Atlanta Braves Scouting Report On Reliever Carlos Salazar
Carlos Salazar was drafted by the Atlanta Braves as a fireballing arm for their rotation, but he’s now working out of the ‘pen. How has the transition gone?
Player Profile
The Atlanta Braves selected Salazar in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft out of high school in California.
Known for his big arm, the Braves brought Salazar along easily, sending him to the Gulf Coast League in 2013. He made 8 appearances but only threw 13 innings. Plenty of damage was done in those 13 innings, as Salazar posted a 6.92 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, and a 5/14 BB/K ratio, though he did not allow a home run.
The Braves were so encouraged by his success with his control in the GCL that they bumped him past the Appalachian League straight to Rome in the South Atlantic League and full-season ball in 2014.
Salazar instead had a rough go of it with Rome, making 10 starts, but only throwing 35 2/3 innings, posting a stunning 10.60 ERA, 2.38 WHIP, and a 38/27 BB/K ratio.
The Braves sent him back down to Danville in the Appy League, where he relieved the rest of the summer, and he posted very solid numbers in 17 appearances and 28 2/3 innings there, finishing with a 2.51 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and an 18/34 BB/K ratio.
Overall, the 2014 season finished with Salazar posting a 6.99 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, and a 56/61 BB/K ratio in 64 1/3 innings over 27 games, 10 of them starts.
The Braves left him in the bullpen full time in 2015, and he split his season between Rome and high-A Carolina, posting a 2.70 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and 50/60 BB/K ratio over 33 games and 56 2/3 innings.
Salazar spent the first season of his career all in one location in 2016, spending the whole year in Carolina, and his effectiveness had a reverse bell curve as his ERA had a more traditional bell curve shape.
In April and May, he was nearly unhittable, posting a line through June 1st of 21 innings pitched, a 0.86 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and a 21/26 BB/K, but that was fueled by a crazy-low .103 BABIP, which corrected quickly.
From the first of June through the end of July, Salazar went the other direction, allowing a .407 BABIP, and seeing his numbers clock in with an 8.10 ERA over 20 innings, accompanied by a 2.50 WHIP and 25/24 BB/K ratio.
From the first of August through the end of the season, however, was more of what you could expect from Salazar. He had a normal-ish BABIP of .263, allowed a very low .143 BAA, and in 12 IP, he posted a 2.25 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, and 14/22 BB/K ratio.
Next: Salazar's scouting report
Scouting Report
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Size/Delivery/Control
Size – Salazar is listed at 6′ and 200 pounds. He has a stocky build, with a broad chest and thick legs.
Delivery – Salazar throws from the stretch as a reliever exclusively.
Salazar tucks his left hip toward his right knee and brings the left knee up to about belt high. He points his left leg toward the plate and pushes forward toward the plate.
He keeps his left leg straight with a slight delay just before he puts the foot down, akin to Jordan Walden. This leads to a touch of deception for Salazar.
That delay does lead to some struggles with consistent foot placement, and when he gets off to the left or right, Salazar tends to try to muscle the ball with arm only. Otherwise, he does well in using his legs to generate a lot of his power.
Salazar uses a fairly traditional 3/4 arm slot, if perhaps a bit of a high 3/4 slot.
Control (40) – Salazar’s biggest struggle has certainly been his control, and his biggest issue with a future role in the majors will be that control.
Salazar has hit his heel and launched a ball over the catcher in my viewing, but most often his issue is his landing foot landing to the right or left of a line toward home plate.
When he does this, he tends to open early, causing him to put all the emphasis on his trunk and arm, and while he has a good build in his midsection, this usually leads to the ball tailing all over the place.
Whether he would be able to handle throwing without the pseudo toe-tap would be something possibly to explore, but after doing it for so long, it’s hard to imagine he’d want to do that.
Pitches
Fastball (65) – Salazar runs his fastball between 93-96, touching 97 with the pitch. The pitch does not have a lot of movement, having just a touch of dip to the pitch just at the very end in the middle of the zone.
He does get interesting tailing sinking action toward his arm side on the right side of the plate, but it doesn’t seem to be movement that he can repeat in the middle or left side of the plate.
Change Up (55) – His change runs between 84-87. Like the fastball, it doesn’t have a ton of movement. He does seem to struggle more with locating the change, and perhaps it’s due to grip of his change as he has solid arm deception on the pitch.
Curve Ball (50) – The curve has a 12-6 break that comes in around 77-80 and starts at about the upper belt and drops to the toes. His curve is not used frequently, but when he does use the pitch, it’s more of a grounder-inducing pitch, making it very difficult to square up.
MLB Player Comp
After looking at a lot of guys, I came up with a guy who has a similar physical, stocky build, similar stuff, and even some similar up-and-down results as Salazar.
Kevin Jepsen was a guy drafted out of high school in Nevada and known for his big arm. He went to the Angels in the 2nd Round in 2002. By 2006, he’d made the full time transition ot the bullpen after injuries and ineffectiveness spoiled the start of his minor league career.
He repeated high-A in the Cal League two seasons as a reliever, partially due to his control issues before having things click at age 23 in AA, going all the way to the majors in 2008.
From there he’s had a rather up and down major league career, with seasons where he’d keep the ball under control and have excellent numbers and other seasons where he’d post terrible walk rates and struggle.
All in all, Jepsen is a guy who is 32 and a free agent currently, but he’s pitched in parts of 9 major league seasons, which would be a huge win for the Braves if Salazar is able to harness his stuff well enough to pull that off.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
After repeating high-A in 2016, it’s likely the Braves will bump up Salazar in 2017 to AA Mississippi, and they’ll likely be hoping he can find his control.
Regardless of whether he finds it or not for 2017, I’d wager Salazar’s future role will likely be as a 6th inning type more than a back end reliever simply due to the volatility of his arm, though his raw stuff will always be a threat to hitters coming out of the pen.