P2Daily: Pair Of Intriguing Arms Trying To Right Ship In Greensboro

Making the jump from Single-A to High-A can be a tricky one. Not only do you face far more advanced players, but in the Pirates system, you get the added challenge that is First National Bank Field.

Some pitchers put up great numbers while with Bradenton, only to get eaten up by the home confines in Greensboro. Two names that come to mind immediately on the current Grasshopper roster is Santiago Florez and Adrian Florencio.

Things haven’t gone right for Florez since making the move up to Greensboro, and you can’t even point to the usual home/away splits. It’s been the opposite for Florencio, who was the Pirates Minor League Pitcher of The Year in 2021 after striking out 117 in 95 innings with the Marauders. He owns a 6.41 ERA at home, and a much worse 10.93 on the road. If there is one encouraging thing for the righty, is that he striking out hitters at a good rate, with 41 in 33 2/3 innings this season.

Florez began the year with Bradenton in 2021, and put up video game numbers with the Marauders. In 52 2/3 innings, he struck out 71 batters and posted a 1.37 ERA.

It was a different story after getting promoted to Greensboro, with a 7.53 ERA at High-A and striking out less than a batter an inning.

A bad April got him off to a bad start, but Florez, who owns a mid-to-upper 90s fastball with a good breaking pitch, is starting to find success coming out of the bullpen.

The splits don’t lie on it.

As a starter this year, Florez has allowed 14 earned runs in 11 innings pitched. Coming out of the bullpen, he’s allowed just six in 14 2/3 innings and his walk rate is slightly down as well.

He pitched two clean innings on Tuesday, walking one and allowing a hit while striking out a pair. Florencio picked up his eighth loss of the season after allowing three runs in three innings. He allowed two home runs on the night.

It’s easy to forget that Florez is still just 22-years-old (and he’s already had his birthday this year), so there was still plenty of time for him to figure it out. It was always assumed he’d be a reliever long-term, so it’s encouraging to see him perform well in the role.

While it’s been quite the crash landing for Florencio after a year ago, there’s still four months left in the season to work things out.

In the upper levels we are starting to see why the ‘you can never have enough pitching’ saying is so overused. Injuries are piling up, and the Pirates may need to start reaching deep to fill out innings.

That’s not saying that either of these two are targets, they won’t be this year, but if the Pirates are eventually going to start competing it’s going to help to have some players like Florez and Florencio to click to add that much needed depth going forward.