2011 SAL All-Stars: CL Michael Brady

Most of the players in the Sally League, even some of the top prospects, are usually at least three or four years from the big leagues. One notable exception is the power relievers. When a reliever can dominate Low-A hitters in their first season in full-season ball and have the power stuff to make evaluators know it wasn’t just a product of facing inexperienced hitters, they could be in the big leagues very quickly. Michael Brady fits that category, and for his efforts he is the closer on our S2S South Atlantic League All-Star team.

Name: Michael Brady 
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 200
Throws: R
Age: Turns 25 in March
2011 Teams: Greensboro Grasshoppers (SAL- MIA), Jacksonville Suns (Double-A SL- MIA)
Basic Pitching Stats: 7-1 record, 1.99 ERA, 81 strikeouts (11.5 K/9), 11 walks (1.6 BB/9), 4 homers allowed (0.6 HR/9), 18 saves, 41 games finished in 48 appearances and 61.1 IP with Greensboro and 1 appearance spanning 2 IP with Jacksonville

Background:

Moneyball sparked a debate about which is more valuable: stats (when available) or scouting information. Stats are nice, but sometimes they just can’t tell us everything. Take Michael Brady. Brady played shortstop and did some pitching at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California, but once he arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, he played exclusively the infield and wasn’t anything special at all, playing good defense but posting just .254/.306/.394 batting line. However, the Marlins incidentally saw him while scouting another prospect, and they were intrigued enough by his arm strength that they drafted him in the 24th round of the 2009 MLB Draft with the thought of moving him to the mound. After hitting just .086 in 15 professional games as an infielder in 2009, the Marlins moved Brady to the mound in 2010 and he was a natural, going 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA, a 7.9 K/9, an incredible 1.3 BB/9, and 3 saves in 26 appearances for Short Season-A Jamestown. In 2011, he showed his 2010 performance was no fluke.

General Thoughts:

Despite not pitching even a single game at college, Brady has a natural proclivity to pound the strike zone. According to Minor League Central‘s 2011 data, 79.3% of Brady’s pitches for Greensboro (we’re going to ignore his 2-inning stint with Jacksonville for right now) were within the strike zone, well above the 68.7% league average. That led to an incredible 1.5 BB/9, the 4th-best mark in the Sally minimum 50 IP. But Brady isn’t just a control freak. He features a nice low-90’s fastball with outstanding late movement along with a slider that has flashed plus, and his arsenal also helped him strike out 11.9 batters per 9 innings, also the 4th-best mark in the SAL, and between his control, his swing-and-miss ability, and his ability to keep the ball in the ballpark, Brady led all South Atlantic League pitchers minimum 50 IP in FIP (1.85) and SIERA (1.67). And it wasn’t even close. The second place pitchers in FIP and SIERA were at 2.09 and 2.19 respectively.

Against Brady, hitters made contact on just 42.2% of their swings compared to the 59.2% league average, including 42.3% on pitches in the zone, even though Brady was hitting target after target and hitters had to know Brady was going to almost unremittingly throw them strikes. When hitters did make contact, they still were not very successful. Without a pitch with significant downward movement, Brady forced a 42.6% groundball rate among the balls put in play against him, actually a tad below the 42.8% league average. But hitters couldn’t square up his pitches, hitting line drives on just 11.3% of batted balls compared to the 16.4% league average. Brady allowed a few too many flyballs, 42.2% of his batted balls compared to the 36.4% league average. But among flyballs to the outfield, Brady actually wasn’t very lucky as 8.7% of the flyballs hit to the outfield against him went for home runs compared to the 9.0% league average. Brady’s batted ball tendencies weren’t elite, but considering that he was so dominant in terms of walks and strikeouts, it really didn’t make much of a difference. Just 56.6% of all plate appearances against Brady ended in a ball in play compared to the 66.6% average.

Brady continued to make the Marlins scouting department look lite geniuses in 2011 with an electrifying performance as the closer for the South Atlantic League champion Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Moving Forward:

It tells you something that when the Marlins’ Double-A Jacksonville franchise needed a reliever for a spot-appearance, instead of going with a reliever from the Jupiter Hammerheads in the High-A Florida State League, they shipped Michael Brady in from North Carolina, an additional three hours away by car. The Marlins have high hopes for Brady as a late=inning reliever in coming years. Brady was unstoppable in 2011 in the Sally League, so much so that the Marlins will likely skip him over Jupiter and head him straight to Jacksonville. Michael Brady has the potential to be a key part of the revamped Miami Marlins roster sooner rather than later.

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