BPKC Hitter of the Day: Angel Medina 2-3 4R, HR, 3b, 3 RBI, 2 BB

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Daniel Lynch 5 IP 3H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 K 3-4 GO-FO 51p/40k

Wilmington Blue Rocks 7 Lynchburg Hillcats 6

Rocks starter Daniel Tillo struggled with his control once again as he walked five hitters in five innings and hit one more during his five-inning start. Two of those free passes helped toward a three-run first inning in which Tillo gave up a two-run triple and an RBI double before settling some. In the fourth, he allowed his tenth home run of the season to put the Rocks down 4-1. In the fifth inning, Wilmington countered with an RBI double by Blake Perkins and Gabe Cancel’s single that scored him. The Rocks trailed 6-3 into the ninth but they countered with four runs getting rbi hits from Vance Vizcaino and Blake Perkins to score two before Gabe Cancel doubled in two more to take a 7-6 lead. Reliever Julio Pinto loaded the bases with no outs with two hits and a walk allowed but his replacement Tyler Zuber entered and saved the game for the Rocks, getting a forceout at the plate, a strikeout and a flyout to right to end it in winning fashion.

Blake Perkins: 2-4 2R, 2b, 3b, 2 RBI
Dan Tillo: 5 IP 4 H 4 R 4 ER 5 BB 4 K HBP 7-3 GO-FO 88p/53k
Gabe Cancel: 3-5 2-2b, 3 RBI

Game 1 San Antonio Mission 4 NW Arkansas Naturals 3 F/8
Game 2 San Antonio Mission 4 NW Arkansas Naturals 3

Starter Arnaldo Hernandez struggled with his control, walking four while allowing seven hits in six innings. Five of those hits were singles that led to three runs against him to put NW Arkansas down 3-0. The Naturals countered with a run scoring single by Khalil Lee and a two-run home run by Alex Liddi to tie things up, but the Naturals couldn’t score in extras and reliever Andres Machado walked in a run for a Padres affiliate win.

The second game was much like the first except the Naturals built a 3-1 lead through eight innings only to watch struggling relievers Franco Terrero and Bryan Brickhouse give it away in the last two innings. The young Terrero has given up five runs in his last two outings after four scoreless while Brickhouse has yet to collect himself at the Double-A level with seven runs given up in two and one-third.

Khalil Lee: 2-6 2 RBI, 2 BB, SB
Anderson Miller: 2-7 2 R, 2b
Jecksson Flores: 2-7, BB, SB

Omaha Storm Chasers 3 Memphis Redbirds 0

The Chasers needed Zach Lovvorn for a start to replace Trevor Oaks after his promotion. The right-hander worked around four hits and three walks with just one strikeout over six scoreless innings. Outfielder Paulo Orlando hit a two-run home run and scored his second run after doubling to help towards the Chasers three runs. Relievers Josh Staumont and Richard Lovelady tossed the final three scoreless in between a rain delay to earn the win.

Richard Lovelady: 1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 BB 0 K 2-0 GO-FO 13/8 p/k
Paulo Orlando: 2-4 2R, 2b, HR, 2 RBI
Cam Gallagher: 1-4 RBI

Suspended Gm Princeton Rays 11 Burlington Royals 10 F/11
Princeton Rays 11 Burlington Royals 9 F/10

The Rays scored three runs in the 11th inning of the suspended game after tying things up in the ninth to take a commanding lead. The Royals got within a run with a Jose Marquez RBI single with one out single but they failed to tie the game with a strikeout by Juan Carlos Negret and a Freddy Fermin groundout.

In the regularly scheduled game, Daniel Lynch tossed five scoreless with just three singles with five strikeouts to position himself for his first win. The offense capably backed Lynch with a pair of home runs by Angel Medina and Jose Marquez in the first two innings to put four runs on the board. The Royals added a pair of runs in the third inning and another in the fifth to build a 7-0 lead. The bullpen couldn’t hold that lead, giving up eight runs over the final three innings to even the game at 8-8. In extras, the bullpen continued their struggles, giving up three runs in the tenth to lead to another Burlington loss.

Jose Marquez: 2-5 HR, 2 RBI

Orem Owlz 7 Idaho Falls Chukars 0

Newcomer Kris Bubic gave up three runs (2 ER) in his first appearance in the Royals org. The lefty gave up three hits and walked a pair while the defense struggled behind him. His replacement Tyler Gray gave up four runs in two and one-third innings while the Chukars offense mustered just six hits in the shutout.

