A two-sport standout in high school who didn’t start pitching until he was 17, Natera had three uneven seasons at New Mexico State where he missed a lot of bats and walked a lot of hitters. The Angels took a low-risk flyer on the left-hander in the 17th round of the 2022 Draft, and he kept striking guys out and giving them free passes during his pro debut with High-A Tri-City in 2023. A sprained elbow kept him off the mound for all but 15 innings during the regular season, but he opened a lot of eyes with his work over five Arizona Fall League outings.
It was a small sample size spanning just 12 innings, but Natera’s combination of size, stuff and better feel for the zone made people sit up and take notice. His fastball averaged around 94-95 mph and touched 98, and it plays up because of its life that allows it to get a lot of swings and misses. His 82-85 mph slider has good sweep to it, giving him another bat-missing offering. He has a changeup, but he doesn’t throw it very often.
While Natera is already 25, he has very low mileage on his arm between starting late, the pandemic and the missed time in 2024. In his brief mound time last year, he was finding the strike zone with more consistency, raising the bar a little bit more. Left-handers who are 6-foot-4 and have two out pitches tend to make it to the big leagues, so everyone is intrigued to see how Natera follows up his AFL breakout.
