The Week in Bradenton: Burrows' Rehab Going Slowly With Marauders
FCL Bucs have uncharacteristically poor week
The Bradenton Marauders had a bad week, going 1-5 against Fort Myers. The Marauders’ hitters had quite a spree for a while after starting the season in a slump of biblical proportions, but that’s over now. They haven’t quite sunk back to sub-Cherington level if it’s possible to hit that badly, but nobody is hitting very well right now, other than Axiel Plaz connecting for the long ball.
Keiner Delgado, acquired for the right not to pay J.T. Brubaker, hasn’t been especially impressive. He’s currently batting 229/303/378, right around the league average of 229/330/349 while playing in one of the league’s best hitter’s parks.
He’s gone from walking more than he struck out last year to a 13:50 BB:K, well below the league average walk rate and a K rate of 24%, just below the average of 26%. (The Marauders easily lead the league in strikeouts.)
The Bradenton manager expressed some excitement at the prospect of seeing Delgado on the bases, but his 14 steals in 49 games are less than 40% of the 36 he had in the same number of games last year. He’s not getting on base enough.
Javier Rivas has cooled off, although not to the subterranean level he was at in the season’s first two months. He wasn’t likely to continue his 1.046 OPS pace of June. He’s still gotten his season OPS to within seven points of the league average, which, given his defense, isn’t bad.
Rivas started July with a modest, five-game hitting streak — exactly one hit in each game — but he left Saturday’s game after striking out his first time up. He appeared to have hurt himself on the swing.
Plaz at least has provided fireworks. He had only four hits in 17 ABs during the week — he also drew five walks — but all four were for extra bases, including three home runs. Plaz is batting only .199, but he’d be fourth in the league in slugging if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. He’s still only 18.
On the pitching side, Bradenton’s generally had a good rotation. In fact, the team starkly mirrors the Pirates: good rotation, shaky bullpen, and little offense. The rotation, though, isn’t what it was. Khristian Curtis, Antwone Kelly, and Michael Kennedy are all on the seven-day injured list.
That was with Owen Kellington and Isaias Uribe already being lost for the season. And Carlos Jimenez, who’s been walking well over a batter an inning, has largely been relegated to relief.
One addition has been Mike Burrows, who’s rehabbing after returning from Tommy John surgery. There was some speculation that Burrows could be an option for the Pirates late this season, but so far that’s looking like a stretch.
He’s made three appearances for the Marauders, covering 5.2 IP. So far he’s allowed eight hits and five walks, with six strikeouts. His pitch counts have been pretty high.
The team’s best reliever has been Mike Walsh. He pitched only three times prior to May 22 due to an unknown injury. In a dozen outings since returning, he’s allowed just one earned run in 15 innings, on eight hits and one walk. Half of the hits came in his one subpar outing. Walsh has fanned 18 in that time. A ninth-round draft pick from Yale, Walsh is 23 now and probably should get a chance to move up quickly if he’s fully healthy.
The FCL Pirates had, for them, a poor week, going 2-4. They lost a pair of games due to late-inning meltdowns by the same reliever. There’s no real closer concept at this level. Bullpen appearances are scheduled and the best possible choice doesn’t always come up at the right time.
The Bucs’ lineup has mostly settled in, with four players having standout years. (A fifth, Miguel Sosa, was recently promoted.) Jhonny Severino and Yordany De Los Santos are having big years, Tony Blanco, Jr., is finally playing regularly, and Carlos Caro is hitting consistently well.
Severino especially looks for real, to the extent rookie-level numbers can ever tell you that. He leads the league in home runs by two, with ten, and in slugging at .587. He’s third in OPS at .960. (De Los Santos is fifth and Blanco would be 12th if he qualified.) The big worry with Severino when the Pirates acquired him was swing-and-miss, but he currently has an 18% strikeout rate to go with a solid 13% walk rate.
Catcher Richard Ramirez, on the other hand, has slumped, as chasing has increasingly become a problem. He’s currently in a 4-for-29 stretch with 14 strikeouts. He’s at least remained very strong against the running game, throwing out exactly half of opposing base stealers.
Among the pitchers, Zander Mueth has been very strong after a stretch of shaky control. He’s gone exactly five innings in each of his last four starts, winning all of them. In the 20 innings, he’s allowed one earned run on 15 hits and seven walks, with 23 strikeouts.
Another pitcher worth watching is Dioris Martinez, who rejoined the team recently after an early injury. He’s made three starts, going 5.2 shutout innings (three in the last start) with two hits, three walks and four strikeouts.
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BIG zander meuth guy.
Fleming tonight.
Not enthused.