Kyle Isbel: 0-4
Kris Bubic: 2.2 IP 3 H 3 R 2 ER 2 BB 1 K 6-1 GO-FO 47p/28
Reed Rohlman: 2-3 BB

Thursday Boxscores

Friday Probables
Omaha – TBD
NW Arkansas – Emilio Ogando 4-5 6.71 ERA 2.19 WHIP
Wilmington – Jace Vines 2-8 5.25 ERA 1.62 WHIP
Lexington – Charlie Neuweiler 0-1 4.20 ERA 1.40 WHIP
Burlington – Marcelo Martinez 0-2 1.64 ERA 0.73 WHIP
Idaho Falls – Connor Mayes 2-1 6.08 ERA 1.73 WHIP

Grayson Rodriguez – Not many prep arms were flying up draft boards as quickly as this big Texas arm was early in the mock season. At 6’5, 230 lbs Rodriguez definitely looks the part of a major league pitcher from that frame and would compare to current Royals prospect Carlos Hernandez in terms of size. Where he might differ from Hernandez is in his ability to throw the breaking ball, with Grayson tossing both a curve and a slider that look to be future major league average or both above that. MLB Pipeline rates the future slider a tick above average where Baseball America likes the future of the curveball more. A feel for spin is a plus for any pitcher and a major plus with the Royals considering some of their pitchers in the past have struggled to refine their breaking balls along the way.

It’s likely the Royals would want him to lean heavier on his slow mid-70s curve as they favor a pitch that can come across multiple planes as opposed to a harder late biting two plane slider. Still, he would have both in his back pocket with a slight feel for a changeup that would need more reps to turn into an average pitch. Of course, all of the pitches are thrown off a fastball that sits 92-95 mph while regularly hitting 98 mph with hard late movement. The pitch is above major league average currently and could result in a future 70 offering if he can command it up to capability. There is some athleticism and ability to repeat his mechanics, leading one to believe that he could have a tick better than average future control with average command. With all the hard-throwing prep arms who are maxing out, there is the possibility of his stuff backing up resulting in a 90-93 mph fastball instead of the current variety. That is where the breaking ball mix comes in handy for this pitcher’s future as well as his ability to continue to work with Evans.

Adam Kloffenstein – While Rodriguez could be maxed out, a second Texas big pitcher could have some future projection despite a 6-5, 220 lbs frame. That skinny body looks like it could put on more strength, and his age at just 17 years old until August which makes him one of the few that isn’t well past his 18th birthday at the time of the draft. Playing alongside Jordan Groshans at Magnolia HS, Kloffenstein has had plenty of opportunities to throw in front of scouts there and in the Perfect Game circuit that he’s pitched in since his 13th birthday. The fastball works in the low 91-94 mph range with sinking action that allows him to generate plenty of groundball contact against the best of the best prospects during the summer circuit and in high school.

Next to that fastball is a low-80s slider that he shows an excellent feel for and can use to generate groundball contact or earn a swing and miss. In the past it was more of a curveball shape but morphed into a slider, this could possibly be worked more into a downer curve which is likely something the Royals organization would prefer. Like his teammate Groshans, he’s a strong student and has feel for the game, inputting that intelligence onto the field where he can mix and match his stuff to keep hitters off balance. The changeup shows some feel but is more of a firm offering and will need reps to turn into a better pitch. The future upside on Kloffenstein may match that of Rodriguez and the other prep right-handers in this draft even if his current stock isn’t quite as high.

Both prospects would be excellent additions for the Royals and I hope are being heavily considered with one of their selections.

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More BPKC Draft content here

BPKC Hitter of the Day: John Brontsema 4-4 2R, HR, 2b, 2 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Wily Peralta 4 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 K 5-0 GO-FO 47p/33k

West Virginia Power 3 Lexington Legends 2

Each team had trouble connecting with runners in scoring position in this one, but the Power did just that, powering up for a win. The Legends used errors to plate both of their runs after an 0-5 effort with runners in scoring position. Solo home runs off Nolan Watson in the first and sixth innings combined with a run on a wild pitch against Watson contributed to the other in the loss.

Nick Pratto: 1-4 3K
MJ Melendez: 1-4 2K
Sebastian Rivero: 0-3 SAC

Wilmington Blue Rocks 3 Myrtle Beach Pelicans 1

A fluky inside the park home run paved the way for a Wilmington win on Thursday night. The Wilmington pitching staff did their part on the night, limiting Myrtle Beach to just one run on six hits and four walks as they combined to strikeout thirteen hitters on the night. Starter Ofreidy Gomez’s wavering control limited him to just five innings but he was able to escape four hits and three walks allowed to just one run against in that time. From there, the bullpen of Grant Gavin, Josh Mitchell and Bryan Brickhouse shutdown the Pelican lineup for the final four innings. With the game tied 1-1 into the bottom of the eighth, Nick Heath hit a shallow pop up to left that caused the two outfielders to collide, allowing Chris DeVito to come home from second and the blazing fast Heath to race all the way around the bases for a little league inside the park home run.

Bryan Brickhouse: 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 11p/7k
Josh Mitchell: 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 16p/12k
Nick Heath: 3-4 2R, HR, 2 RBI

NW Arkansas Naturals 9 Arkansas Travelers 7

The Naturals offense continued their hot run, jumping all over Arkansas starter Johendi Jiminian for eight runs in the first three innings of this one. Four different NW Arkansas hitters had multi-hit games with John Brontsema and Anderson Miller leading the way with a home run and double each. It was Brontsema’s fifth inning home run that pushed the advantage to 9-3 which would be too large for the Travelers to overcome despite five runs off Scott Blewett and a late run off reliever Walker Sheller when he struggled to close the door in the ninth.

