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JESS AMEDEE, RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
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| Born: September 5, 1993 Height: 6′ 2″ Weight: 205 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 27th Round, 821st Overall, 2014 How Acquired: Draft College: University of Texas Agent: N/A |
WTM’S PLAYER PROFILE |
| Amedee went to Northern Colorado as a freshman in 2012 and Baseball America said he showed command of four quality pitches at the time, with a fastball that sits at about 89-91. As a reliever in the pros, he’s relied very heavily on his slider. He went to Central Arizona Community College in 2013 and made six appearances, then transferred to Texas in 2014. His numbers there were poor, with 35 walks in 48.1 innings and a 6.52 ERA. Perfect Game projected him to go in the 10-15 round range heading into the season. It was hard to find information on Amedee, since he mostly played at smaller schools and moved around a lot. He pitched some as a starter with Texas, but has been used to fill out the bullpen in the lower levels for the Pirates. Amedee signed quickly.
2014 Amedee pitched out of the Bristol bullpen and struggled, apart from a very high K rate. He had an extreme reverse platoon split, with right-handed batters posting nearly double the OPS against him that left-handed batters did. A lot of the trouble seemed to be a very high BABIP of .397. Between that and the K rate, his FIP of 3.49 was a lot better than his ERA. 2015 The Pirates sent Amedee back to Bristol and he pitched better. His K rate was even higher, but his BABIP again was very high, at .392. Naturally, he had a much better FIP, 2.34, than ERA. For the second straight year, he was more effective against left-handed batters. 2016 Amedee opened in extended spring training, then went to West Virginia in late May. Once again, he put up a very high K rate, a high (although not quite as extreme) BABIP of .349, and an FIP (2.37) that was much better than his ERA. HRs are not the problem, either, as he’s allowed only four in his pro career so far. He had a normal platoon split this time, with a .699 opponents’ OPS against left-handed hitters and .621 against right-handed hitters. His numbers were heavily impacted by one very bad, mid-July outing in which he allowed five runs in a third of an inning. 2017 Amedee finally got past the BABIP problem, allowing a .282 average on balls in play, and the result was that he held opponents to a 207/322/298 line. He did, though, have problems with walks while still maintaining a high K rate. He got much better as the season went along, allowing a .946 opponents’ OPS in May and .817 in June, then just .465 in July and .561 in August. He had a bigger platoon split, giving up a .689 OPS to left-handed hitters and just .557 to right-handed hitters. Amedee will return to Bradenton to open 2018, but could reach Altoona at some point. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2018: Minor league contract |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: N/A MiLB Debut: 2014 MLB Debut: MiLB FA Eligible: 2020 MLB FA Eligible: Rule 5 Eligible: 2017 Added to 40-Man: Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 7, 2014: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 27th round, 821st overall pick; signed on June 12. |
