9-11-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
The Pirates have only successfully swept one team in a 3-game series this season, taking all three games against the Chicago White Sox prior to the All Star break. However, they won all 4 games when they faced the Marlins in Miami to start the year and are poised for a rare season sweep of the Fish if they can beat them again today, facing spot starter Jonathan Bermudez.
The once-Top 30 prospect in the Astros system, Burmudez has struggled to break through to the majors, spending the better part of 5 seasons in the minors before finally breaking through with the Marlins last month.
The 6’2 southpaw has just 4.2 major league innings under his belt and likely wouldn’t be expected to pitch too deep into the game but it’s still important to know what to expect:
Burmudez essentially has three pitches: a high-80s 4-seam fastball, a low-80s changeup and a slider/sweeper pitch that ranges from low-70s to low-80s. He is a prototypical lefty pitcher with low velocity, strikeout potential and messy control.
Over his minor league career, he has a 26.2% K rate but also a 9.8% walk rate and those numbers have trended in the wrong direction with a 23.6% K rate and 11.6% walk rate this season between 17 games split between AA and AAA.
Similar to yesterday with Oller, Pirates will want to be patient at the plate and make Bermudez work into the zone rather than letting him expand it.
Look for the high fastball – which MLB opponents are batting .556 against in a small sample size – and attack them.
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 