Scott Blewett: 6 IP 7 H 5 R 5 ER 3 BB 0 K 13-8 GO-FO 101p/56k
Nicky Lopez: 0-3
Anderson Miller: 2-3 2R, HR, 2b, 2 RBI, BB

Iowa Cubs 4 Omaha Storm Chasers 3 F/11

Starter Heath Fillmyer could give his team just four innings in this one, allowing three runs in the fourth to end his night in favor of rehabbing Justin Grimm. The Chasers pen kept Iowa off the board for the next six innings but a struggling Omaha offense could muster just a three-run eighth to tie the game. In that inning, a solo home run by Paulo Orlando, RBI double by Humberto Artea and a run-scoring single from Billy Burns provided the three runs. Tied into extras, the Cubs took home the win in the eleventh frame on a single against Brandon Maurer after Omaha failed to cash in on two opportunities with the free runner.

Ryan O’Hearn: 0-1 3BB
Jack Lopez: 1-4 R, 2b, SB
Paulo Orlando: 1-4 HR

Thursday Boxscores

Friday Probables
Omaha – Scott Barlow 1-1 2.66 ERA 1.33 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Emilio Ogando 2-2 6.26 ERA 2.05 WHIP
Wilmington – Gerson Garabito 1-2 2.34 ERA 1.33 WHIP
Lexington – Carlos Hernandez 1-1 3.68 ERA 0.95 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day Donnie Dewees 3-4 2R, 2b, 2 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Franco Terrero 2 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 4 K 2-0 GO-FO 35p/20k

Delmarva Shorebirds 9 Lexington Legends 2

Another rough outing for Nolan Watson in this one as the former 1st round pick gave up nine runs on ten hits in five innings. The rough stuff started from the start of the game, allowing the first three hitters of the game to reach including a run-scoring double by T. J. Nichting that led to a two-run first inning. Two more in the second and five more in the fifth with three home runs surrendered for Watson to run his season ERA to 7.88. The offense struggled to get much going on their end getting a two-run home run by Brewer Hicklen but nothing else in the loss.

Brewer Hicklen 1-2 HR, 2 RBI, BB
Seuly Matias 0-3 BB, 2 K
Nick Pratto 1-3 BB, 2 K

Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Carolina Mudcats 4

The Rocks took an early 3-0 lead in this one with rbi singles by Khalil Lee, Emmanuel Rivera and D.J. Burt in the first two innings. It was a battle for Gerson Garabito on his side with another three walk start from the right-hander but he escaped five innings with two runs allowed to leave with a lead in hand. Unfortunately, reliever Vance Tatum couldn’t lock things down, giving up a pair of runs on a two-out triple in the seventh. The Rocks quickly answered in the eighth with a rbi single by Kort Peterson before loading the bases with the help of an error and getting a bases-loaded walk to Chris DeVito to take the lead back. Reliever Bryan Brickhouse would enter in the eighth, working around a walk but getting the final six outs to earn his sixth save of the season.

Khalil Lee 2-4 2b, 2 RBI, BB
Emmanuel Rivera 1-5 R, RBI
Gerson Garabito 5 IP 8 H 2 R 2 ER 3 BB 6 K 3-2 GO-FO 97p/55k

NW Arkansas Naturals 7 Tulsa Drillers 3

The Naturals kept the hits coming on Friday night, finishing one shy of ten for just the second time in their last eight games but nine was enough on this night. The Drillers scored three unearned runs on a leadoff error and five hits off starter Zach Lovvorn in the first inning. In their half of the inning, the Naturals would quickly counter scoring a pair of runs with rbi singles by Erick Mejia and Nick Dini after the first four hitters in the inning all reached with singles. An inning later Mejia tripled in a pair and Nicky Lopez singled him in to give NW Arkansas a 5-3 lead. From there Lovvorn retired eleven of the final thirteen hitters he would face getting through six innings with just those three runs allowed in the first. The Naturals leadoff man Donnie Dewees having scored two runs earlier in the game drove in a pair in the bottom of the sixth to expand the lead and give more than enough room to hang onto the win.

Nicky Lopez 2-4 RBI
Erick Mejia 2-4 2R, 3b, 3 RBI
Jake Newberry 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 1K

Iowa Cubs 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Omaha entered this game with the worst offense in the PCL in OPS and did very little to change that, getting shutout on just three hits through eight innings. This made Heath Fillmyer the likely loser after allowing four runs (3 ER) in six innings, giving up eight hits and three walks with a pair of two-run innings in the third and sixth innings. An insurance run in the ninth off Mike Broadway made it 5-0 heading into the last of the ninth for Omaha. Cubs reliever Dillon Maples quickly walked the bases loaded and walked in a run with one out to leave the Chasers an opportunity at a comeback. With a new reliever in the game, Paulo Orlando singled in a pair to get Omaha within a pair of runs but Humberto Arteaga would strikeout and Billy Burns would groundout to end the rally and the Chasers 1-7 homestand.

