Nick Burdi - 2017

[Steve Lein]

The 2016 season was one that Nick Burdi would like to put behind him.

 

He started it off by getting an invite to Spring Training with the Major League Team, an early indication that he was somebody the organization believed could help the MLB team at some point during the season. 

 

Coaches were impressed with his work even though he made just 3 appearances before being sent across the parking lot at the Century Link Sports Complex. He allowed just one hit and struck out one in those appearances.

 

He started off his season in the bullpen at Chattanooga, but was able to make only 3 appearances there as well before he was forced to succumb to a bone-bruise injury. A set-back in June ended up keeping him out the whole season. Usually, such an injury in baseball for a pitcher is only contributed to taking a hard come-backer, but that was not the case with Burdi.  Due to a high effort delivery, the stress on his arm caught up with him and he has taken steps going into this year to prevent it from happening again by tinkering with his mechanics.

 

Drafted in the second round of the 2014 draft, Burdi was expected to be a fast riser as a pure bullpen arm with electric stuff that had dominated elite competition at the NCAA level. He consistently threw 100MPH fastballs by hitters, and a hard slider to go with it allowed him to rack up 141 strikeouts in 95 innings pitch over his three year collegiate career. As a Sophomore and Junior his ERA's were 0.76 and 0.49 respectively, and he amassed 34 saves.

 

With the injury behind him, Burdi joins a talented Chattanooga pitching staff to start the 2017 season and will likely be given both closing and set-up opportunities. If he's found his groove again, an earlier-than-Twins-fans-are-accustomed-to bump to AAA is a possibility. If he was on the 40-man roster I'd say a straight jump to the majors was in the cards too, but we've seen that the new front office has maintained some of the old regimes conservative principles with that roster so far, so he'll have to get to AAA first before he's considered.

 

I've been waiting to see triple digits on Target Field scoreboards since the Twins signed him, and I still believe he is a future closer candidate, it's just taken a bit longer than he and fans have hoped.

 

If he continues blowing away hitters like he always has while also being more consistent in avoiding bouts of wildness, I think Burdi makes his MLB debut this season.

 

Until then, I wonder how many K's he can rack up this year!

 

(Burdi worknig out this Spring - image courtesy of Seth Stohs)

 

 

Measurables: 24 years old, 6'5", 220 Lbs. Right-handed.

Scouting Grades:
MLB.com: Fastball: 80 | Slider: 65 | Changeup: 40 | Control: 40 |

Fangraphs: Fastball: 70/80 | Slider: 60/70 | Command: 30/40 |

 

Twitter: @NickyBurdi19

[Steve Lein]

Burdi made his season debut for Chattanooga on Friday, as the first reliever summoned in relief of starter Matt Tracy. He was left with a tough situation, as four men had already reached base in the inning and two runs had already scored. With a runner on third, Burdi uncorked a wild-pitch leading to a third run and 3-1 lead for Mobile but got the final out of the inning for no further damage. He stayed in the game for the seventh and had a one-two-three inning, punctuating the frame with his first strikeout of the season. 9 of his 15 pitches went for strikes (2 swinging strikes).

 

Against the BayBears on Sunday, Burdi got the seventh inning with Chattanooga leading the game 4-2. He allowed a single to the first batter of the inning, but proceeded to strike out the next three to pick up his first hold of the season. Of his 18 pitches, 13 went for strikes (3 swinging strikes).

 

 

[Steve Lein]

Since the last update, Burdi has made appearances in three more games.

 

Against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on April 12th, the Lookouts fell behind early and never got back into the game. Burdi pitched the 8th inning in the blowout loss to finish the game for them. He gave up a single, but also picked up two swinging strikeouts in a clean inning. Of his 18 pitches, 12 went for strikes (3 swinging strikes).

 

On April 15th against the Jumbo Shrimp, he again finished the game in a blowout, though this time it was the Lookouts on the winning end. He gave up a leadoff double and a walk to start the inning, but recovered to get the next three out, including the final out on another swinging strikeout. He threw 20 pitches in this one, with 12 going for strikes (3 swinging strikes).

 

He didn't pitch again until the 20th against the Biloxi Shuckers, but got multiple innings this time around. With the Lookouts up 3-0 and starter Felix Jorge's day finished, Burdi went the seventh and eighth innings. Double-play balls helped him in both innings after issuing a walk, and he struck out one in the eighth. He threw 27 pitches, with just 13 going for strikes but worked around it (3 swinging strikes).

 

Cumulative stats: 5 games, 6.1 IP, 3 H's, 3 BB, 8 K's, 0.00 ERA, 0.94 WHIP.

[Steve Lein]

Burdi made two more appearances since the last update, on April 26th vs. the Tennessee Smokies and the 28th vs. the Jackson Generals.

 

Against the Smokies he pitched the ninth inning in a game the Lookouts lost 8-4. He gave up a single to the leadoff man, but struck out the next two and got an infield pop-up to keep his ERA at 0.00. He threw just 11 pitches, with 10 of them going for strikes (4 swinging strikes).

 

He also finished the game on the 28th vs. Jackson, but the Generals again were on the winning end at 10-4. He gave up his first run of the season on a home run to the first hitter he faced, but got the next three out on weakly hit balls to the infield (2 pop-ups, 1 grounder). 7 of his 11 pitches in this one went for strikes (1 swinging strike).

 

Cumulative stats: 7 games, 8.1 IP, 5 H's, 3 BB, 10 K's, 1.08 ERA, 0.96 WHIP.

[Mike Sixel]

Get him to AAA!

