May 1, 2023 at 12:00 PM
Notes from the Field: Mata, Murphy, and Walter at Lehigh Valley
This past week, I got a close-up look at a few games that Worcester played against the IronPigs in the Lehigh Valley. I was focused on watching three of the top arms in the system in Bryan Mata, Chris Murphy, and Brandon Walter, and was able to see each make a start.
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4/18 @ Lehigh Valley: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 6 K
First up is Bryan Mata, who had the misfortune of drawing a very cold night in Pennsylvania. The outing did not start out well, as he fell behind hitters early with each of the first three batters beginning with a 2-0 count. His misses were consistently to the glove side, pulling multiple pitches into the dirt. The contact early on in this outing was also hard, despite finding gloves. Over the first five hitters he faced, he allowed line outs to shortstop and third base, as well as a hard line out to right field.
The outing started to turn around a bit once he started incorporating his secondaries, especially the slider. He threw a great tight slider on a 1-0 count to John Hicks, the IronPigs' number seven hitter, resulting in a swinging strike. He started throwing sliders more early in the count for the second trip through the order, as he threw a first-pitch fastball to all nine hitters the first time through. The second time through, four of the top five hitters in the order saw a first-pitch slider, which Mata was able to steal a couple early strikes with. The stuff still looked good, as I counted 13 swings and misses for Mata on the night, all with the fastball and slider. The ability the miss bats is clearly there. Another thing that impressed me about this outing was his ability to fight through some adversity. In the third inning, Mata walked Esteban Quiroz on five pitches, then started the next hitter out with back-to-back glove-side misses with his fastball, resulting in some visible frustration as this was a consistent issue early in the start. After a mound visit, Mata came right back to pick up a strikeout, with the final two pitches good fastballs that elicited swinging strikes. He did this again in his final inning, which began with a walk, a triple, and another walk. He was getting squeezed a bit by the umpire, but he finished his outing very strong with a three-pitch strikeout, a single, and then another strikeout.
Mata threw his two best sliders of the night on back-to-back pitches to the final hitter he faced, resulting in a strikeout. As for his changeup, he did not throw many in this outing. He did throw a few that missed down and out of the zone, but he didn't get any swinging strikes on it. Again, the lack of command for his fastball early in the game, as well as seldomly using his changeup, could have been a result of the weather, as it was not a comfortable night to pitch.
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4/20 @ Lehigh Valley: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K
The 17th ranked prospect Chris Murphy got the start on Thursday on a much better night for baseball. The left-hander was attacking the zone right from the start, as he stuck out the first batter he faced, Dalton Guthrie (RHB) on a great back-door slider. He struck out the next hitter on back-to-back fastballs, both resulting in swinging strikes. His overall command was terrific, as he had a ton of misses that were right around the edges of the plate. Both of his walks were a tad misleading, as one came on a pitch clock violation, and another was a four-pitch walk in which three of the pitches just missed. His command within the zone is where he got into a bit of trouble. He had some pitches that caught too much of the middle of the plate, resulting in some hard contact or pitches that were easily spoiled and fouled off with two strikes. He gave up a long home run on a fastball that caught far too much of the zone.
Murphy threw 13 of 25 first pitch strikes, with several of the misses right on the edges, while another 1-0 count was a result of a second pitch clock violation. He utilized all four pitches early in the count, as he tried his slow curveball on 0-0 five times to try and steal a strike. It worked twice, another two were lazy and left up and arm side, and another just missed the edge. His slider was used a couple times to begin at-bats as well, but he mainly used this offering later in the count. The pitch looked very firm, almost cutter-like to me. Like the first batter he faced, he struck out his final hitter on a great back-door slider. His changeup was very impressive during this outing. He was able to get four swinging strikes using his changeup, three of them to Scott Kingery. The offering showed late fade and kept hitters off balance. He also got a couple called strikes using his changeup, and it was clear he was comfortable throwing this pitch in any count.
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4/23 @ Lehigh Valley: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Finally, I got a look at the system's ninth ranked prospect, left-hander Brandon Walter. This outing was definitely better than what the box score shows, as some of those five runs scored due to poor defense and weak contact that just found vacated areas of the defense. Walter did a terrific job attacking the zone early in the count, throwing a first pitch strike to 15 of the 23 hitters he faced. He mixed his pitches well and kept hitters off balance throughout the whole outing. Off balance swings and weak contact were consistent throughout. His command was also very good, as a lot of his misses were around the edges of the zone, similar to Murphy's outing.
Although Walter did induce eight swinging strikes, the ability to miss bats on a consistent basis was lacking a bit, as there were a lot of pitches fouled off. Two of his swinging strikes came on well-located sliders down in the zone, while the rest came on fastballs. He threw his two-seamer a lot in this outing, and it showed late life. He utilized this pitch to attack the inner part of the plate to both lefties and rightness, and it worked well, eliciting a lot of jam shot ground balls and pop ups. His changeup looked good as well, keeping it down in the zone consistently. As mentioned previously, he got a little unlucky. There was a double play ball that did not get turned, which extended an inning. Also, two of the doubles he allowed came on a weak ground ball to a vacated hole at third base due to the shift, and a weak fly ball down the left field line that was not caught on a diving try. Some of the poor defense was due to himself, however, as there was one play where Walter did not get off the mound on a ground ball to first base, allowing the batter to reach safely.
Overall I thought this was a positive outing for Walter despite allowing five runs and striking out just two. The control and command was impressive, as was his ability to induce weak contact and bad swings.
Nick Rabasco is a Senior Staff Writer and Scout at SoxProspects.com.
Photo Credit: Bryan Mata, Chris Murphy, Brandon Walter by Kelly O'Connor