10. Manny Banuelos
The Good:
When the Braves hired away a good chunk of the Yankees scouting department and then turned around and acquired former blue-chip prospect Manny Banuelos, I had a good feeling about how it’d work out. I’m glad I’ve been right so far! [Ed. note: …and I’m happy to have been wrong – it’s was my call that bumped Banuelos down to this #10 spot – the rest of our team had him around 6th at the time]
Banuelos was probably the most consistent starter at Gwinnett, though he probably wasn’t the most dynamic. He was eased back with very light workloads by the Yankees after Tommy John surgery in the 2012 season. Banuelos has done a very solid job for the Braves in the majors as well.
He’s a lefty with stuff that isn’t quite what it was before 2012, but it can still play up quite a bit. His fastball is more in the low-90s now rather than the mid-90s, but his breaking stuff has shown well this season, especially his changeup.
The move to the majors is likely permanent, but Banuelos is reported to have an innings limit on the season, so he’s likely a guy the team will have no problem skipping in the rotation a time or two to limit his innings.
The Not-So-Good:
While the stuff has come back mostly, Manny’s feel for it isn’t always there. He had an 11% walk rate in AAA this year, and it’s been 8.5% in his time in the majors thus far. While Banuelos is a solid ground ball pitcher, no pitcher is better with runners on than with them off the bases, so the higher walk rate shows that he is still struggling to get the full grip back. Other than his walk rate, he’s been very solid this season at both AAA and MLB. He’s not gone deep into games often, but that’s more a product of the TJS return as anything else.
Regarding his current DL stint: Banuelos has not resumed throwing as yet, which could mark an end to his season: partly due to the innings limit; partly due to the time it would take to get him stretched back out; partly just out of a sense of reasonable caution.
The Stats:
- Gwinnett (AAA): 15 starts, 83 innings. 2.29 ERA, 7.51 K/9, 4.14 BB/9
- Atlanta: 5 games/4 starts, 22 innings. 2.49 ERA, 6.65 K/9, 4.15 BB/9
TRENDING:
Banuelos should be in Atlanta to stay and with the health concerns with Mike Minor, he’s now the only left-handed starter on the roster in the absence of Alex Wood. Fans should expect Banuelos to take some time to build up the arm strength again for 2016, but he’s made a tremendous return to relevance already.
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