The Week in Bradenton: Marauders Break Even
FCL Pirates have a rain-shortened week.
It was a wet week on the Florida Gulf Coast. The Bradenton Marauders still managed to get in six games, with the help of a pair of doubleheaders and split the set. The FCL Pirates were able to finish only three games, winning two. They had one game suspended in the fifth inning.
For the Marauders, the resurrection of Javier Rivas continued. The guy who put up a nightmarish 090/141/179 line in April has gone 429/500/833 in June, with four home runs in 14 games. He’s cut his K rate from 36% in the first two months to 22% in June. It’d be a big help if Rivas kept hitting well enough to advance, as he’s one of the few outstanding defenders in a system where the defense generally leaves a lot to be desired.
Braylon Bishop went the other way, at least this week. He had an encouraging run after joining the Marauders but went 0-for-9 this past week with six strikeouts. Four of those came on Saturday.
The Marauders continued to get some impressive starts. Carlson Reed and Antwone Kelly kept pitching well, and Khristian Curtis continued to make progress after some early season struggles.
Reed had a career-best start back on June 6 and followed it up with a nearly identical one on June 13. He threw five shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk, and fanning eight. That’s just one more hit and one less K than the previous start. His change was especially strong, producing 11 called strikes plus whiffs on 24 pitches.
Curtis mostly struggled in April and May, posting a 5.93 ERA through May 18. In four starts since then, he’s had a 1.64 mark. His control still isn’t great; he’s walked 10 in 22 innings. But he’s allowed just 12 hits and fanned 27. He had a career-best outing on Saturday with six shutout innings, three hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts. His fastball sat at 95-96, and he got 20 whiffs overall on 44 swings. Curtis didn’t pitch that much in college, largely due to nerve transposition surgery, and didn’t pitch after signing last year, so this is notable progress.
Kelly took a six-inning, complete-game loss last Wednesday, but he had a strong outing. He allowed just two runs, one earned, with four hits and a walk, while striking out eight. He averaged 94.5 mph on his four-seamer, and between that, his change, and his cutter, he got 18 whiffs on 40 swings. The Pirates seemed to be bringing Kelly along very slowly in his first three seasons, but this year he’s on a pace to roughly double his previous high in innings.
Rookie ball can present some puzzles when you’re trying to figure out why some players are there and not at a higher or lower level, or why some players are playing or not playing. The FCL Pirates have been especially long on such puzzles this year.
Tony Blanco’s been a major one, playing only about half the time in spite of reputedly having some of the best power potential in the system. Then he stopped playing at all a little over a week ago. It turns out he was injured; MiLB.com, not known for thoroughness, missed the IL assignment, but Baseball America had it. Blanco played yesterday.
Miguel Sosa has maybe been a bigger puzzle. He spent two years in the DSL, hitting decently his first year and then putting up a .980 OPS his second. He then hit 275/495/406 in the FCL last year, but he’s back there again. Now he’s hitting 393/514/464. For his career, he has more walks than strikeouts. The one flaw in his hitting is that he doesn’t elevate the ball a lot. This year he has just four extra-base hits, all doubles, in 70 plate appearances. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after next season.
Two other players who haven’t appeared much are Eduardo Oviedo and John Zorrilla. Their situations, though, are less puzzling.
Oviedo was one of the Pirates’ top signings in January 2022. He’s a center fielder with power potential. He struggled to make contact in the DSL that year, although he did hit for some power, then returned there and put up an OPS of .878 in 2023. He started off in the FCL this year, but after a month, with 27 strikeouts in 53 plate appearances, the Pirates put him on the development list. He returned on Saturday and, so far, has gone 1-for-5 with three more strikeouts.
Zorrilla was a prominent signing a year before Oviedo; in fact, they got the same bonus amount, $450,000. The Pirates were very high on Zorrilla due to his athleticism and power potential, but it’s been a struggle so far. Due to injury, he got just two plate appearances in 2021. He returned to the DSL in 2022 and batted just .118 with a 47% K rate, although he did hit four home runs. In the DSL again in 2023, Zorrilla improved his batting line to 205/365/301, but he still had a K rate of 38%.
This year, Zorrilla was one of just a few players from the DSL at Pirate City during minor league spring training in March, although he never got off the bench except to pinch run when I was there. He was assigned to the FCL at the start of the season but got just three at-bats in two early May games. He’s reappeared recently, playing semi-regularly. In June so far, he’s 1-for-11 with three walks and five strikeouts.
Players like Oviedo and Zorrilla serve as reminders that there’s some very basic development going on in rookie ball. Players seem to disappear for long periods to the development list, presumably to focus on off-field work. I can’t honestly say I’ve ever seen a situation where that did any good, but it’ll be interesting to see whether these two can make some progress.
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I'm holding out big hope Rivas truly clicks. That glove moving up the system would be marvelous
Late news: Michael Kennedy went on IL-7. Dunno why.