[John Kelsey]

#FreeBurdi

[ashbury]

#FreeBurdi

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WI7lR7wkm1U/maxresdefault.jpg

[Steve Lein]

In the last week, Burdi has made three appearances pitching with a day of rest in between each.

 

On May 5th against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Burdi pitched the top of the ninth in a blowout the Lookouts won 8-1. He had a Snapper Mow-Em-Down inning, retiring all three hitters he faced on strikeouts, two swinging, and one looking. 9 of his 14 pitches went for strikes (2 swinging strikes).

 

Again facing the Blue Wahoos on the 7th in game two of a double-header, Burdi was brought on in the top of the eighth (an "extra inning" in this case) with the game tied at two. A leadoff single and sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead run in scoring position, but after an intentional walk to put the force at 2B in play, Burdi got the next two hitters on a flyout and groundout to end the threat. The Lookouts scored the winner in the bottom half, giving Burdi his first Win of the season (1-0). He threw 9 pitches, with eight of them going for strikes (1 swinging strike).

 

Yesterday against the Biscuits of Montgomery, AL; Burdi was summoned to put out a fire in the bottom of the seventh, as he entered with the bases loaded and two outs. He got his man with a big strikeout that would prove to be essential in the victory, as Chattanooga was down 5-1 at the time and would come back to win 6-5 in the ninth. Burdi also pitched a clean eighth inning, sending the Biscuits down one-two-three including another K. He threw 19 pitches in this one, with 11 going for strikes (3 swinging strikes). He picked up his second victory of the year (2-0) thanks to the Grand Slam comeback from Jonathan Rodriguez.

 

Cumulative stats: 10 games, 2-0, 11.2 IP, 6 H's, 4 BB, 15 K's, 0.77 ERA, 0.86 WHIP.

[Han Joelo]

That's all you can ask of a relief pitcher.  Snuff out the threat and give the offense a chance.  Nice job.  Good to see him perform in a high leverage scenario.

[goulik]

Great report! This guy is the bullpen help the MLB team needs. The sooner he is ready to come up the better. I would like to see him promoted soon at least to AAA if not just skipping a level all the way up here. I know <12 innings is not a lot of innings but it is the type of situations he is being put in for those 11+ innings.

[Steve Lein]

I have been searching for reports on Burdi's velocity to post in here as he has altered his mechanics some this year, and we finally have one:

 

http://twitter.com/FLBaseballRanch/status/863064156991348736

 

There is also this article from 1500ESPN, posted on May 5th.

 

http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2017/05/difficult-2016-nick-burdi-says-improved-mechanics-new-perspective/

 

To summarize, he hit 101MPH in his appearance last night and it seems all that velocity is back.

 

 

[Steve Lein]

Burdi made two appearances in the last week, on May 11th vs. the Montgomery Biscuits and the 16th vs. the Birmingham Barons.

 

He worked the final two innings against Montgomery in a game Chattanooga lost 7-1. He was perfect, going one-two-three in both frames and striking out three. He got the first two men he faced, and the last in his outing. He threw 23 pitches, with 17 going for strikes as he was very efficient (5 swinging strikes).

 

Against the Barons, Burdi got his first save opportunity of the year with his team up 4-1 in the ninth. He again set the opposition down one-two-three in picking up his first Save of the season. He struck out the final hitter of the game to punctuate the victory. He threw 13 pitches in this one, with 9 going for strikes (1 swinging strike).

 

If you're keeping track (I am! ), that is now three straight appearances where he's retired every hitter he's faced, and a total streak of fifteen hitters in a row.

 

I'm getting antsy for the promotion...

 

Cumulative Stats: 12 games, 2-0, 1 Save, 14.2 IP, 6 H's, 4 BB, 19 K's, 0.61 ERA, 0.68 WHIP.

[Steve Lein]

Two more appearances in the last week for Burdi, both against the Biloxi Shuckers in the common Southern League 5-game series. This one was on the road.

 

On the 19th, he finished the game for the Lookouts in a game they lost 4-0 as the offense managed just four hits. He struck out the first hitter he faced and got the next two on ground balls to extend his streak to 18 hitters in a row he had set down. He threw 12 pitches, with 8 going for strikes (1 swinging strike).

 

On the 21st, Burdi came in with two outs in the seventh inning with the Lookouts up 4-2. Starter Matt Tracy left him with runners on 2nd and 3rd, and the Shuckers trying to tie the game. Unfortunately Burdi's streak did come to an end here, as the man he came on for singled to tie the game at 4. Both runs were charged to Tracy. He got the next man on a ground ball, keeping it tied and also pitched the 8th inning. A leadoff single was erased by a double-play ball, and he got around a double allowed by getting another groundout. He allowed 3 hits in 1.1 innings and was also charged with a blown save (an even dumber stat than the save). He racked up 24 pitches in this appearance, with 16 going for strikes (3 swinging strikes).

 

I love that the walks are down this year, quite significantly. His current walk rate is 2.12/9IP. That rate was 4.43 in 2014, and 4.95 in 2015. 

 

Cumulative Stats: 14 games, 2-0, 1 Save, 17.0 IP, 9 H's, 4 BB, 20 K's, 0.53 ERA, 0.76 WHIP.

[Steve Lein]

In unfortunate news, after his last outing detailed in this thread, Burdi had discomfort in his throwing arm that worsened the next few days and further examination found a full-tear of his UCL.

 

That means he's out for the rest of this season as he'll undergo Tommy John Surgery in the near future.

 

Get well soon, Nick! Just a bump in the road!

[Mike Sixel]

Good luck to him!