I was quite impressed by the outing of Dario Agrazal for Bradenton last night. He had his start skipped last week due to an off-day on the schedule, combined with a start from Nick Kingham, which changed the Bradenton rotation for a week. Agrazal still pitched one his scheduled day, he just ended up throwing a very quick 1-2-3 inning in relief. He made this last start five days later, so he remained on schedule. It was still a skipped start though and we have seen results all over the map when that happens.
The most impressive part was that Agrazal struck out eight batters on Thursday, which set a new career high for him. In his previous start, he struck out seven batters, which tied his career best, accomplished twice previously. The big knock on Agrazal is that he doesn’t miss enough bats, but here we have his two best strikeout games in a row. So could we be seeing a breakout from him?
Back when Agrazal signed prior to the 2013 season, the scouting report had him as someone who hit low-90s with an easy delivery and terrific control. His father (also named Dario Agrazal) is a highly-respected pitching coach in Panama and obviously taught his son well.
The Pirates brought him to the Dominican for the 2013 season and he quickly embraced the “Pirate way”. They had him working down in the zone, throwing inside and pitching to contact. He became so much better at that “Pirate way” in 2014 in the GCL, even though the ERA increased from 2.40 to 4.20 in 2014. Agrazal was throwing more strikes and getting more grounders. He sacrificed some stats to become a better pitcher, which is something we have seen even with the best pitchers in the system.
In 2015, Agrazal was with Morgantown, where he had a 2.72 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in 76 innings. He again saw an increase in grounders, though it came with fewer strikeouts. We got a report from the Fall Instructional League that he was hitting 94 MPH, which was a nice increase from someone who usually worked in the 87-91 MPH range. The one issue with FIL numbers is that they are usually shorter outings, so pitchers don’t have to hold anything back. You can see higher velocities than normal from a starter.
That ended up not being the case with Agrazal. I saw him in person late last year and the radar was reading 94-95 consistently. So I double checked it with a scout, then triple checked it and saw he topped out at 96.1 MPH. That made him a totally different pitcher and it has carried over into this season, with the recent addition of strikeouts to his game. Agrazal is hitting 96 MPH in every start and doing it while displaying the same excellent command he had at 87-91 MPH.
That brings up one thing that we said about him during his early years, when he was more of an interesting player than a prospect. Yes you would occasionally see 92-93 from him, but not even every start. Those were more numbers that occasionally popped up, but you were mostly seeing 89-91 MPH and lower numbers later in starts. We usually noted that he has clean mechanics and a very easy, low-effort delivery, so there should be more in there.
Some guys can throw harder, but get better results with lower velocities because they get more movement. Austin Coley mentioned recently that he backed off his fastball a little because he gets more sink when he’s at 90 MPH. Agrazal hasn’t lost a thing though with the increased velocity. He’s now sitting 94-95 late into starts, and doing it with plus command. He also commands a changeup that shows excellent separation from his fastball and a hard-breaking mid-80s curve, giving him command of three pitches that all rank at least average. Agrazal has been around since 2013, but he’s pitching this entire season at 22 years old, so he’s age appropriate for his level.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move to Altoona during this season. He seems to be doing everything you want to see from him and now he’s getting even better results. Those eight strikeouts last night came with no walks and a 10:1 GO/AO ratio. You want to see more than two games from a pitcher before you take the “pitch to contact” tag away from him, but if he continues to see improved overall results like we are seeing this season, then Agrazal becomes a legit prospect.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 10-4 over the Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon. They now play three against the Philadelphia Phillies, starting tonight with Trevor Williams on the mound. He is making his third start, coming off an outing on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he allowed one run over five innings. The Phillies will counter with 30-year-old right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, who has a 3.71 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in eight starts.
In the minors, Indianapolis plays a doubleheader today with Clay Holmes and Brett McKinney making the starts. This is a spot start for McKinney, who has never started a game as a pro. Holmes has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his last six starts. Alex McRae goes for Altoona. He has gone seven innings in each of his last three starts. Gage Hinsz makes his second start back from shoulder soreness, while Cam Vieaux returns from arm soreness. Kevin Kramer had his 32-game on base streak snapped last night. Cole Tucker currently has a 25-game on base streak.
MLB: Pittsburgh (18-23) vs Phillies (14-24) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (6.41 ERA, 9:16 BB/SO, 19.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (20-18) vs Toledo (20-18) 5:30 PM DH (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (3.38 ERA, 12:37 BB/SO, 32.0 IP) and Brett McKinney (2.25 ERA, 4:13 BB/SO, 16.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (22-15) vs Erie (18-19) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (2.47 ERA, 10:24 BB/SO, 43.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (26-15) @ Ft Myers (21-20) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (6.11 ERA, 9:15 BB/SO, 28.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (18-21) @ Columbia (21-17) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (1.35 ERA, 7:18 BB/SO, 33.1 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a defensive highlight for the second straight day. This one is Barrett Barnes stealing a homer.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
5/17: Gregory Polanco placed on disabled list. Danny Ortiz recalled from Indianapolis.
5/16: Pirates sign Haicheng Gong.
5/16: JT Brubaker activated from Altoona disabled list. Chris Diaz assigned to Morgantown.
5/15: Nick Kingham promoted to Indianapolis.
5/15: Casey Sadler and Pedro Vasquez assigned to Bradenton. Sam Street assigned to Extended Spring Training.
5/15: James Marvel placed on West Virginia disabled list. Chris Harvey assigned to West Virginia.
5/14: Cam Vieaux placed on West Virginia disabled list. Adrian Valerio added to West Virginia roster.
5/14: Barrett Barnes added to Indianapolis roster. Anderson Feliz assigned to Morgantown.
5/12: Pirates active Adam Frazier and David Freese from disabled list. Chris Bostick and Max Moroff optioned to Indianapolis.
5/12: Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.
5/12: Zane Chavez added to Altoona roster. Tomas Morales assigned to Morgantown.
5/11: Chris Harvey assigned to Morgantown. Brent Gibbs assigned to West Virginia.
5/11: Nick Kingham assigned to Bradenton. Pedro Vasquez assigned to Extended Spring Training.
5/10: Albert Baur activated from West Virginia disabled list.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a look at a very bad day for the city of Pittsburgh. The players born on this date include pitcher Ed Whitson and pitcher Bud Culloton. Both of them played for a Pirates team that won the World Series. Whitson played with the club from 1977 until he was traded away during the 1979 season, while Culloton played for the 1925 WS champs. You can read more about each of them in the link above.
On this date in 1890, the Pirates (then called the Alleghenys) lost 18-2, while the Pittsburgh Burghers lost 16-3 that same day. The Burghers were a member of the Player’s League, a Major League which existed for just the 1890 season. Many of the players from that team, were members of the Alleghenys team before and after 1890. The Alleghenys/Pirates were 8-10 before that game and went 15-103 the rest of the way. It was the worst season in franchise history.
Since 1924, the Pirates have a 2-13 record against the Braves whenever they play on May 19th. The second win came last year behind the pitching of Jeff Locke. That other win was a one-hit shutout by Jim Bibby in 1981 and the only hit (and only base runner all game) was off the bat of the lead-off hitter Terry Harper. Bibby set down the next 27 hitters in a row.