Ryan O’Hearn 1-3 R, BB
Hunter Dozier 0-2 R, 2BB
Richard Lovelady 2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K 0-5 GO-FO 30p/18k

Friday Boxscores

Saturday Probables
Omaha – Scott Barlow 1-0 1.08 ERA 1.20 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Scott Blewett 1-3 4.40 ERA 1.73 WHIP
Wilmington – Arnaldo Hernandez 4-0 2.61 ERA 1.48 WHIP
Lexington – Carlos Hernandez 0-1 11.57 ERA 2.57 WHIP

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Kort Peterson 3-4 2R, HR, SB (1), CS (1)

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Scott Barlow 4.2 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 5 K 5-2 GO-FO 63p/45k

Charleston RiverDogs 3 Lexington Legends 2

The Legends offensive struggles in Charleston continued from their two shutout weekend losses, scoring two runs while going just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. The Legends had just five hits in this one spread around by just three players. Catcher Sebastian Rivero led the way with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored while also throwing out an attempted base stealer. Starter Garrett Davila allowed just two runs, yielding six hits and a walk in his six innings of work getting a no-decision despite his solid effort. The game remained tied until the ninth when closer Tyler Zuber gave up three consecutive singles to allow the Yankees Low-A club to walk off with a win.

Brewer Hicklen: 2-4 2b, RBI, SB (2)
Sebastian Rivero: 2-4 R, 2-2b, RBI
Nick Pratto: 0-4 K

Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 Potomac Nationals 3

The Rocks Arnaldo Hernandez gave them his second quality start of the season, which combined with some stellar bullpen work was enough to defeat the Nats. Over six innings of work, he scattered six hits and walk, giving up just two runs (1 ER) before yielding to the pen. Returnees from last year’s club, D.J. Burt and Kort Peterson, each reached base multiple times with the two of them scoring all five of the Rocks runs. With three walks and a single Burt raised his on-base percentage to .500, scoring three runs in the process, but it was Peterson’s fourth home run of the year that gave Wilmington the lead back in the sixth. Closer Bryan Brickhouse worked the final inning and one-third for his fifth save, recording two strikeouts in the process.

Bryan Brickhouse: 1.1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K 0-1 GO-FO 20p/16k
Emmanuel Rivera: 1-2 3 RBI, 2 BB
Gabe Cancel: 2-4

NW Arkansas Naturals 5 Arkansas Travelers 2

The Naturals continued their stellar work from the bullpen in a series-clinching win over Arkansas on Monday. After a run in the second, Samir Duenez blasted a two-run home run in the fourth, his fifth of the season. The bullpen took over for lefty Emilio Ogando in the fifth after he gave up a couple of runs but Sam Selman stranded the tying run on base with an inning-ending flyout in that inning. From there, Selman combined with Franco Terrero and Jake Newberry to work the final four and one-third innings scoreless to lock down the win.

Samir Duenez: 1-4 HR, 3 RBI
Donnie Dewees: 2-5 R, RBI
Nick Dini: 1-3 R, 2b, 2BB

New Orleans Baby Cakes 6 Omaha Storm Chasers 4 F/10

The Royals Scott Barlow made his third start with the Chasers Monday, still on a limited pitch count between his ferrying back and forth to Kansas City and work in the bullpen. The Baby Cakes had bludgeoned the Chasers starters over the weekend, but Barlow held his own in this one, striking out five in four and two-thirds leaving with a runner on base for reliever Wily Peralta and a 3-0 lead. That lead with Peralta on the mound was quickly cut to one when he gave up a two-run home run. The Omaha offense, which had scored three runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Frank Schwindel and an RBI groundout by Paulo Orlando, went silently through the ninth, allowing New Orleans to tie it in the eighth off Peralta with a run-scoring single. The Baby Cakes took advantage of Brandon Maurer in the tenth with three runs with the free baserunner, a hit by pitch, intentional walk and a pair of singles to put the game out of reach for the Chasers.

Adalberto Mondesi: 2-5 SB (4)
Frank Schwindel: 3-4 2b, 3 RBI, BB
Hunter Dozier: 1-4 2R, BB

Monday Boxscores

Tuesday Probables 
Omaha – Kyle Lohse 0-0 11.25 ERA 2.50 WHIP
NW Arkansas – Glenn Sparkman 2-2 2.96 ERA 1.06 WHIP
Wilmington – Cristian Castillo 1-3 8.78 ERA 1.91 WHIP

They did just that spending in the neighborhood of $14 million dollars, a franchise record, with the bulk of that money going to Bubba Starling and seven other players. While Starling was the sure-fire star, there was one pitcher among the four who they spent over $500k on that stood out in Bryan Brickhouse, the 3rd round selection and new $1.5m bonus baby. That bonus was equal to the largest that Dayton Moore had given 1st round pick Aaron Crow year prior, the highest a pitcher had been given by the GM if you choose to believe that Luke Hochevar wasn’t a Moore pick. It was Starling and Brickhouse as well as the younger players in the system that consisted of Cheslor Cuthbert and Jorge Bonifacio among a few others that were supposed to lead the second wave.

