10 Observations: More late bloomers in the lower-levels? Axiel Plaz debuts in Bradenton
A look at some more potential late-bloomers as well as Axiel Plaz makes it to Bradenton.
Murphy (5/14)—We’ve seen Sammy Siani and, to a lesser extent, Maikol Escotto show signs of taking that next step, but someone else from that 2021 Bradenton team also stands out early on.
Sergio Campana has dealt with some injuries over the last few years, but it’s mostly been a struggle when he’s been on the field. He’s hit the ball reasonably hard the last couple of years but hasn’t put it in play enough.
He missed the start of the year due to an injury, but since returning, he’s hit pretty well and picked up three hits on Tuesday. He has six hits in his first 14 at-bats with three stolen bases. It could have been four, but ran on a pitch that ended up in a walk, so it didn’t count (that was last week against St. Lucie).
Speed is his primary tool, and if he cuts down the swing and misses, at his age (22), he is another player they can kind of start pushing up the ladder.
Murphy (5/15)—That was one of the better outings I’ve seen from Jaden Woods this season. He pitched two innings in relief, throwing 22 strikes on 29 pitches.
Woods was a player I was high on during the draft process. Things got a little crowded regarding available rotation spots, so they opted to keep him in the bullpen. If the strikes keep coming, I can certainly see him being someone that could push for Altoona by the end of the season.
WTM (5/15)—The catching situation in the lower minors is getting crowded. I mentioned the other day that the FCL Pirates are dividing the job among three catchers who have some ability. (ADDENDUM from 5/17: Axiel Plaz got promoted from the FCL to Bradenton after Justin Miknis got hurt, then went deep in his first game.) Bradenton has Omar Alfonzo — probably the closest thing to a legit catching prospect in the system right now (well, there’s Henry Davis) — and currently injured Garret Forrester.
Greensboro didn’t seem to have anybody likely to hold Alfonzo or Forrester back, but maybe that’s changing. For some reason, most of the catching duties have gone to Shawn Ross, a converted infielder who signed out of independent ball. Ross has five home runs in 21 games as I write this, and he draws walks, but he’s batting .136 and striking out in half his ABs, and he’s repeating the level. He does seem to throw well, but he’s also a little error-prone.
The other Greensboro catcher is Geovanny Planchart, who looked more like a potential prospect coming into the season than Ross. Planchart usually makes contact and shows a lot of patience on the plate but doesn’t hit with much authority. In April, he hit a couple of home runs in just eight games, but he batted .185 with two walks and 11 strikeouts. In May, still in five games, he’s 6-for-16 with six walks and three strikeouts. His overall line in his small sample size is now 256/373/488. Planchart’s always been a solid or better defensive catcher. He’s 0-for-12 throwing out runners this year, but last year at Bradenton threw out 33%, well above the league average of 22%. I just don’t know what’s up with the playing time.
Murphy (5/16)—It shouldn’t take long for FCL pitchers to get the book on Tony Blanco Jr, and you saw a little bit of that on Thursday. He grounded out in his first at-bat (at least 110 mph off the bat, for what it’s worth) off of a fastball.
They threw him all breaking pitches the next at-bat, leading to a three-pitch strikeout. While he only swung and missed at one, he didn’t look too comfortable against any of them.
He worked another at-bat pretty well, including fighting off some breaking pitchers. The at-bat was wiped out because a Pirates’ baserunner tried to steal home and got thrown out.
Leading off the next inning, he took the second pitch (a breaking ball) over the fence for his first home run.
That’s the literal description of development in a single game. It's impressive to see. If he continues that, the Pirates may have something on their hands.
WTM (5/17)—I hope folks are ready to let up a bit on Mitch Keller. I mean, apart from the obvious distractions. He started slowly, but now he’s at 4-3, 3.93, with an xFIP of 3.55. (I’m writing before his Wrigley start, so I sure hope I don’t jinx him.) No, he’s not an “ace,” whatever that is, but you don’t get prime Max Scherzer for what they’re paying Keller.
