10 Observations: Deep look at the Florida Complex League team
10 Observations: Deep look at the Florida Complex League team
This week heavily features the FCL Pirates team
Murphy 5/21—One player that has surprisingly stood out to me in the Complex has been Luke Scherrer. It was interesting how the Pirates ended up with him, as he was an undrafted free agent signing as a prep player.
So, he signed for minimum money instead of going to college. He’s looked good behind the plate, as he made some solid scoops and blocks while I was in person, as well as some strong throws.
On Tuesday, he had a solid at-bat. He fought off some tough pitches and laid off some close ones before finally getting a hit.
A solid at-bat, especially considering the level he is at.
Murphy 5/21—The strikeouts are still there, but it does look like something has clicked with Braylon Bishop. He’s making some hard contact and then using his plus speed to wheel around the bases. It would be huge for the Pirates if he started to piece things together.
Edit: He had a ground-rule double later in the week and made his way around the bases so quickly that he was on third before anyone could tell him to return to second. He’s got some serious wheels.
Murphy 5/21—Acquired in the Diego Castillo trade, Scott Randall made his official Pirates’ organizational debut earlier in the week. He mixed in a few pitches, even getting up to 94 mph with his fastball, although he was around 90-91 mostly.
It did have a lot of movement, getting up to 23” of Inverted Vertical Break (IVB).
He seemed to be more of a command-over-stuff pitcher, but breaking off 23” of vert is pretty impressive. Randall also makes the potential picture, for starters, a little more crowded around Greensboro/Altoona, although they will be a little easier on him.
Murphy 5/21—After watching him last year, I was torn on how I felt about Enmanuel Terrero. When he got hot, he was among the best hitters in the system, but he also had some whiff issues, especially against lefties.
He ‘slapped’ a ball (100+ mph EV) the other way in the FCL and is showing his speed already on the bases.
Deciding where to play him will be interesting, as Bradenton already has Eddy Rodriguez, Esmerlyn Valdez, Shalin Polanco, Braylon Bishop, and Sergio Campana in the outfield.
Hard enough to get all of them involved, so Terrero could get the push straight to Greensboro despite just 80 games in Bradenton.
Murphy 5/22—The results have still been up and down, but it’s feeling like Antwone Kelly is starting to learn how to ‘pitch’ instead of just throwing really hard.
There’s a lot of room to succeed up in the strike zone with his fastball, and he’s starting to learn how to incorporate his secondary pitches to tunnel off of that. He throws a cutter for a little added movement, and his change-up has been good for changing eye levels.
I talked to Jim Horner about him, and I’ll discuss him in more depth later, but I was impressed with how he looked during his start on Wednesday.
Murphy 5/23—Maybe I just set the bar really low for Tony Blanco Jr. regarding his hitting ability, especially against breaking balls.
He’s put some good swings on them this season, including a single with an exit velocity of over 100 mph. There is still room for improvement, but he is not nearly as lost as I figured he’d be with the reports from the Dominican.
Murphy 5/24—I mentioned on the podcast that I believed that Termarr Johnson is on the right path despite the batting average that’s hovered under .200 for the majority of the season.
He’s doing the kind of things you want to see, it just hasn’t been falling for him so far. Bad luck? Maybe. He’s using more of the field this year than previously, and he’s nearly has a walk (38) per game played (41) (numbers through Friday night’s game).
The strikeout rate is coming down as well. If he continues this, you feel a breakthrough coming at some point.
Murphy 5/24—Patrick Reilly has struggled with the home run ball at points this season. The best way to avoid it?
Don’t allow any hits.
Reilly pitched five no-hit innings, striking out seven in his start this week. The fastball/slider combination worked for him, with some change-ups mixed in.
The control is still a thing, and with no radar readings on the broadcast, it’s hard to know how the velocity is carrying deeper into starts but he was able to climb the ladder and get some misses with it towards the end of the start.
I’m still not sold he’s a starter, but it’s heading the right direction for me.
Murphy 5/25—With the FCL season getting moved up a month, I was initially ok with the idea of having Jhonny Severino and Yordany De Los Santos play there till the schedule wrapped up, then head to Bradenton.
They are playing their way to an accelerated timeline, however. It’s easy to see that, on most days, they are clearly two of the best players on the field. Severino has some swing-and-miss to his game, but the power has been legit.
De Los Santos is also hitting the ball hard but is showing a better approach at the plate than we saw last year in Bradenton and a bit early this season.
It will be interesting to monitor their timeline for making the jump to Single-A.
Murphy 5/25—Juan Machado was a late addition to the FCL from the Dominican this season, where he put up some solid numbers, although that was his third year there.
On Saturday, he displayed some excellent speed and an overall strong game. He hit a ball 98 mph off the bat the other way, walked twice, and stole second and third in the same inning.
The Pirates have a lot of speed in the Complex, and Machado adds another outfielder in a crowded lower-level picture.
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i see suero is playing shortstop today...is that right?