 mph on a throw from center to home trying to catch Eloy Jimenez on Josh Naylor’s single. While Dahl wasn’t able to get Jimenez, that was quickly forgotten, because on the next play, he got up to 96.7 mph throwing out Naylor at the plate on a Carlos Asuaje …

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