The Pirates have recalled right-handed starting pitcher Dario Agrazal, and he is scheduled to make his major league debut against the Marlin in Miami on Saturday.
The 6-2, 240 pound Panamanian, at age 24, is in his seventh season in the Pirates organization. He’s been steadily progressing, generally a level a year, reaching Triple-A Indianapolis last month after opening the season with four starts for Altoona. Combined, he has a 5-3 record and 3.27 ERA so far in 2019.
Agrazal’s main feature is his control, even if he doesn’t miss many bats. He’s never walked more than 18 in a season (in 150 IP for Low-A West Virginia in 2016), and this year has issued only 10 free passes vs 58 strikeouts in 74 1⁄3 innings.
MLB offers this assessment:
At his best, Agrazal fills up the strike zone and gets a ton of ground-ball outs. His power sinker will touch 95-96 at times and sit in the low 90s, which has led to a career 1.48 GO/AO ratio entering the 2018 season, a rate that rose to 1.80 in 2017. Agrazal doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he never hurts himself with walks as evidenced by his 1.3 BB/9 ratio in the Minors. He has a decent feel for a changeup and can spin a breaking ball, though they typically grade out as fringe-average secondary offerings.
Raw stats
Year Age Level Team ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO 2013 18 F-Rk Pirates-2 2.40 13 12 60.0 57 21 16 2 17 32 2014 19 Rk Pirates 4.20 12 12 55.2 65 30 26 3 5 34 2015 20 SS-A Morgantown 2.72 14 14 76.0 71 27 23 3 11 45 2016 21 Low-A West Virginia 4.20 27 27 150.0 173 80 70 18 18 88 2017 22 High-A Bradenton 2.91 14 13 80.1 73 34 26 4 10 63 2017 22 Double-A Altoona 4.50 1 1 4.0 3 2 2 0 2 2 2018 23 High-A Bradenton 0.00 2 2 8.0 3 0 0 0 0 4 2018 23 Double-A Altoona 3.99 15 14 85.2 91 41 38 9 13 52 2019 24 Double-A Altoona 3.60 4 4 25.0 29 10 10 3 0 19 2019 24 Triple-A Indianapolis 3.10 8 8 49.0 38 19 17 4 10 39
Here is Oliver’s age adjusted MLEs for Agrazal
Year Age BFP GB% wOBA BA/ OB/ SA BH% HR% BB% SO% 2013 18 272 47.7 385 309/356/551 310 059 065 117 2014 19 238 53.5 346 301/312/510 313 044 022 138 2015 20 361 59.5 312 259/299/424 286 036 039 170 2016 21 637 49.3 369 313/337/533 326 053 029 139 2017 22 335 55.3 283 245/275/381 282 033 036 202 2018 23 420 51.3 362 299/340/510 309 248 042 146 2019 24 287 51.7 317 254/282/468 279 058 036 204
And Oliver’s 2019 projection after each season
Year Age Size ERA wOBA BA/ OB/ SA WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 2013 18 220 6.29 387 303/376/527 1.74 11.0 1.7 4.1 5.7 2014 19 350 5.14 356 286/344/484 1.51 10.2 1.4 3.1 5.7 2015 20 542 4.72 343 278/332/463 1.44 9.8 1.3 2.7 6.2 2016 21 886 5.01 354 291/335/497 1.45 10.4 1.5 2.1 5.7 2017 22 876 4.46 336 275/323/459 1.37 9.7 1.3 2.2 6.4 2018 23 948 4.88 350 284/334/481 1.45 10.1 1.5 2.4 6.0 2019 24 1087 4.48 339 273/318/474 1.35 9.6 1.5 2.1 6.5
The projections have been consistent since 2015, seeing a 4/5 pitcher with good control who throws ground balls but not many K’s and can get tagged with a long ball when he gets the ball up.
In other words, Ivan Nova.