Brandon Maurer

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2008
R:  1-2-0, 3.09 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 23.1 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 9.6 K/9

Maurer put up strong numbers across the board in a brief, rookie ball debut.

2009
R+:  3-4-0, 3.61 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 67.1 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 6.8 K/9

Seattle moved Maurer up just one level, to advanced rookie ball.  He pitched well, but not quite as much so, with a much lower K rate.

2010
R:  0-1-0, 1.64 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 11.0 IP, 1.6 BB/9, 11.5 K/9
A:  0-1-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.1 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 12.5 K/9

Maurer got into only 15 innings due to a sore elbow.

2011
A:  1-3-0, 3.41 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 37.0 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 10.7 K/9
A+:  2-4-0, 6.38 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 42.1 IP, 2.3 BB/9, 7.9 K/9

Maurer split his time between low A and the horrific pitching environment at High Desert in the California League.  He pitched well at the first stop and better than the ERA indicates at the second; gopher balls — one every five innings — were a problem at High Desert.  He was limited by a shoulder strain to 13 starts and three relief appearances.  After the season, Baseball America ranked him 21st in Seattle’s system.

2012
AA:  9-2-0, 3.20 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 137.2 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 7.6 K/9

Maurer put together a strong season in AA, making 24 starts.  BA ranked him sixth in the Mariners’ system after the season and they added him to the 40-man roster.

2013
AAA:  3-4-0, 5.21 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 46.2 IP, 5.0 BB/9, 9.1 K/9
MLB:  5-8-0, 6.30 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 90.0 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 7.0 K/9

Surprisingly, Maurer opened the season in the Seattle rotation.  He struggled through ten starts, with an ERA of 6.93.  The Mariners sent him to AAA, where he didn’t pitch well, either, partly due to control problems.  He returned to Seattle at the end of August, pitching mainly in relief, and had a little more success.  A lot of his trouble in the majors stemmed from gopher balls, as he allowed 16.  His xFIP of 4.25 was respectable, and he had a good walk rate and a decent K rate.

2014
AAA:  1-0-3, 2.79 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 19.1 IP, 3.7 BB/9, 11.2 K/9
MLB:  1-4-0, 4.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 69.2 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 9.3 K/9

Maurer spent the first two weeks of April and most of June in AAA, but otherwise spent the season with the Mariners.  He made seven starts in the majors in April and May, but pitched exclusively in relief when he returned in late June.  He had an ERA of 7.52 as a starter and 2.17 as a reliever, with a similar divergence in his peripheral numbers.  After the season Seattle traded Maurer to the Padres.

2015
MLB:  7-4-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 51.0 IP, 2.6 BB/9, 6.9 K/9

San Diego kept Maurer in the majors all season, until he went out for the year in early August with right shoulder inflammation.  Despite a lower than usual K rate, he got very good results pitching mainly in the seventh and eighth innings.

2016
MLB:  0-5-13, 4.52 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 69.2 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 9.3 K/9

Maurer spent the first half of the season as the setup man for the Padres and moved to the closer role at the beginning of June.  He pitched a little better than the ERA indicates, with a 4.16 xFIP.

2017
MLB (SD):  1-4-20, 5.72 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 39.1 IP, 1.8 BB/9, 8.7 K/9
MLB (KC):  2-2-2, 8.10 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 20.0 IP, 5.0 BB/9, 9.5 K/9

Maurer served as the Padres’ closer until they traded him to the Royals a week before the deadline.  He pitched much better with San Diego than the ERA shows, as he he was hurt by an extremely low strand rate of 54.3%.  His xFIP was 3.68.  His performance went sharply downhill with Kansas City.  Some of it was control problems and some an extremely high batting average on balls in play of .435.

2018
AAA:  1-3-5, 5.48 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 23.0 IP, 5.1 BB/9, 9.4 K/9
MLB:  0-4-1, 7.76 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, 31.1 IP, 7.2 BB/9, 8.9 K/9

Maurer struggled in his first few games and the Royals sent him to AAA in mid-April.  He returned in June but showed significant control problems throughout the season.  He also had gopher ball problems, allowing one every four and a half innings.  His velocity was not down, but he threw far fewer strikes than in previous seasons and gave up a lot of hard contact.  The Royals removed him from the roster after the season and he elected free agency.

2019
A-:  1-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 3.0 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 18.0 K/9
AAA:  2-0-0, 4.26 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 6.1 IP, 5.7 BB/9, 9.9 K/9

Maurer got off to a slow start in spring training due to a knee problem, then pitched well in camp, but was assigned to the minors.  With the Pirates’ bullpen falling apart, he’d have had a good chance of a callup, but in late April he went out with renewed knee problems.  He made a couple of rehab outings with West Virginia in June, but went out again and did not return.

Maurer will be a free agent in the fall.

• $1.5M salary if in majors plus $1.5M in incentives based on games pitched

2018: $2,950,000
2017: $1,900,000
2016: $526,400
2014: $504,600
2013: $490,000