Bryan signing his first contract with Kansas City

The Royals at that time had a pretty specific plan with their newly drafted pitching prospects. With the one exception of Tyler Sample, the pitchers selected in the year’s previous draft would head out to full-season Low-A ball in Burlington, IA or their new home at the time in Kane County after the midwest weather would thaw. It was a plan that into 2012 looked as if it had worked quite well for Mike Montgomery, John Lamb and Danny Duffy with all three pitchers becoming big name prospects and appearing to be the proper plan for the newest prep pitcher Brickhouse. An assignment would come to Kane County in June after a tune-up start in Idaho Falls and while the results were less than spectacular, the hard-throwing prepster made 11 starts on the year while tossing 53 innings to get his feet wet in pro ball. The first step on a long road for what the Royals hoped would end in the big leagues.

Video of Bryan Brickhouse during 2011 Instructs

The road up until the draft had been paved by Bryan’s work ethic in his Texas home. Working alongside his friend Jameson Taillon, the two threw with their throwing coach Dave Evans, a pitching coach who had helped Taillon become the 2nd overall pick in the 2010 draft, sandwiched in between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado and build Bryan’s draft stock a year later. Brickhouse had followed a similar path as Taillon and earned a life-changing bonus before heading off with his new Royals family. As was the case with a lot of pitching coaches at that time, they helped the players build their talent and then lost contact when the new team took over.

Things have changed somewhat but it made some sense at the time that the high school pitching guru would yield to the professionals and their pocketbooks once players were established with their new teams. The newfound developments of pitching training were in their infancy and Brickhouse working with Evans wasn’t a disciple of the long-toss revolution that Trevor Bauer and Dylan Bundy had talked about so much prior to that year’s draft.

After a season in Kane County, Brickhouse headed back to Low-A, this time with the Royals new affiliate in Lexington. After a good start that saw Bryan yield more than two runs in just two of his first eleven starts, Brickhouse would tear his UCL, causing him to get Tommy John surgery in June of 2013. It would be at this point where the problems would really start for the Royals young pitcher. During that rehab process of his Tommy John surgery, Brickhouse would encounter an olecranon stress fracture, forcing a maintenance plan to be taken to help work through the tiny crack in his elbow, delaying his timeline back from the UCL tear. The recovery time from that fracture pushed him through August of 2015 before he saw the mound again in Arizona and Idaho Falls prior to what was supposed to be a stint in the Arizona Fall League. The intensity of the Fall League forced a blowout of the elbow which required a screw be placed in his elbow in November of ’15.

After surgery, rest and another rehab process, Brickhouse stepped back on a mound for the first time and immediately blew out the elbow again. This time it would cause a larger stress fracture that would again need a screw placed into the elbow and another stint on the DL and back into the Arizona rehab process. Over the course of three years, Brickhouse had torn his UCL, developed a tiny crack in the elbow which eventually led to multiple screw surgeries while pitching just 43 innings. After the second screw surgery, Brickhouse healed 100 percent, but the weakness of the bone in the elbow from multiple surgeries was causing extreme pain, making it difficult for him to get through a simple 25 pitch bullpen. After three years of trying to get healthy with rehab and the frustration and mental toll of the constant rehab process he felt it was time for him to take a step away after spring training of 2017.

“Mentally I was over it, the grind of throwing a 25 pitch pen and feeling like my elbow was going to snap in half was frustrated. I felt like I was stuck in a rut and walking away was a fresh breath of air.”

Away from the game, Bryan got his real estate license and prepared for life a new calling. After three years of doing mostly rehab and lower body work, he thought he’d work on getting in better physical shape since he no longer had to worry about the arm. Without that worry, he decided to start lifting, something he hadn’t done much at all during the rehab, as well as working on more stretching exercises including yoga. He still had the elbow pain, but he didn’t need to worry about it as much without the throwing routine. Slowly as he lifted more and more with different lifting techniques and stretching the pain started to lessen as he believes the lifting helped build that bone density and strengthen his elbow.

The combination of better nutrition while cooking at home, eating smaller portions and doing a full range of body workouts helped him lose 35 lbs. All of this had him feeling better while his elbow felt at a level it hadn’t in over three years. With that feeling came a thought that it was a good time to reach out to his former throwing coach Dave Evans for one last shot at reaching for his dream. Despite all the obstacles that Bryan had encountered over the previous three years, the desire to make one last push of pitching in the big leagues was still there but he knew his old pitching coach would be the only one who could help him reach that goal.

