Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: #95 Bradley Roney
Atlanta Braves Right Hander Bradley Roney
Who Is He?
Roney was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 18th round of the 2011 draft out of high school in Alabama. He instead chose to attend college at the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Braves were able to select him in the 8th round in the 2014 draft.
He pitched for advanced rookie Danville in the Appalachian League to start his professional career, and in 18 relief appearances spanning 22 1/3 innings, he tallied a 4.03 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and a 20/34 BB/K ratio.
Next: Roney's scouting report
In 2015, the Braves started Roney with Rome, and he struggled initially, and he was sent back to extended spring training with a 5.29 ERA and 19 walks in 17 innings.
He then returned to Danville, and his prowess on the mound moved him quickly from Danville to Rome to high-A Carolina to finish the season.
All told, he pitched in 33 games in 2015, totaling 48 1/3 innings. He had a total 2.98 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in that time with a 35/70 BB/K ratio. He also tallied 11 saves on the season.
That incredible strikeout rate gained him plenty of notice among Braves fans as a possible “sleeper” reliever in the system.
Scouting Report
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To get a good view on Roney, I checked out 11 games in which he threw 14 2/3 innings, allowing a 4.91 ERA and 1.50 WHIP with a 14/28 BB/K ratio.
Roney is listed as 6’2 and 180 pounds on Baseball Reference. He pitches out of the stretch at all times. He tucks his shoulder in toward his pitching arm until he lunges forward toward the plate with a big lead stride.
That big, fast lunge is both Roney’s weapon and undoing at the same time. When he struggles, it’s due to inconsistent landing spot with his lead leg, which then causes Roney to open his hips too early in his delivery, and finally his excellent over-the-top arm angle gets drawn out to almost a 3/4 slot when he is struggling with his lead foot. While it seems like an easy fix, it does show just how fragile Roney’s excellent performance is from his major struggles.
Roney features a fastball and curve ball mix. The fastball sits in the mid-90s, topping out as high as 99 on the season, with some reports that he hit 100 on the gun in warm ups. The fastball is fairly “straight” without a lot of movement. When he’s going well, he can have a “rising” effect on the pitch up in the zone, however, as the pitch simply stays at the same level rather than having a natural drop. With his arm angle, that’s counter-intuitive, so it really plays with hitters’ heads.
The curve has some velocity you normally don’t see in a curve, topping out at 84 in the games I watched and sitting in the 77-81 range. The curve has incredible break, and it really exposed the poor defense that Bryan de la Rosa played behind the plate for Rome as he simply could not track that curve.
In all seriousness, Roney’s curve may break more than Touki Toussaint‘s fabled curve ball, but the problem is that it breaks out of the zone, so it frequently can get called a ball. Roney also mixed in a handful of sliders in the games I saw. The slider was in the zone too much, however, making it able to be hit fairly well the few times he offered it up.
Next: 2016 outlook
I would wonder with his arm location if Roney would be well-served to utilize a sinker or split-finger fastball to add in a third look with his high-velocity to also get ground balls. The over-the-top motion and velocity already induces plenty of grounders, even with minimal fastball movement, so a ball that sinks in the zone could really be effective.
2016 Outlook
Roney may have the best strikeout stuff of any minor league reliever in the Braves system. His pitches have an ability to make hitters look absolutely foolish as they chase fastballs beyond their reach up in the zone or chase curves bailing out into the dirt.
He also has the issue of allowing way too many walks as well, though. I don’t know how he can iron out the consistency in his landing spot, but if he does, he could easily blow up into an elite reliever in all of baseball. For comparison’s sake, Roney had a 13.3% walk rate and 33.7% strikeout rate in high-A. Craig Kimbrel had a 21.1% walk rate and a 35.0% strikeout rate in high-A, but he was able to iron out something in his final step toward the majors. Roney taking that same step could seriously turn a similar corner.
Next: Braves Top 100 Prospects Updated
Roney will likely start the season at AA Mississippi in 2016. He’ll have a shot likely as the closer in Mississippi to establish himself as a guy who deserves a shot when guys like Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli are moved midseason. He’s absolutely a guy to keep a strong eye on.