The Week in Bradenton: FCL Pirates' Bats Starting Off Well
The Week in Bradenton: FCL Pirates' Bats Starting Off Well
Marauders getting help from bullpen
The FCL Pirates started the season with several hitters repeating the level. Many of these guys were considered potential prospects — they mostly got significant bonuses to sign out of Latin America — but the team apparently didn’t consider them ready yet for full-season ball. That’s not a great sign, but at least quite a few are starting well.
That would include infielders Jhonny Severino (1.122 OPS — all numbers through the May 20 game) and Yordany De Los Santos (1.007) and outfielder Miguel Sosa (.954). Outfielder Estuar Suero, possibly the best-regarded by scouts, hasn’t started well (.542) and went on the seven-day injured list after seven games.
Some of the players who are new to stateside baseball have also started well. I discussed Carlos Caro (.868) earlier, and Anthony mentioned Tony Blanco, Jr. (.919). Catcher Richard Ramirez is batting .364/.533/.455, with seven walks and eight strikeouts. One new guy who is not doing well is Eduardo Oviedo, a toolsy outfielder who signed for $450K two years ago.
He’s struggling severely with breaking balls, sometimes taking three straight right down the middle, leading to a 47% strikeout rate.
These guys have helped the offense to a .835 OPS overall, which easily leads the 14-team league. They’re also fifth in runs after a dozen games.
It’s tough to tell how these numbers will translate as the players move up. De Los Santos had a very good 17-game stint in the FCL last year, with a low K rate, then moved up to Bradenton for 38 games and was overmatched, striking out in about 40% of his plate appearances.
This year his K rate in the FCL is 24%. Severino’s is 30.6%, which explains his .500 BABIP. They’re infielders with power potential, though — ultimately, probably third basemen. Between them, they have 10 extra-base hits in 85 ABs so far.
Hopefully, a number of these hitters will make it to Bradenton later this year. With the FCL season ending around the time of the draft, it’d seem a good time to see how they fare against higher-level pitching.
The Marauders cooled off a bit, going 2-4 in Tampa, but their 17-22 record looks much better than the 5-18 mark they were sporting. The offense has picked up sharply, thanks to a bunch of personnel changes, but the pitching may have improved even more. At one point, their 6.66 team ERA was last in the league by an entire run, but now they stand at 3.83, fourth among the ten teams.
Some of the Marauders’ starters have been outstanding, notably Michael Kennedy, Hung-Leng Chang, and Carlson Reed, but the bullpen has had some very good performers.
A few relievers have struggled, but Yoldin De La Paz, Magdiel Cotto, and Landon Tomkins have all been reliable. Peyton Stumbo got pummeled his last time out, but he’s still having a solid season, as Anthony discussed the other day.
De La Paz is a smaller lefty who sits around 90 mph. He relies very heavily on a slider, throwing it sometimes more than the fastball. He moves the ball all around the strike zone and, so far this year, is keeping hitters off balance while not struggling to throw strikes, as he did at this level last year.
He’s allowed only nine hits and four walks in 20.1 IP while fanning 21. Left-handed batters are hitting just .143 against him, but right-handed batters are having even more trouble at .116.
Cotto, also a lefty, has less impressive walk and K rates, 6.0 and 7.9 per nine innings, respectively, but he’s allowed only a dozen hits in 22.2 IP. He throws a sinker and four-seamer, both sitting at about 93 mph and relies heavily on a change that generates just modest numbers of whiffs.
Tomkins has allowed a dozen hits and six walks in 17.1 IP, with 19 strikeouts. He’s been the closest thing the team has to a closer. Tomkins’ fastball can vary from about 93 to 96, and his other main pitch is a slider.
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Does anyone know Dariel Lopez's whereabouts? He missed 2023 and hasn't appeared so far in 2024. I cannot find him in the transactions reports. Is he rehabbing? Or did he retire?
Thanks!
Funny sequence in the FCL game. Yordany DLS really nailed one to left, way out, but it went foul. On contact he yelled “Yes!” — he does that all the time — and ran toward first, but the ump called foul, kinda sheepishly like he felt bad for DLS. Yordany laughed and said something in Spanish to the ump, good-naturedly. Next pitch he popped up to shallow right, exclaimed “Arrghh!” and threw his bat down. But he ran it out and got a double when it dropped.