Re-enter David Evans

By this time in his career, Dave was a full convert to the advanced throwing practices you see from so many pitchers in the current game, using Driveline practices with weighted balls, long-toss and mapping of the arm motions to help get the most out of his pitchers. Working from Houston, Evans hadn’t followed Brickhouse’s path or known what he was encountering. After driving to meet late one night and having recounted the story Dave asked the one question on everyone’s mind: “Why would you wait so long to contact me?” Now knowing what was at stake, and feeling Bryan’s determination to push all-in, Dave let him know he wasn’t going to let him fail and he was ready to help him if Bryan was willing to follow the plan and be as open and honest about his recovery as possible.

The first thing they did together was to play catch to try to determine the arm motion that Brickhouse was working with. Almost immediately, Evans noticed what he was taking the arm too far back in an effort to try to accelerate the arm too soon and then coming inside the ball with extra pronation or hyperextension at release to try to create an extra deceleration pattern almost as if he was trying to manipulate the ball from the inside of the grip to push it outwards. Bryan believed this pattern may have been created following his initial Tommy John surgery in a subconscious way to try to protect his elbow.

According to Evans, this movement was putting extra stress on the elbow as it was causing the joint to bang together and would likely result in reinjury if it wasn’t corrected immediately. This motion wasn’t new to Brickhouse as he had been told in playing catch previously that the ball had this type of action, a similar action and sink had occurred on his changeup in throwing sessions but Evans video and mapping made it evident how much damage it was doing.

A plan was devised using weighted balls in various weights from as low as 3.5 oz underload balls to balls as heavy as 2+ lbs was developed in addition to long-toss that would eventually grow to an accelerated long-toss of 300 feet or more, and daily throwing with remapping and reeducating the pitcher’s mind together with video among other things. With so many variables for an arm with multiple surgeries, previous pain and screws inside some may have been scared by this idea but Bryan never balked at the plan and never wavered or missed a day of throwing. Implementing the changes took a little over a month to get where he was able to use his muscle memory to enforce the changes and get the feeling for the motion using more of a supination movement in the throw.

This started in late September and within three weeks the mechanics were starting to take hold. An extremely hard worker, Evans said that trying to make him not overwork and overthrow was the only hiccup they would encounter in this process. The feel from the reworking and remapping though was taking place and in those instances, Bryan was able to catch it and self-correct. There was milepost along the way for the pitcher, first having no pain despite throwing daily something he hadn’t felt in years previous to his Arizona rehab stints, reaching that 300 feet long-toss point, getting on a mound for the first measuring point and throwing 93-95 mph with no pain that day or the day after.

One of the major milepost moments along Bryan’s path came in late November at the Houston area training facility. The Royals had an open invitation on the table for him to return to spring training, but on this day, Lonnie Goldberg and a few area scouts happened to be at the facility checking out draft prospects for the upcoming 2018 draft. In front of the man who pegged him with that 3rd round selection in 2011, Bryan was physically in the best shape he had been in over three years and hitting 95-97 mph in a bullpen session, showing it off and “letting it eat.” The milepost moments for Brickhouse kept coming, hitting 98 mph with many current major leaguers at a throwing session prior to leaving for Arizona, still healthy he was determining his future goals with the Royals again.

The two major goals for that spring training season were to hit 100 mph and land a spot with a full season club, something he hadn’t done since pitching with Lexington in 2013. The Royals knowing the work he had put in, made no changes to his routine just asking him to be cautious. He quickly blew them away during spring training, achieving both of his goal of landing a spot on the full season Wilmington roster, a level he had never previously reached, and hitting 100 mph a few days prior to heading out with his new team. All of this while still feeling no pain. His body is propelling the arm and his career all at once and it all seems to be in place with the results speaking for themselves thus far, striking out eight hitters over four one-inning relief appearances and no hits allowed.

For some, just getting back to this point would be an outstanding and a worthy accomplishment but for Bryan, this isn’t the end nor the goal he set out to achieve and considering the minefields he has already traveled one thinks he’ll be wearing Royals blue very soon.

David Evans has worked with some of the premier arms in the game including Aroldis Chapman, Jameson Taillon, 2017 draftee Shane Baz and others. Premier Baseball of Texas – David Evans

Dynamic Sports Training blog on Bryan’s Offseason training program

Featured Photo Copyright of Brad Glazier Photo

BPKC Hitter of the Day Nick Dini 2-4 HR, RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day Bryan Brickhouse 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 1 FO

Notes from J.J. Picollo Assistant GM of Player Personnel

To finish off this series of notes from my interview with Picollo I’ll give some tidbits that the player personnel guy gave on a few different players.

Chase Vallot – The decision to go with three catchers in Wilmington was one of the difficult ones they had to address during the spring season. They know that Vallot’s bat will be what leads him to his success and they wanted him to get it going in Wilmington. He will mix in with Meibrys Viloria and Xavier Fernandez behind the dish but they he will DH quite a bit, they want to see him get a bit more aggressive, and increase the contact rate. They’re also hoping that competition between Vallot, Viloria, and Fernandez will drive the players to improve their game in a similar fashion to what it did for Salvador Perez (improved bat) and Wil Myers (improved defense) in 2010 when they played in Wilmington together.

