How’s it going eh? Let’s take a look at a couple of MILB Hosers from our Follow list. Sit back, grab a bevy, and let’s get into it.
Mitch Bratt
LHP, Hickory (Texas Rangers, A+)
Organizational Ranking: #18 by Prospects Live, #14 by Baseball America
Date(s) Seen: No Feeds Available
Well, that didn’t work out too well. C’mon Hickory, get it together LOL!
Let’s take the opportunity to have an all-too-early look at some YTD stats, compare them with 2022 numbers, and see if there is anything to be hopeful/concerned about during the early days of the season.
GS 2, 0-0, 3.00 ERA, 9.0 IP, 8 K, 2 BB, 37 Total Batters Faced, 7 H
21.6 K%, 5.4% BB%, 1.00 WHIP, 2.96 FIP
The season-to-date numbers look good over a couple of starts. Some confirmation of what we know in terms of Bratt’s biggest strength - command. He has thrown a good percentage of strikes with 92 strikes in 146 total pitches (63%) while keeping the BB low. With that said, there are two numbers I’m going to keep an eye on going forward to see if this is just an early-season thing or a trend. They are:
Line Drive % - 29.6%, up from 20.2% in 2022
Pull % - 51.9%, up from 31.9% in 2022
A near 10% jump in line drive percentage is something to watch. Why? Let’s have Fangraphs explain why -
Check out the massive jumps in BA and wOBA on LDs. Giving up line drives causes all sorts of issues and situations that a pitcher does not want. Maybe not surprisingly, the pull percentage has gone the same way as the line drives. A 20% increase in balls getting pulled when hit & an increase in line drives given up is not a good recipe for long-term success. We are still in the early days of the season, so let’s not overreact. We’ll keep an eye on these as the year progresses. Mitch is still only 19 years old and Prospects Live PLIVE- ranks Bratt highly putting him in the Top 15 of all MILB starters as of this writing.
Tyler Black
3B, Biloxi (Milwaukee Brewers, Double-A)
Organizational Ranking: #10 by Prospects Live, #9 by Baseball America
Dates Seen: 04/18 (played 3B, batted 3rd in order), 04/22 gm 1 (DH, 2nd in order)
Observations:
The swing decisions were good overall. Only one “bad” swing on a “good luck laying off this one” off-speed pitch.
Showed some power with an opposite-field HR (04/18).
Was rather aggressive at the dish. Didn’t take a lot of pitches. If it was in the zone he was swinging.
From Apr.22 game: 1st AB - fly out to CF, 2nd AB - sacrifice fly to CF, 3rd AB - fly out to CF. The CF? Fellow Canadian Dirtbag David Calabrese🍁(Richmond Hill, ON, Rocket City - LAA, Double A)
Defensively at 3B, Tyler had a throwing error (looked like a bit of a short-armed throw) and bobbled one later in the game on a tough back-handed play. Not too sure if 3B or 2B is the long-term home as so far this season Black has not played at the Keystone. A more permanent move to third perhaps? In a very limited, one-game defensive look, he looked a bit below average but not out of place.
Season to Date:
LD% is up to 25.8% (from 20.3% in 2022). We know we don’t like that from a pitching perspective but it’s something to love from our batter’s point of view
GB% is down to 22.6% (from 48.7% in 2022)
FB% to 51.6% (2022 = 31.0%)
ISO .325 v .143 in 2022
More line drives and balls in the air, fewer ground balls put into play, with good bat-to-ball skills lead to that kind of jump in ISO (Fangraphs ISO reminder - Isolated Power (ISO) is a measure of a hitter’s raw power and tells you how often a player hits for extra bases).
2023 YTD: .456 OBP, .575 SLG, 1.031 OPS, .464 wOBA, 180 wRC+
Next up from our Prospect Follow list should be a couple of fun ones - Ricky Tiedemann (LHP, New Hampshire - Toronto Double-A) and Gavin Cross (OF, Quad Cities - KC A+).
Thank you for checking in today and we’ll be talking again soon. Until then and as always - Keep It 80 Grade.