Diamondbacks prospect Archie Bradley looked strong in his season debut in the minors, pitching five shutout innings against Triple-A Reno, allowing four hits, striking out three, and walking two.
Meanwhile, the 3-8 Diamondbacks have watched their Big League pitchers get absolutely shelled since their season opener and the team currently owns a combined 6.00 ERA, worse than any club save for the Twins.
Patrick Corbin is out for the season after having Tommy John surgery.
Randall Delgado made his first start of the season last week and allowed six runs and 12 baserunners over four innings to Colorado. That’s after he allowed nine earned runs and three homers over 15.1 innings this spring.
Brandon McCarthy allowed five runs over 6.2 innings in his season debut against the Giants and then allowed another six runs (including three homers) in his second start of the season against the Rockies.
Trevor Cahill, after posting a 6.95 ERA and 1.82 WHIP in 22 spring training innings, has given up 12 runs and 29 base runners his first three starts, lasting just 13.2 combined innings.
The Diamondbacks desperately need a starting pitcher that can…well, pitch.
Enter Bradley, ranked the ninth top prospect in the nation by Baseball Prospectus.
Since being drafted with the seventh overall pick in 2011, Bradley has been dominant in his rise through the minors. His first professional action came in 2012 when he went 12-6 with a 3.84 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings in Single-A.
The walks (5.6 per 9) in his first season were a concern but one that was quickly alleviated as the top prospect posted a 1.26 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 28.2 Single-A innings before being called up to Double-A. In Mobile, Bradley went 12-5 with a 1.97 ERA and 1.23 WHIP.
He limits home runs with the best of them, allowing just 0.4 HR/9. He doesn’t give up a lot of hits, surrendering just 6.3 per nine innings over his minor league career. The walks are a concern but he’s able to mitigate the damage and has improved his walk rate considerably since his first season.
Since he just arrived at Triple-A, and the Super Two date isn’t until June, common logic would suggest that we won’t see Bradley until the summer. If it were another team, that may be true, but no one needs a starting pitcher that can keep runs off the board more than the Diamondbacks do right now.
While the D’Backs chose Delgado over Bradley because they felt he needed more fine tuning, Delgado and the rest of the staff have yet to show an ability to get guys out. And the bullpen isn’t any better. Bradley clearly appears to be the next in line for a starting job and we should see him get the call sooner than later, very likely before the Super Two cutoff in June. If you have room on your bench, Archie Bradley, his career 2.72 ERA, and his career 9.8 strikeouts per nine make for a better fantasy basebll stash than most.
