D-backs GM: Don’t expect Archie Bradley in the big leagues yet
Jun 20, 2013, 12:23 AM | Updated: 12:36 am
As far as Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospects go, Archie Bradley may very well be the most intriguing of the bunch.
Selected with the seventh-overall pick in the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft, the 20-year-old has risen through the team’s farm system at a steady rate, compiling a 2.90 ERA over in 220.2 professional innings.
Currently with Double-A Mobile, the right-hander has a 1.50 ERA to go along with a 5-2 record. He’s struck out 54 batters in 54 innings of work, while walking 26.
He’s been good. Very good. And because of that, along with the emergence of top-flight young starters all around baseball, some are wondering if the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Bradley may not be long for the minor leagues.
“I think he still needs to make a few more starts down in Double-A,” D-backs general manager Kevin Towers told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf Wednesday. “He’s coming along well, pitching well.
“I think the innings down there are good for him.”
Towers admitted that when he sees someone like Miami’s Jose Fernandez who, at 20, held the D-backs to just two runs on three hits Thursday, it is fun to think about a matchup with someone like he and Bradley.
But, even with the team’s struggles in the rotation — with both effectiveness and injuries — Towers has no plans to rush his top prospect along.
“In due time,” he said of when Bradley will get a call up. “I think the innings are good for him down there now, and I guess there’s always a chance he could be here by the end of the year, but we like how things are going right now down in Mobile.”
