What We Know About Tonight's Starter: RHP Randall Delgado

RHP Randall Delgado- Atlanta Braves

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

Age: 22

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 200

Acquired: 2006, International Free Agent (Panama).

Throws: Fastball (low to mid-90s), curveball, change-up.

Accolades: 2011: Baseball America’s pre-season #35 Prospect. 2012: Baseball America’s pre-season #46 Prospect.

Statistical Analysis: According to FanGraphs, big-bodied righty Randall Delgado throws three pitches regularly: A fastball that averaged a very strong 92.5 MPH last year, a change that comes in at 82.8 MPH and a curveball at 79.2 MPH. He throws the fastball about two thirds of the time and it’s for good reason—it was a value 3.3 pitch last year according to FanGraph’s PitchValue metric (this is a very strong number for the limited innings he had). He throws the change just under a quarter of the time and his curveball in only 11% of his pitches. Last year, in his short stint in the majors, the change-up was a below average offering but the curve was above average.

Minors: In the minors, Delgado struggled with control but struck out a good number of batters in the meantime. In 538 minor league innings, Randall walked 200 (3.3 BB/9 rate) and struck out 569 (9.5 K/9 and a 2.85 K/BB ratio). He had some trouble keeping the ball in the yard—allowing 15 home runs in his 139 minor league innings in 2011.

Scouting Report: For Fangraph’s top 15 Braves prospects, analyst Marc Hulet had this to say about the young righty: “Delgado has a big, strong pitcher’s frame and has provided at least 120 innings in each of his three full seasons. He has a little work to do with his control and overall consistency before he becomes a workhorse No. 2 or 3 starter for the Braves, perhaps beginning in 2013 after a full year of seasoning in triple-A. His repertoire includes a low-90s fastball that can hit the mid 90s. Both his curveball and changeup have the potential to be above-average weapons.”

Opinion: In the past few years I seem to recall the Mets having trouble with young arms they had never seen before. While that tendency along with Delgado’s skill set seems to point towards a long day for Mets hitters tomorrow, I believe the patient approach we have seen from the lineup over the first ten games will challenge that trend. The Mets need to get a feel for how Delgado’s fastball is early—where he is locating (or missing), what kind of movement it has, and what he goes to when ahead or behind in the count. This guy walks a lot of batters, so patience should be key early on in the outing as well. With five lefties likely in the lineup (Murphy, Ike, Duda, Nieuwenhuis, Thole), the power bats seemingly coming alive in the past few games, and patience at the top of the order, we should have a recipe for success against this young and promising pitcher the Braves have. If the Mets stick to the script from the first ten games they should be able to get to Delgado and hopefully Mr. Santana will take care of the rest.

LGM

Fangraphs link: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=5985&position=P