FanPost

End of Seasn Review – Florida Complex Pitchers

The average age for pitchers in the FCL this year was 21.0 There were 16 teams, and average team ages ranged from 19.8 (Pirates) to 22.1 (Astros Orange). The average age for the Cardinals was 20.7, which was the 5th youngest group.

The Cardinals, like the Class A team, play at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. This is a pitcher's park that really suppresses power. It is also a park that has Statcast. They record Statcast data for A ball games, but apparently not for FCL games.

The average batting line for the league was .232/.342/.350 for a .691 OPS. The average K rate was 25%. The average walk rate was 12%. The average BJM was 7.4%. Teams scored 5.3 runs per nine innings, 4.85 per game.

FCL Cardinal pitchers were young, but they played in a pitcher’s park. They were solid, but not spectacular as a group. They had 19 pitchers at the end of the year.

First, let’s look at who threw the most innings.

Name

Age

Throws

Innings

K%

xFIP

K-BB%

Benjamin Arias

20

Right

42

20.5

4.70

9.7

Wilmer Ortega

21

Right

34

26.8

3.88

20.4

Diorys Guerrero

21

Left

29.2

27.7

3.97

16.2

Edwin Nunez

20

Right

26.2

19.3

5.18

6.7

Augusto Calderon

21

Right

23.1

26.8

3.73

17.9

Victor Villanueva

21

Right

22

33.0

3.26

22.3

Yoanel Dominguez (20), Jose Davila (19), and Hancel Rincon (20) would have made that list, but they advanced to A ball. Arias had the most starts, 11 of his 12 appearances. These guys did not throw a lot of innings.

Second, let’s look at the yutes.

Three teens, all 19, finished the year here and one, Jose Davila, advanced to A ball.

Name

Age

Throws

Innings

K%

xFIP

K-BB%

Yordy Richard

19

Right

12

21.7

6.05

4.3

Ettore Giulanelli

19

Right

10

20.0

6.52

-4.4

Alec Willis

19

Right

11.1

34.8

2.28

30.4

Yordy and Ettore struggled. Alec Willis did not. Alec Willis was the break out pitcher this year, and he is on the Tink Hence path, but a year behind (same age as Hence, but a level below).

Finally, let’s look at the promising arms here.

Besides the teens, there are some other notable pitchers. Also, with no video coverage, people can only see these guys in person. The club has brought all these arms here, and it is hard to really say anything based on 3 months of games and mostly less than 30IP.

Here are 6 guys to know.

Alec Willis – ’21 draft pick with lots of potential

Edwin Nunez – IFA, huge fastball, huge control problems

Ludwin Jimenez – good in the complex, struggles in A ball, still only 20

Randel Clemente – big arm, FG ranked 33

Angel Cuenca – spent some time in A ball, still only 20

Ettore Giulanelli – he’s Italian!

It is really hard to know much about these guys. You can see some signals, but even those might not mean much. My six guys might struggle while 6 others make the majors.