Josh Staumont – The right-hander was 96-102 mph in spring from the bullpen. The move to the pen is about creating small successes for the pitcher in hopes of him harnessing his arsenal.

Rudy Martin – J.J. gave a Denard Span comp to Martin, as a player that can make an impact on the bases but needs to use his mature approach. Needs to avoid muscling up, use more of a line-drive gap to gap approach. Someone to keep an eye on in Wilmington is Arnoldo Hernandez, the 22-year-old Venezuelan has long been a command/control right-hander but he was pitching 93-95 mph at times this spring, velocities the org hadn’t seen him at previously.

The org is excited about Dan Tillo and were impressed by his work in spring with the lefty getting outs and forcing his way through innings limitations as he continually ran below pitch limits. Tillo’s 2017 draft mate Evan Steele dealt with an illness this offseason which caused some weight loss, he is currently working his way back to full pitch count and should be in Lexington at some point this season. Another pitcher working his way to full strength in Arizona that should be in Lexington at some point this season is hard-throwing Janser Lara.

Wilmington Blue Rocks 5 Potomac Nationals 4

The Rocks fell behind 3-1 after three innings of this one but used a four-run fourth frame to take the lead and the eventual win. Starter Ofreidy Gomez gave up three runs as he struggled with the strikezone, walking four in his four innings along with six hits allowed. The Wilmington bailed him out though with doubles by Khalil Lee, Chris DeVito, and Chase Vallot to plate those four runs. Right-hander Anthony Bender worked four innings in aid of Gomez, giving up a solo home run to Carter Kieboom but no other damage before Bryan Brickhouse worked a perfect ninth frame to secure the win.

Khalil Lee 1-3 R, 2b, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Emmanuel Rivera 0-4 R, BB
Chris DeVito 2-4 R, 2b, RBI, BB
Anthony Bender 4 IP 4 H 1 R 1 ER 3 BB 3 K 6-4 GO-FO

Corpus Christi Hooks 8 NW Arkansas Naturals 2

Starter Scott Blewett had a good start to his first Double-A game, striking out six of the first eight hitters he would face on the evening before running into some trouble. Following his sixth strikeout, Blewett would walk a hitter before the Hooks connected on four consecutive singles to push across three 3rd inning runs. An inning later after getting two outs the righty would give up another single and hit a batter to end his night. One of the inherited runners would come across on Yunior Marte, who would allow a pair of runs himself as the Naturals couldn’t muster up much offense of their own, getting single tallies in the 2nd and 7th innings. The second run came courtesy of an Anderson Miller solo home run.

Nicky Lopez 0-2 2bb
Samir Duenez 0-4
Donnie Dewees 0-2 2bb
Anderson Miller 2-4 HR
Elier Hernandez 0-4 K
Scott Blewett 3.2 IP 6 H 4 R 4 ER 1 BB 6 K 2-1 GO-FO 86p/54k
Franco Terrero 1 IP 2 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 2-0 GO-FO 21p/16k

Omaha Storm Chasers 2 Colorado Springs Sky Sox 1
Colorado Springs Sky Sox 3 Omaha Storm Chasers 2

The Chasers split their Saturday doubleheader with Colorado Springs despite the offense’s continued struggles in the cold weather. The Chasers walked it off in game one with an Humberto Arteaga two-out rbi single that drove in Terrance Gore who had pinch ran for Nick Dini and stole second. Dini had played a part in both of the Chasers runs, homering in the third before singling in the seventh and being lifted for Gore. The Omaha pitching staff struggled with the zone in both games, walking 15 Sky Sox in the two games including eight in the second game. Those eight in the second game helped the Sky Sox score three runs including the eventual deciding run on Josh Staumont after he gave up a single and a walk in the fifth inning before being lifted for Richard Lovelady. The lefty couldn’t clean things up all the way, allowing one of the runners to come in which the Chasers couldn’t match on their side to drop the game by a run.

Ryan O’Hearn 3-7 2 RBI
Hunter Dozier 1-3 BB
Andres Machado 3 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 4 BB 5 K 2-0 Go-FO 66p/33k
Richard Lovelady 1.2 IP 0 H 0 R 1 BB 1 K 3-1 GO-FO 27p/15k
Josh Staumont 1 IP 1 H 1 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 1-0 GO-FO 31p/18k
Scott Barlow 4.1 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 5 BB 7 K 1-2 GO-FO 93p/52k

BPKC Hitter of the Day: Seuly Matias 2-4 HR, 3 RBI

BPKC Pitcher of the Day: Carter Hope 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 BB 3 K 1-0 FO-GO 25p/17k

