by MurphDog
Per Ken Rosenthal
Zach Peek, Kyle Bradish, Isaac Mattson, and Kyle Brnovich are the pitchers who will now play in the Baltimore organization.
Mattson was very good in 2019 between A+, AA, and AAA, and was excellent in the Arizona Fall League as well.
2019 was his first season as a reliever and he responded well to it.
Fangraphs had him as ranked #32 as a 35+ FV but presumably will increase that after his stellar 2019.
Bradish was a 2018 4th round pick out of New Mexico State (same school as Joey Ortiz) who signed for $397,500 (60-ish K under slot value of $455,700).
Bradish did not pitch in 2018 and started 2019 in the California League (A+) which is fairly aggressive for a college draftee in his first full season, especially one who didn’t get his feet wet the previous season. He stayed there the whole season, making 18 starts and 6 relief appearances, pitching to a 4.28 ERA over 101 innings with a K/9 of 10.7 and a BB/9 of 4.7
Peek was a 2019 6th round pick out of Winthrop, who signed for $267,800 (slot was $260,100). Fangraphs had him as the 181st best prospect in the draft. He did not pitch in the 2019 minor league season.
Brnovich was a 2019 8th round pick out of Elon, who signed for $168,700 (slot was $164,700). BA had him as the 107th best prospect in the draft, Fangraphs had him as the 241st best prospect. He did not pitch in the 2019 minor league season.
From Luke Siler
“Quick take because I know all these guys from draft prep.
Issac Mattson – elite performance reliever, doesn’t have the stuff for late inning work but should be useful, high floor
Kyle Bradish – extreme over the top delivery, will show mid rotation stuff, high spin curve, but has trouble holding it
Zach Peek – good frame, body, mediocre stuff guy who had a late velocity spike towards the mid 90s, was a steal in the 6th round.
Brnovich – weird mechanics, big time college performer, deception, blah velocity (BA’s 107th overall draft prospect in 2019)
Bradish is a system guy, 12-6 curve, high release.
Brnovich and Mattson are analytics picks, plus results
Peek is just molding clay for the pitching development staff
Tony’s take
After giving away Villar it’s not surprising Bundy was next as we heard he was on the trading block. Although Luke did a good job of doing a quick take, I decided to go watch some video of these guys to give mine since I’d never heard of any of them.
Overall it looks like Elias went for quantity as well as basically acquiring two additional draft picks from last year’s draft. Zach Peek looks like the upside lottery ticket in this deal.
Here’s my quick take on the four guys acquired.
Zach Peek: The Angels 6th round pick this year, he probably has the most upside of any of the pitchers acquired. A guy who showed a three pitch mix who struggled with a his breaking ball and slipped to the 6th round despite some nice upside. I like this upside of getting this guy in the deal. He’s a 40 with a 50 upside.
Kyle Bradish: Pitched at 22-years old last year in High-A ball. Uses an extreme over the top delivery to generate a 90-94 MPH fastball that has some natural cutting action at times. His 12-6 curveball (80-82) is his out pitch and it can flash plus at times, but it’s inconsistent. His changeup is firm and hard at 86-87 MPH. Looks like a relief profile to me. He’s a 40 with a 45 upside.
Kyle Brnovich: 21-year old 8th round pick of the Angels in 2019, Brnovich sits 90-91, with a slider (81-82, and change (82-83). Funky delivery suggests he might be better in a relief role. His slider looks like his best pitch with some late life and break. If he can pick up a little velocity he has a chance at a middle relief role. He’s a 35 for me with a 40 upside.
Issac Mattson: 23-years old, right-handed reliever with a 88-91 MPH fastball that he commands pretty well and seems to get some deception so it plays up a bit. He offsets that with breaking ball that he varies between 80-82 and a below average occasional change. He’s a 35 for me with a 40 upside.