One way to look at the minor leagues is an opportunity to find yourself, at least from a ‘what role will I play at the next level’ type of journey.
When thinking about that, maybe no one has been on that kind of path of discovery quite like Carmen Mlodzinski this season.
The 31st overall pick back in the 2020 draft, Mlodzinski has struggled to find consistency on the mound, leading the Pirates to experiment with the best way to utilize the former South Carolina Gamecock.
“Guys are going to have to learn how to prepare a little bit different, maybe, at some point in their career,” explained Altoona Curve pitching coach Drew Benes when talking about Mlodzinski coming out of the bullpen. “Just trying to get guys different looks and different experiences, so they don’t get buckled by anything that could potentially happen later on in their career, no matter if it’s a year from now, or ten years from now.”
Mlodzinski only pitched once out of the bullpen last year, and that was his one appearance with Triple-A Indianapolis to end the season. This year has been different, as the righty has come out of the bullpen five times, coming in after an opener started things off.
The results haven’t quite shown it paying off one way or the other, but that could be expected due to the body of work still heavily favoring him starting over coming out of the bullpen.
Not only has he had to adjust to different roles as far as when he was going to pitch during the game, he also reassessed his pitch arsenal as he tried to find the best use of his arsenal.
That’s left Mlodzinski changing how he has attacked hitters throughout the season, potentially another reason for his struggles. It may also have caused Mlodzinski to press a little too much, something that Benes saw and worked with him on.
“There are times where he tries to do a little bit too much, and so for them it’s about controlling that effort level, and honestly directing it through the catcher, instead of energy without direction.”
A look at Mlodzinski from behind home plate during his August 18 appearance out of the bullpen against Harrisburg. Tim Williams noted in his scouting notes during his time in Altoona that the added effort in his delivery was forcing him to jerk the ball out of the zone.
Another example of Mlodzinski maybe trying to do a little too much came from a game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels at the beginning of the season. He jumps up 0-2, eventually losing the hitter and walking him after trying to be a little too perfect in trying to put him away.
This past Sunday Mlodzinski put in perhaps his best performance of the season, pitching four innings, allowing two hits while striking out five batters.
Mlodzinski was aggressive with his fastball, but never seemed to overextend himself, able to stay in control. He set hitters up with his two-seam fastball high, allowing him to three the breaking ball off of that.
He gets things started off as good as you can, striking out the side. Against the first batter, four of the five pitches were fastballs, working a breaking ball in between. After working on the outer corner with the first fastball, the rest are up in the zone, getting a couple of swing and misses.
Just in the first inning alone Mlodzinski combined for a total of six called strikes or swing and misses off his fastball. Consistently using that two-seamer up in the zone really allowed the breaking ball to play better in the strike zone.
Of course, we’ve seen really encouraging signs from Mlodzinski before, it will be a matter of finding some consistency when he’s on the mound.
The way he pitched this last time really seems to suit his stuff, so time will only tell if he will be able to build on it as we enter the last few weeks of the minor league season.