Notes from J.J. Picollo, Assistant GM of Player Personnel

A few pitchers that Picollo spoke highly about are three who were away from the organization for different reasons for quite some time. Two of which made their 2018 debuts on Friday evening in Jason Adam, a former 2010 5th round pick and Carter Hope, a 3rd round 2013 pick. In Adam’s case, he was the prospect the Twins acquired for Josh Willingham as the Royals readied their roster for the eventual 2014 World Series run. While things would look great for Adam’s hometown team during the next couple of seasons, Jason would run into a wall, encountering multiple arm surgeries while appearing with the Twins and Padres franchises. Last season, after  Royals scouts checked into Adam, they brought him back into the fold knowing his outstanding character and seeing some mechanical tweaks that made his delivery shorter and cleaner. According to Picollo, Jason was up to 98 mph this spring with the shorter arm motion. He believes the slider still needs to come forward some, but he’s in a better position than he’s been at for some time to make his baseball future take focus.

On the other side is Carter Hope, a pitcher who the Royals released in May of 2016 after on-field and personal struggles. Hope had taken some time away from the game to reevaluate his life and came back to baseball early last year with his own personal workouts. After working out, he called Scott Sharp looking for a tryout. Picollo happened to be in the Tulsa area around that time and went to watch the 6-3, 205 lbs right-hander workout. After some discussion with him and a decent workout, J.J. gave him another chance signing him in July, a little over a year after the team had released him. This spring Carter came in and was throwing 91-93 mph which is a few ticks above the mid to high 80s level he was at the time of his original release. As Picollo told me he thought Hope looked okay in the workout but this spring he went out and earned a spot on the Lexington roster with his performance.

The other pitcher working his way back is former 2011 3rd round pick, Bryan Brickhouse, a pitcher the Royals were extremely excited about in 2011 when they signed him for $1.5m from his The Woodlands, Texas high school. A power right-hander, the Royals sent him to Low-A in 2012 and 2013 with what was supposed to be the second wave of prospects. While Brickhouse faired decently in ’13, he ran into arm problems during both seasons which would set a precedent the talented pitcher would continually deal with over the next three seasons. From his draft in 2011 until the 2015 season, he appeared in just 38 games, throwing 156 innings as his arm struggled to recover from outings and the overall pain of pitching. That forced him away from the game and into selling real estate in Texas. Perhaps for a moment he thought that would be his route, but according to Picollo he started working out this past offseason in Houston. Some changes he made with Dave Evans and the Dynamic Sports Training team may have changed Brickhouse’s fortune all together, building back his velocity, and putting his arm in the best shape it has ever been. The Royals saw a different pitcher this spring, hitting 96-100 mph in one of his final spring outings, pushing his way onto the Wilmington staff where he will try to rebuild the once promising career the Royals had previously hoped he would have. It’s still early, but it’s already a pretty remarkable story that a pitcher who hasn’t pitched since 2015 is hitting personal-best velocities and pitched his way to a level he had never previously reached in the minor leagues.

Lexington Legends 5, Charleston River Dogs 2

The Legends received some more thunder out of their uber-prospect Seuly Matias on Friday, getting a two-run fifth inning home run to push their advantage out of reach. Starter Garrett Davila’s struggles with control continued, walking three and allowing four hits and a pair of runs in three innings before leaving. Trailing 2-0, Lexington would plate a pair of runs in the third with an infield single by Matias that scored Michael Gigliotti and a fielder’s choice that scored Nick Pratto. An error led to a run in the fourth inning before Matias gave the final gap in the fifth. The relief corps of Carter Hope, lefty Holden Capps, and Sal Biasi tossed the final six innings scoreless with nine strikeouts and just three hits allowed.

Potomac Nationals 9, Wilmington Blue Rocks 2

Starter Jace Vines couldn’t get out of a couple innings despite collecting two outs, leading to a lopsided loss. In the first, a ball found it’s way over Khalil Lee after a misstep in centerfield, scoring a pair and starting the Nationals on the way to a four-run frame. Two innings later, a pair of doubles plated three runs, ending Vines’s night with a line of nine hits, one walk and seven runs allowed. Those runs were plenty with Wilmington getting just a pair of runs on solo home runs by Emmanuel River and Khalil Lee.

Corpus Christi Hooks 11, NW Arkansas Naturals 9

The Naturals built a 9-4 lead after trailing 4-0 through the Hooks first five trips in the lineup but couldn’t keep the lead. Starter Zach Lovvorn struggled early, giving up three runs in the first on three hits including a two-run two-out double by Taylor Jones. The right-handed starter gave up three singles in the second but navigated around them before a perfect third and fourth inning ended his night. Reliever Jason Adam followed Lovvorn, giving up three steals in his two innings which led to a run allowed despite not giving up a hit in that time. From there the Naturals offense got going, plating nine runs over the next three innings with outfielder Anderson Miller plating four runs in that time with a three-run double and a rbi groundout. Up 9-5 reliever Sam Selman couldn’t complete the win, giving up six runs in the ninth on three hits, a pair of walks and hitting another batter, allowing six runs and taking the loss in the process.

Boxscores from all games