Los Angeles Dodgers Brock Stewart dominating Double A
A Los Angeles Dodgers prospect who pounds the strike zone leads this week’s minor league notes.
New York Mets rookie pitcher Steven Matz took the mound yesterday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates and allowed two runs in five innings and struck out eight. Down in Tulsa, Okla., Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect Brock Stewart tossed seven innings and allowed just one run on seven hits.
At face value, these two pitchers don’t have any similarities. Matz, a left-handeder, was a second round draft pick out of high school in 2009 and has pitched in a World Series. Stewart is a sixth round pick out of Illinois State who became a two-way player his senior year. He hit .266 with a .343 on-base percentage and slugged .432 over four seasons. He also posted a 2.36 earned run average and struck out 30 batters in 26 2/3 innings as a reliever his senior season.
After being drafted in 2014, the Dodgers turned Stewart into a pitcher full-time, and he had mixed success over his first two seasons. This season he’s taken off, and entering yesterday’s start he was leading the Double-A Texas League in ERA (1.09) Fielding Independent Pitching ( 1.22), strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and was one of two qualified pitchers who hadn’t given up a home run.
So why bring up Matz as a comparison? Well, the reason is that both pitchers are strike throwing machines, but Stewart is doing it at a stratospheric level compared to Matz.
Entering play yesterday Matz led the majors in percentage of pitches thrown in the strike zone (56.7 percent) according to FanGraphs. That’s a big deal, because Matz is having an impressive year and he is joined near the top of the list by some guys named Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Rich Hill, Jordan Zimmermann and Chris Sale.
Stewart, by comparison, was throwing strikes 72.7 percent of the time prior to yesterday’s start. He had thrown 841 pitches over his 10 starts and had thrown 611 strikes and walked just 11 in more than 60 innings. Yesterday’s 67 strikes in 94 pitches was another model of efficiency, and the ability to throw strikes will continue to work in his favor.
In this week’s minor league notes, we’ll look at teams dominating their respective leagues either on the mound or at the plate.
Next: Triple A
The Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, lead the Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern Division by four games with a 34-24 record. Shortstop Chris Taylor and catcher Mike Zunino have been making progress there after struggling in the majors last season; they have an .847 and .883 on-base plus slugging percentage entering Tuesday, respectively; and Stefen Romero was hitting .358 before being called to the majors.
It’s the pitching staff, especially the bullpen, however, that has led the team this season. Entering play Tuesday, the Rainiers were second in the league in ERA (3.71) and led the league in walks and hits per innings pitched (1.19). The bullpen features several stellar arms: Nine relievers had an ERA under 3.25 and eight had a WHIP under 1.10.
Blake Parker and David Rollins have been especially dominant. Entering Tuesday Parker allowed just three runs in 19 2/3 innings with 20 strikeouts and a 1.37 ERA and 0.76 WHIP. Rollins had a 2.74 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 18 strikeouts and zero walks in 23 innings. Their dominance shouldn’t diminish the work Jonathan Aro (2.40 ERA), Justin De Fratus (3.21) and Casey Coleman (1.61) have done with their time on the mound.
The rotation may not be as dominant, but Adrian Sampson is having an impressive season as well. The 2012 fifth round selection is tied for third in the PCL in ERA (2.83) and is fourth in FIP (3.34) entering Tuesday. Unfortunately, he started Tuesday and gave up seven runs on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Next: Double A
Way back at the beginning of the season, I mentioned that the Pensacola Blue Wahoos were going to employ the same pitching rotation the Daytona Tortugas of the Florida State League used in 2015. Well, the Blue Wahoos are riding that rotation to the top of the Southern League South Division.
Entering Tuesday the Blue Wahoos—who are the Cincinnati Reds’ Double A affiliate—led the league in ERA (3.07) and had three starters with an ERA under 3.40. Super-prospect Amir Garrett, who is third in the league in ERA (1.63) and second in FIP (2.45) is the leader of the group, but two less heralded prospects are holding their own in the league.
The first is Jackson Stephens. Stephens was 13th in the league in ERA (3.36) but his FIP (2.69) was third in the league and his walk rate (2.04 per nine innings) was among the top 10 in the league. Stephens is also second in the league in home run rate (0.15) to Garrett, who hasn’t allowed a home run this season.
The second prospect is Rookie Davis. Davis has a 1.66 ERA and is experiencing incredible luck. Hitters are hitting just .194 against him in his seven starts. He only has 18 strikeouts in 38 innings, so his FIP doesn’t jump off the screen, but he should be able to limit the damage when his luck returns to normal: He is getting 1.41 groundouts for every out in the air.
Next: Class A Advanced
Hey, another dominant pitching staff! The Minnesota Twins sent several of their best pitching prospects to the Florida State League, so it’s no wonder the Fort Myers Miracle have seven pitchers on the FSL South Division All-Star team.
The Miracle were third in the league with a 3.05 ERA entering Tuesday, and Tyler Jay is the most touted prospect of the bunch. He leads the league in FIP (2.43), is fourth in K/9 (9.58) and generally is shoving unhittable pitches down batters’ throats.
Kohl Stewart’s season is an encouraging one considering he was promoted to Double-A last week. Stewart spent all of 2015 in the FSL and made 22 starts and finished with a 3.20 ERA. While it was a productive season, his strikeout rate (4.94) dropped by nearly 1.5 per nine innings and his walk rate (3.13) rose by more than 0.60 from 2014. His walk rate jumped again this season, but so did his strikeout rate (7.66/9 IP over nine starts). He had a 2.61 ERA at the time of his promotion.
Felix Jorge and Stephen Gonsalves also deserve to be mentioned. Jorge leads the starting rotation with a 1.83 ERA over nine starts and he has the league’s fourth lowest walk rate (1.37/9 IP). Gonsalves is also in his second stint in the FSL after posting a 2.61 ERA in 15 starts last season. This year, he is fourth in the league in FIP (2.59) and ERA (1.93) with 10 starts under his belt.
Next: Single A
It’s time we look at a dominant offense. The Lake County Captains (Cleveland Indians) were second in the Midwest League with a .718 OPS entering Tuesday and they had three players in the top 10 of the same category.
Shortstop Tyler Krieger has been the leader of the group. He was hitting .325/.404/.455 entering Tuesday and was fifth in the league with a .404 weighted on-base average. The 2015 fourth round draft pick didn’t get a professional at-bat last season but he hasn’t disappointed in his pro debut and currently is working on a 17-game hitting streak after going 1-for-4 yesterday.
The Indians drafted Nathan Lukes in the seventh round of last season’s draft. (He played in just five games in the New York-Penn League in 2015.) This season, he was hitting .313/.400/.453 and had stolen 14 bases entering Tuesday and his .402 wOBA was tied for sixth in the league. Yesterday he went 2-for-4 with a double.
Next: Kim ready to fly with Orioles
Outfielder Connor Marabell is the third 2015 draft selection among the MWL leaders in OPS. He was slashing .319/.384/.465 and was leading the league with 19 doubles. The 25th round pick also had the league’s sixth lowest strikeout rate, whiffing in just 13.3 percent of plate appearances. Yesterday he hit two home runs to jump into the league lead with a .893 OPS.