It was a pretty huge milestone for the Ben Cherington regime, as Carmen Mlodzinski became the first player drafted by them to reach the major leagues.
The first draft under Cherington was something we have never seen before, as it was condensed down to just five rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mlodzinski was the 31st overall pick, taken out of South Carolina. He worked his way up the minors level by level, starting this season in Triple-A Indianapolis, also making the move to the bullpen.
When taking a little bit more of a closer look at his numbers in Indianapolis, the success of his sweeper shows just why it was the right move for him.
The sweeper is his best pitch, here’s the same breakdown
31.1 Whiff%
34.6 CSW%
.117 AVG
.176 SLG%
2.8 BB%
42.8 K%#LetsGoBucs— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) June 16, 2023
We see how both his primary pitches, the fastball and sweeper, have been fairing in Triple-A so far. While the fastball has been hit here and there, his primary breaking pitch has been tough to hit, and has nearly a 50% strikeout rate with the pitch.
Pitching 1.1 innings in his major league debut, Mlodzinski allowed one hit (a home run), walked one and struck out two. He was able to pick up two whiffs on five swings against the sweeper.
Stuff has never been the issue for Mlodzinski, as he has struck out 208 batters in 183.1 career minor league innings. It’s finding consistency with his command, sometimes getting hit around a little too much for someone who has the pitches he does.
The Pirates have needed a shot of energy into their bullpen, especially with Colin Holderman going on the injured list, and Mlodzinski showed he might be able to provide that.
While it was probably safe to bet that your college hitting top-10 pick from your first draft would be the first player to debut – when you think about it the college pitcher taken later in that round makes sense as well.
Prospect Notes
— When thinking about who could be the next Cherington draft pick to make the majors, the obvious pick would be Henry Davis. He hasn’t slowed down hitting since moving up to Triple-A, and made a great diving catch in right field on Friday.
'bout time to put a crown on King Henry…
Nick Gonzales is striking out a lot less, and still driving fastballs every opportunity he gets, so that’s a sign of improvement.
Both play positions of need right now, but with Gonzales not on the 40-man roster, I’d like to see Liover Peguero get another opportunity first to see if he can carve out a role in the majors.
— The Pirates had a few of interesting names jumping into the Bradenton rotation this season, one of which was Alessandro Ercolani, who pitched five shutout innings on Friday.
He’s been a fastball heavy guy the majority of the season, with 56% of his pitches Friday were so. He generated some pretty good metrics with the pitch (33% whiff rate and 36 CSW%), which is good to see with how heavy he throws the pitch.
Daily Video Rundown
Endy puts us on the board! ✊
His exit velos tonight: 101.2, 100.5, 106.8, 104.7 pic.twitter.com/G15MXO6LPX
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) June 17, 2023
Endy Rodriguez has put up less than ideal exit velocity numbers this season, so this was encouraging to see.
A no-doubter from @mattfraizer3 and we've got the lead! pic.twitter.com/ouzJ4Sv949
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) June 16, 2023
Matt Fraizer hammers his fifth home run of the season to give Altoona a 2-1 lead in the second inning.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
Looking for the nightly game recap, the minor league results, and the daily discussion? Check out Pirates Prospects Live.
**P2Live: Pirates Can’t Dig Out of First-Inning Hole, Lose Fourth Straight
The new Prospect Watch profiles three players a day, every day at noon. The latest version is led by two recently promoted pitching prospects.
**Prospect Watch: Kyle Nicolas, Anthony Solometo, Jack Brannigan
As you know by now, the Pirates called up Carmen Mlodzinski. There were a lot of other moves throughout the system in that article.
**Pirates Pirates Place Rob Zastryzny on the Injured List; Add Carmen Mlodzinski to the Roster
Missed yesterday? Anthony looked at whether this is the year for a Solomon Maguire breakout season.
**Is This The Year For A Solomon Maguire Breakout?
SONG OF THE DAY
My old laptop is about to be driven into an empty field…