It seems like a lot because Bob Nutting doesn’t pay major league salaries. At any one time, there are only one or two true aces around, if any, if you define “ace” as the sort of guy who can take over a playoff series, like Scherzer, MadBum, Randy Johnson, and a few others. With a major league lineup and decent bullpen, the Pirates could win a lot of games behind Keller. If they could find two more Kellers to put with Skenes and Jones, I’d be ecstatic.
Murphy (5/17)—That was about a good first impression you can make regarding Axiel Plaz with the Marauders. Two hits, two batted balls 110 or more, one of which was a home run.
I remember reading something about there being concerns about his frame and how much projection he has going forward, but if he’s already hitting the ball this hard, that can’t be too bad a thing, right?
That’s, I believe, four batted balls I’ve seen him have that been 110 mph or more this year alone.
He’s 18 years old. The frame is small, but it’s a built small frame.
Edit: He hit a home run in his second game as well. That one was 112 mph off the bat. The kid has serious power.
Murphy (5/17)—Talking to Michael Kennedy last week has made watching him pitch much more fun. He’s so intelligent and mature for being 19 years old. I’ll eventually have a few stories from my conversation with him.
His ability to work backward to set up his fastball in the zone is incredible. He’s throwing around 90, but it plays so well up in the zone that he makes it work. There’s a lot of life on the pitch when he’s locating it up, and it tunnels well with the sweeper.
Murphy (5/17)—Eddy Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season with Bradenton. He’s been hitting the ball hard, he’s just had some issues elevating the ball. He was the player I was maybe most intrigued about seeing make the jump to Bradenton this year, and he hasn’t disappointed.
Now it’s time to work on the defense in the outfield, so he’s not limited to first base.
Nola Jeffy (5/18)—Jase Bowen's first full season (in Altoona) wasn't going well to start the year, slashing .144/.284/.237 in April. Flip the month, and he's carrying a .310/.383/.429 slash in May through Saturday. Things really got moving against Somerset, where he went 5-for-11 with two doubles, and has continued against Akron, going 5-for-17 with two more doubles.
After striking out nine times in the series against Harrisburg, he has only struck out four times in the nine games since. Outside his abbreviated eight-game showing with Altoona in 2023, his 23.3% k-rate would qualify as the lowest of his career.
Murphy 5/18—It will be interesting to see where the Pirates go with Anthony Solometo from here. It’s been hard to get a consistent radar reading from him watching on TV, but the little bit I’ve heard it’s been a little down.
The control has also been rough, leading to 15 walks in 22 innings. His walk rate is more than double what it was last year in Double-A.
Solometo looked good for a small stretch on Saturday, but when he lost it, things went south pretty quickly.
He’s always been a deception/control pitcher, neither of which has worked well for him this year. He had a few setbacks during spring that could have him a little behind, but we are starting to get to the point in the season that it should be past him.
They are six deep when it comes to starting pitchers, so I’d imagine some sort of piggyback role would be the path while they try and figure what’s going on.
Support the site by becoming a paid member, and get access to all of our premium content, including our Top 25 list with complete player write-ups and video breakdowns, which come out weekly.
It will also give access to my player feature articles from on-site trips.
We have monthly and yearly plans available, with the latter coming out to an average of $4.16/month.
*Writes about Bowen*
*Goes 0-for-5*
-Like that comment from Murph on Plaz and body type/projection. Where I get nervous is with these types is in age-relative-to-performance evals/projections which are leaned upon so heavily these days. These inherently presume positive projection where there may not be as much with a kid already so physically mature.
-Very happy Mitch has put in a good past month of starts. The conundrum the Pirates still find themselves in, though, is not about his age-28 season but paying him almost $40m for his age-31 and 32 seasons. Spending $20m a year on a 2 WARish starter will be the kind of thing that makes it harder for them to build the lineup and bullpen that are missing. Speaks more to my overall disappointment with the Cherington strategy than anything about Keller himself.