Brief notes on Frisco Roughriders’ pitchers of interest from 9/5 game against Wichita.

RHP Mitch Bratt | Role 45: Lefty starter showing relative polish at AA in his age-21 season. On the shorter side with a somewhat narrow build and is relatively filled out. Advanced body control with extremely smooth movements. Quick-worker out of a modified windup with generally low effort down the mound. Long, fluid, and deceptive arm action into a 3/4 slot with a low release height and solid arm speed. Lots of moving parts to his delivery that he struggled to sync up in this outing, but doubt this is representative given athleticism and strong track record of strike-throwing. 

Four-pitch mix composed of a FB, SL, CH, and CB. Works the FB at 88-92, plays above its velo at the top of the zone buoyed by its flat approach angle—lack of octane leaves it vulnerable to consistent hard contact when left over the plate. First secondary is his SL at 83-86 that features above average cutting action. Throws a CH at 82-85 with solid fade and a divergent horizontal movement profile from his SL. CB at 77-79, slurvy shape with solid sweep and more depth than his SL. Didn’t show a true plus secondary, but has relatively good feel for each offering and strong chance they complement each other and play above their raw grades

Control came and went in this outing, but flashed touch within the zone at times. The broader context of his clean arm action and delivery, fluid movements, and consistently low walk rates throughout his career point to an above average or better ML command projection at peak.

Despite struggles in this appearance, projecting as a #5 ML starter buoyed by his command projection and overall pitchability. Lack of FB velocity puts cap on upside, but chance to exceed his current projection if he’s able to generate a true swing-and-miss secondary or his command becomes a true weapon. That said, if command doesn’t reach its projection, real risk that the lack of potency to his arsenal prevents him from sticking in a rotation. 

LHP Bryan Magdaleno | Role 40: Thick-built lefty reliever with an impact FB/SL combination. Mature frame, carrying significant bad weight and will need to work to maintain his body. Explosive but somewhat stiff movements with decent body control. Stretch-only, slightly offline arm action into a nearly side-arm release angle. Some effort to his finish but generally stays under control despite his size. 

Throws his FB at 95-97, generates consistent swing-and-miss up in the zone driven by its flat approach angle — combination of velocity and secondary characteristics make it a plus offering. Lone observed secondary was a SL at 84-85, sweeper shape from his side-arm slot that flashed plus glove-side break at peak — feel was inconsistent in this outing but projects to plus value, with particular effectiveness against lefty bats. Fair present control that with improvement should suffice in a relief role, with solid strike-throwing ability but limited feel within the zone. 

Profiles as a mid-leverage relief option with heightened effectiveness against lefty bats. Arm angle and length to sweeper will create extremely difficult ABs for same-handed hitters, and this should allow him to carve out a valuable niche in a big league pen. Upside for high-leverage outcomes if he can develop a CH to help neutralize RHHs.