Bryan Price - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 11/13/1986 - Height: 6'4" - Weight: 210 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right
| Year | Age | Team | Lvl | W | L | ERA | G | GS | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | BB/9 | K/9 | WHIP |
| 2008 | 21 | Lowell | A- | 1 | 3 | 3.83 | 12 | 9 | 40.0 | 47 | 17 | 2 | 10 | 43 | .281 | 2.3 | 9.7 | 1.43 |
| 2009 | 22 | Greenville | A | 3 | 2 | 2.45 | 8 | 8 | 44.0 | 37 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 40 | .223 | 2.5 | 8.2 | 1.11 |
| 2009 | 22 | Salem | A+ | 1 | 6 | 6.54 | 11 | 11 | 52.1 | 62 | 38 | 4 | 19 | 57 | .288 | 3.3 | 9.8 | 1.55 |
| 2009 | 22 | Kinston | A+ | 2 | 4 | 4.95 | 7 | 7 | 36.1 | 38 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 30 | .268 | 2.5 | 7.5 | 1.33 |
| Totals | 7 | 15 | 4.53 | 38 | 35 | 172.2 | 184 | 87 | 17 | 51 | 170 | .267 | 2.7 | 8.9 | 1.36 |
History: Price was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 1st round of the 2008 Draft out of Rice University. He was acquired by the Indians on July 31, 2009 as part of a three player package the Indians received from the Red Sox for Victor Martinez. When he was selected in the 2008 Draft, he only had pitched in 46 career college games and thrown 65.2 total innings. He signed with the Red Sox for $850K.Strengths & Opportunities: Price is a physical, strong, athletic right-handed pitcher who has some great stuff, highlighted by a very good fastball-slider combination. His fastball sits at 91-94 MPH as a starter and tops out at 95 MPH, though as a reliever the velocity is noticeably higher across the board as he will sit at 94-95 MPH and has touched as high as 97 MPH in the past. The Indians feel there is more fastball in there, and they feel that once he gets more settled into the strike zone and can really start to get more aggressive with his arm slot and with his arm speed that there is a potential for more power. His plus slider is a major league offering with good tilt and true swing and miss ability. His slider is his go to secondary pitch as he has a lot of confidence throwing it at anytime in any count. He has the ability to get strikeouts and has leverage to his pitches, and is also very intelligent.
Price is still kind of raw and just needs work as he did not pitch a lot in college and only has a year and a half of experience pitching in pro ball. As a result, while he has some great stuff, he is still in the early stages of learning how to command and control all of his pitches. He also throws a changeup, but it is still very much a work in progress, mostly because he never used it in college at Rice because he was the closer. To help improve his changeup he has worked on trying a few new grips to try and take a few MPH off it. There was some talk late last season of him maybe adding a curveball or splitter to his pitch mix or having it replace his changeup.
Price's delivery is very good and his mechanics are sound, but he needs to firm up his arm slot in order to keep his stuff more consistent. Command is the big area of focus with him as he controls his pitches well, but has a hard time consistently commanding them. His delivery is also at times affected by an inconsistent effort level, so he needs to get better at not overthrowing since when he does it exposes his slot too soon. His slider can lose its sharpness when he tries to muscle the pitch up. When his slider is on the plate hitters struggle with it, so it is just a matter of getting him more consistently on the plate with it. The Indians are also working on instilling in him a mindset to be more aggressive on the mound and have challenged him to attack hitters and to pitch inside a little more. They would also like to see an improved changeup, and more action with his two-seam fastball.
Outlook: The Indians continued to use Price as a starter after they acquired him last year, but at some point he likely will be transitioned to a full-time priority bullpen role, quite possibly this coming season. His true value as a big leaguer lies in the bullpen, so if the Indians feel his fastball-slider mix is ready to attack hitters in a relief role they will move him to the bullpen this year, otherwise they will leave him in a starting role to continue to get the regular reps in order to refine the command and control of those two pitches. With his up and down performance last year at the High-A level and just a little over a half year's work at a level the Indians deem as one of the most important stops for a minor leaguer, it is very possible that Price could return to High-A Kinston to open the 2010 season. That said, it appears the move to the bullpen will occur this spring and that he will open the 2010 season in the Double-A Akron bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Tony Lastoria
Bryan Price MinorLeagueBaseball.com page
Bryan Price Baseball-Reference page
Bryan Price MinorLeagueSplits.com page
Bryan Price Pitching:
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2 comments:
Tony, thank you for all the insight. I think you talked to a scout who had watched Price this year at Kinston and said he was expecting to see a blazing mid 90's fastball but only saw a 90-91 fastball from him. The scout did compliment his secondary stuff. Do we need to be concerned about his drop in velocity?
Matt, thanks. I believe Price may have been going through a dead arm phase. Remember that he had just 65 career college innings in 2-3 years, and last year he threw 130+ innings in his first full season. So he may have been a tired pitcher, which would explain the velo decrease at the end of the season. There was nothing that was concerning at least to this point. Should be interesting if they do complete the change to the bullpen for him this year and how his velocity looks late in spring.
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