The Week in Bradenton: Marauders' Struggles Continue

Some good pitching, but the hitting continues to be a problem

Hung-Leng Chang Photo Credit: WTM

Bradenton had another rough week, but did at least put up two wins for the first time. The Marauders went 2-4 to leave their record at 3-12.

They even had an uncharacteristic offensive outburst on Sunday, coming back from two-run deficits in the ninth and tenth to win 8-7. Despite coming into the game batting .067, Javier Rivas had two doubles and a home run.

Notwithstanding the Sunday heroics, the Marauders’ offense remains a horror show. What’s especially striking is its similarity to the Pirates’ offense and, to one degree or another, the hitting throughout the system.

The Marauders will take walks; they rank fourth in the ten-team league, but this does not set them up for success in any other phase. They’ve been battling with a couple of other teams for the lead in strikeouts, currently ranking second. And they’re last by wide margins in runs, batting average, and slugging.

On the other hand, the pitching is starting to come around a little. Bradenton still ranks ninth in ERA, with a brutal 5.23 figure, but a week ago they were easily last at 6.66.

Khristian Curtis remains arguably the most interesting pitcher on the team. His stat line from Sunday wasn’t exciting — three earned runs in four innings — but it all came on two bad pitches. He got one fastball in the middle of the plate to the game’s second hitter, which went where you’d expect. After that, he had little trouble until he gave up a swinging bunt single with two outs in the fourth, then followed with his second mistake, which may still be traveling.

I’ve seen all three of Curtis’ starts, and his command has improved noticeably each time. In this game, he also started getting more whiffs with his fastball — 26% of the time. That seemed in large part to result from him going with high fastballs much more than he did previously, but as we’ve seen with Jared Jones, high fastballs bring some risk. Curtis also went much more heavily with breaking balls and shifted away from his cutter, which doesn’t seem as effective to me. He again seemed to tire after three innings, although his command didn’t drop off nearly as much as in his last start.

After his first couple of starts, which didn’t produce very good results, Michael Kennedy had a strong one on Saturday. He gave up a run on two hits and no walks, with eight strikeouts, over five innings. Kennedy threw more strikes than in his previous game and, in spite of his fastball velocity averaging just under 90 mph, he got ten whiffs on 20 swings with it.

The team’s other four starters also showed some promising signs. Carlos Jimenez and Carlson Reed have been discussed here, so let’s go with Hung-Leng Chang and Antwone Kelly.

Chang has always thrown a good variety of pitches, the standard four, plus, according to Statcast, he throws both a four-seam fastball and sinker. He had a rough time after a late-season promotion to Bradenton last year, posting a 7.46 ERA in seven games and five starts. His main issue is a fastball that averages about 92 mph and is too hittable.

He did much better in his first start this year, then last Wednesday, he threw four scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk. He only had three strikeouts and didn’t get a lot of swings and misses, but he threw a lot of strikes, which let him mix his pitches better. He got through the four innings on just 47 pitches and got the fastball in the zone about two-thirds of the time. His curve was especially effective, getting either a whiff or called strike five times in ten pitches.

Antwone Kelly Photo Credit: WTM

Kelly is an interesting case. The Pirates have brought him along slowly as a reliever; he threw only 104 innings in his first three years. He supposedly threw in the mid-90s shortly after the Pirates signed him, but late last year with Bradenton, he was throwing only in the low-90s. This year, he’s starting and, oddly, he’s averaging about 94 and peaking in the upper 90s.

In his first two starts this year, Kelly got hit around quite a bit. In his third start, on Thursday, he was much more effective, although it ended up nearly identical to Curtis’ Sunday start. Kelly made two bad pitches that went for gopher balls and accounted for all of the three runs he allowed over four innings.

Like Curtis, Kelly got his fastball in the zone consistently and often got it up, and sometimes that’s going to be the result. Kelly’s other pitches, a change and slider, were a mixed bag. He threw 11 changeups, but hitters swung at only one, and he got only two others in the strike zone. The slider seemed to be the better pitch, as most of the time, it produced either whiffs or weak contact.

Connor Oliver Photo Credit: WTM

Kelly was followed by Connor Oliver, the lefty the Pirates acquired for Colin Selby. Oliver’s first outing was a disaster: six earned runs in an inning and a third. This one was dramatically different, as Oliver allowed no hits and a walk over three shutout innings.

He won’t overpower anybody, as his fastball tops out at 92 and averages 90. He fanned only two in this game, but he threw many strikes and kept the hitters off balance by constantly changing speeds. Oliver threw a fastball or sinker only 36% of the time, mixing in a slider, curve, and change that varied in velocity from 77 to 89. He got ahead in the count consistently. The big question for him, of course, is whether his stuff will play at higher levels.

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