Carmen Mlodzinski is entering his third full season in the Pittsburgh Pirates system after being a compensation draft pick back in 2020. He’s moved up naturally through the system, and got an invite to major league camp this season.
With a chance to show off some of his stuff, Mlodzinski has put together a couple of solid outings so far, pitching a total of three innings, allowing just two walks and no runs, while striking out a pair.
Over the last couple of years the righty has looked to find the best role that fits him, whether it be as a starter or coming out of the bullpen, but there has never been a doubt that he has the stuff to pitch in the majors.
Though he’s only made two appearances, and three innings overall, this spring, he’s already getting some recognition for his stuff
Here are the wStuff+ leaders among prospects/MiLBers with at least 10 tracked pitches in Spring Training.
Yes… far too small of a sample size but Spring Training is a fun place to see young studs.
Tread Athlete, Matt Seelinger, slots in at #3. pic.twitter.com/lduakfAEN0
— Rylan Domingues (@RylanDomingues) March 4, 2023
While it’s clear that the sample sizes are super small, it shows how strong Mlodzinski’s pitch metrics are. wStuff+ is another way to breakdown a pitcher’s game and try to quantify just how good they are throwing.
Like other metrics ‘100’ is considered league average, so overall, Mlodzinski is grading out 38% better than league average among all pitchers who have thrown at least 10 pitches.
Right below him you can see Andrew Painter, one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball.
FB: 95.8 MPH, 15.6 in. IVB, 9.5 in. HB, 113 wStuff+
CT: 85.3 MPH, 8.1 in. IVB, -9.3 in. HB, 146 wStuff+
CH: 90.7 MPH, -4.7 in. IVB, 19.3 in. HB, 324 wStuff+ ***— Rylan Domingues (@RylanDomingues) March 4, 2023
Breaking it down by pitch, his cutter and changeup is grading out way above league average, with the caveat that he’s only thrown one offspeed pitch so far this spring.
When it comes to his cutter/slider, so far this season there looks to be a lot more horizontal movement when it comes to the pitch, as opposed to last year when it favored a vertical drop.
Here’s a look at the difference, with the first part of the video from last year during his time in Altoona, and the latter his first Spring Training appearance.
The cutter is thrown harder, with far more horizontal movement included. Among the 10 times he threw it in that game, he got two whiffs on three total swings, as well as two called strikes.
FB: Bad shape but above avg velo helps
CT: Unreal shape, the vert+horiz mvmt combo is nuts
CH: Only 1 thrown and it was spiked, so very suspicious of the shape. We would have to see it more to get a real gauge on it.But I absolutely love the cutter.
— Rylan Domingues (@RylanDomingues) March 4, 2023
The cutter itself continues to get heavy praise, based off the combination of the vertical and horizontal movement.
It seems like there are quite a few pitchers in camp that are giving the ‘sweeper’ and/or cutter a chance, opting in trying to get more horizontal movement.
Mlodzinski is clearly jumping on that trend, looking to capitalize and lock down a rotation spot in Indianapolis. Adding yet another look to his current mix can only help keep him in the starter conversation, and make it harder for hitters to get a read on him.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
**Early Observations on the Pirates After a Week of Spring Training Games
Anthony Murphy breaks down what he’s seen from the Pirates and their position battles after a week’s worth of Spring Training games.
**Carmen Mlodzinski Getting Praise For Stuff Early In Spring Training – READING
The 2020 supplemental first rounder has been getting some recognition for his stuff early in camp. Anthony Murphy looks in detail at how his cutter and changeup stand out.
**World Baseball Classic Preview: A Dozen Pirates are Scheduled to Play
We will have daily World Baseball Classic updates for all of the Pirates involved. John Dreker previews who is playing, and for which country.
