Things are already looking good for the Indians 2016 draft as Shane Bieber has already hit the Majors, Conner Capel (Oscar Mercado), Ryder Ryan (Jay Bruce) and Samad Taylor (Joe Smith) have been traded to improve the franchise and Nolan Jones has become the Tribe’s top position prospect. With them and many others already reaching the upper minors, it would be easy to think that we already know what the Indians will get from that draft. Raymond Burgos showed this year that there may be at least one more prize left.
Burgos was taken in the 18th round back in 2016, between Trenton Brooks (who just finished a really nice season in Lynchburg) and Dakody Clemmer (Lake County), but unlike those two and every other player who signed after round 10 in, Burgos was taken straight out of high school. While projected to be a solid prospect, Burgos was likely willing to sign despite being taken so late and having a commitment to Florida A&M because of his injured shoulder. He had labrum surgery in 2016 and missed all of that season as well as 2017.
The first time I was able to see Burgos pitch was on May 29th against the Reds in extended spring training and instantly he stuck out from the rest of the crowd at that level. While he did allow four runs including a home run from Leonardo Seminati, he struck out six in five innings and allowed just five hits without a walk. While he was around the same age (19) as his teammates, he was much more advanced in terms of control, velocity and movement on his slider. He may not have pitched in any official professional games between 2016 and spring of 2018, but he was definitely working as he added considerable velocity to what Perfect Game noted as a 89 MPH fastball and 75 MPH slider back in 2015.
In addition, since then he has grown an inch and dropped five pounds, making him an imposing presence on the mound. Coming from a three quarters delivery, he doesn’t take full advantage of his height, but this arm action works with the slider and stays consistent when throwing any of his three primary pitches.
Unlike most pitchers coming off injury and playing in their first season, Burgos came out of the game this summer working a full starter’s load. He threw four innings in his official professional debut on June 20th, just over two years after initially being drafted, then went five in his next start to earn the win over a Cubs 1 team that would ultimately finish the season in second place in the Arizona League. In these early appearances, he wasn’t getting the swings and misses that he would later on, but he allowed just eight hits and two earned runs over his first nine innings.
It was in his fourth appearance of the season that things started to turn around. Again facing Cubs 1, Burgos came in as a reliever after Matt Esparza made a rehab start and Kellen Rholl hastily replaced him in the first inning. Because of this unforeseen situation, Burgos wasn’t able to come in to start the second inning clean, but had two runners on with just one out and the Indians 1 facing 6-0 deficit. Unfased, Burgos immediately induced a double play to end the inning, then struck out three of his next five batters faced. While he would allow three more earned runs that game, he struck out six batters in 4.2 innings after coming into a very difficult situation against a very good team.
From that point on, Burgos never had a game with fewer than four strike outs, including an appearance against the eventual AZL champion Dodgers on August 8th that was cancelled after just two innings. That was one of only two games this year that Burgos didn’t at least pitch into four innings with the other being against the Reds on July 1st when he was hit in the hand and had to exit the game early. Despite this injury, he was able to make his next start as scheduled.
After making a full season’s worth of starts, Burgos hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start until his final regular season appearance. In his second to last start, Burgos may have turned his finest performance of the season to that point, lasting 5.2 innings against Cubs 2, striking out six and allowing just one earned run, but he followed that with his worst. On August 23rd against the White Sox he allowed five runs in 3.2 innings. Despite this, eight of his nine hits allowed were singles and he still walked just one batter.
Even with one rough start at an unfortunate time, it was still Burgos who Larry Day went with in the Indians 1 first round play-off game against Texas. There, he went toe to toe with MLB pitcher Chi-Chi Gonzalez, striking out 10 in 5.2 two hit innings. The only run allowed came in the second inning when Stanley Martinez hit a solo home run to left field, just the third home run allowed by Burgos during his 63.2 AZL innings.
Burgos didn’t earn the win despite his magnificent effort as the Indians were unable to score their second run until the 10th inning and ultimately lost the game in the 12th. This ended the season for the AZL Indians 1, but the effort earned Burgos an extra scene during the credits of his 2018 season. One day after making his play-off start, Burgos was promoted to Mahoning Valley where he was able to stay on his normal five day schedule and pitch one final time for the Scrappers.
Pitching the final regular season game for Mahoning Valley, Burgos put together the best game of his career, striking out nine in 5.2 innings while allowing just five hits (all singles) and no other base runners. Mahoning Valley was swept out of the play-offs in just two games, so Burgos wasn’t able to make a second appearance, but his lone start in short season was dominant enough to prove he belonged.
In addition to his tremendous talent, Burgos has a few things going for him heading into the future. Despite missing two seasons, Burgos doesn’t turn 20 until November and will still be significantly younger than the average player in the New York-Penn League where he will likely start the 2019 season. He has already proven capable in facing newly drafted hitters out of high school and college and should quickly advance to Lake County where he can face some more developed batters.
While he is still young for his level, Burgos has work to do to catch up to the rest of his class, much of which is already in high A. This shouldn’t really be a priority, but I do think he will ultimately surpass the vast majority of pitchers taken that season. Burgos may not have many professional games under his belt, but he has already shown me enough to make me a believer. His high K rate and low walk rate are exactly what the Indians look for in a pitcher and his maturity should allow him to move quickly through the system without falling behind.
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