Feb 15, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Jason Hursh (61) throws to third base during MLB spring training workouts at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 15, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Jason Hursh (61) throws to third base during MLB spring training workouts at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
Jason Hursh made his way all the way to the Atlanta Braves in 2016. Could he be a fixture in the Braves bullpen soon?
Player Profile
The Atlanta Braves drafted Hursh in the first round out of college and have seen him transform into a very solid reliever.
Hursh was originally drafted in the 6th round out of high school in Texas by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010, but he instead chose to go to Oklahoma State University, where the Braves selected him from with the 31st selection in the 2013 draft.
Hursh skipped over rookie leagues completely and was immediately sent to low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League to finish out the 2013 season, making 9 appearances, throwing 27 innings with a 0.67 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 9.26% walk rate, and 13.89% strikeout rate.
He spent the entire 2014 season with AA Mississippi, skipping over high-A entirely after just those 27 low-A innings in 2013. With Mississippi, he showed an excellent sinker, making 27 appearances, throwing 148 1/3 innings, with a 3.58 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 6.99% walk rate, and 13.5% strikeout rate.
Hursh opened 2015 with Mississippi and had a rough season overall. He was eventually moved to a bullpen role with the M-Braves. When he moved to the bullpen, he had made 15 starts, throwing 70 innings with a 5.63 ERA, 1.85 WHIP, 9.12% walk rate, and 15.5% strikeout rate.
Hursh pitched well as a reliever with Mississippi, earning a promotion to Gwinnett. He struggled in his 10 appearances with Gwinnett out of the bullpen.
Overall in 2015, Hursh made 33 appearances, throwing 95 1/3 innings with a 5.00 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 8.31% walk rate, and 14.32% strikeout rate.
Now a full-time reliever, Hursh returned to Mississippi for the third straight season, mainly due to a full Gwinnett bullpen. He was tremendous in Mississippi before getting promoted to Gwinnett. He also made two appearances in Atlanta during a midseason call up when the rest of the bullpen was ailing from injury and over use.
Hursh made 43 appearances in the regular season, throwing 73 innings, tallying a 1.97 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 10.26% walk rate, and a 16.56% strikeout rate. His two appearances in Atlanta yielded 1 1/3 innings, 5 runs, and a 3/1 BB/K rate.
He made three appearances in Gwinnett’s playoff run, throwing 3 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5.
Size – Hursh is listed at 6’3″ and 200 pounds. I could see perhaps another 10-15 pounds, but he’s an athletically-built guy on the mound with a solid frame overall.
Delivery – Hursh works out of the delivery now that he’s in the bullpen permanently.
He brings his knee straight up to just past his belt, and then comes to the plate with a high, over-the-top release.
He tends to be very repeatable in his delivery, though he did notably push himself a bit and get off in his arm slot to more of a high 3/4 slot, and that tended to not be a good thing.
Control (55) – Due to the repeatability of his delivery, Hursh is a guy who has solid command of his pitches, though he does intentionally work out of the zone at times with his excellent movement on his pitches.
I was impressed with his improvement in his command this year, and I did find it surprising, to be honest, when I crunched the numbers and found his walk rate to be over 10% as he’s frequently around the zone.
Pitches
Fastball (55) – Hursh uses traditional grips on his fastball, but he uses it like a sinker, getting incredibly heavy feel to his 92-94 MPH fastball that can touch 97-98 at absolute top end.
He does mix in both a four-seam and two-seam fastball, but he primarily works both down in the zone, using the different movement on both pitches to create weak contact.
His four-seam in the low zone gets very good arm side run and a bit of late dip, while his two-seamer gets solid sink.
Change Up (45) – The change is a solid offering in velocity differential and arm speed deception, but he does not get a ton of movement on it, which led to it being a pitch I often saw him scrap in tough situations.
Curve Ball (55) – Hursh’s curve and slider really are both similar pitches. His curve does not have a ton of loop coming to the plate, but he gets excellent drop on the pitch with 12-6 movement, making it very difficult to drive the pitch.
Slider (55) – Hursh’s slider gets a solid bite more straight 12-6, which is odd movement for a slider, leading to weak contact or swing and miss.
The slider is where Hursh gets most of his swing and miss in the minor leagues, and by far his best swing and miss pitch in the majors as well.
MLB Player Comp
Hursh has a much more “pedigree” physical look to him, but he and Matt Albers have a similar pitch mix, including movement and velocity.
Hursh gets a ton of weak contact, resulting in weak fly balls or ground outs, and Albers has been a guy with a 52.3% ground ball rate over his career.
Albers has never been an elite reliever, with a 4.38 ERA, and not once posting a full win above replacement, according to Fangraphs, but he has thrown 604 major league innings over 452 games.
While this doesn’t sound like a huge future for Hursh, I do believe he has a tick more ability due to the chance he has to go multiple innings and be a guy who makes 40-50 appearances and throw 70ish innings, saving the bullpen innings.
Hursh should be competing for a major league bullpen spot, but he’ll definitely be in the Gwinnett bullpen for sure with a quick call to Atlanta should he be needed.
