Atlanta Braves Trade for Reliever Move Tyrell Jenkins to Pen
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves Trade for Jed Bradley and Send Tyrell Jenkins to the Pen
The Atlanta Braves made two bullpen changes this week; one was hardly noticed while the other was met with disbelief. I’ll clear up the easy one first.
MLBTR reported late Friday night that the Braves had acquire reliever Jedidiah Custer Jed Bradley from the Brewers for the ubiquitous PTBNL or cash. The now 26 year old lefty was the first round selection (15th overall ) of the Brewers in the 2011 draft. At that time Baseball America’s ($) draft report said some nice things about him.
". . . While he’s not generally thought of as overpowering, Bradley knows how to miss bats. Scouts love his pitcher’s frame, and he has a clean, loose arm. Bradley’s fastball sits anywhere from 88-94 mph. In better starts,. . .touching 95. His low 80s slider gives him a second plus pitch, and his changeup sits around 80 mph with fade. He earns high marks for his confidence and work ethic. . ."
Before the 2012 season both BA (71) and MLB PIpeline (79) had him as a top 100 prospect. He suffered a groin injury in the spring and struggled in the High A Florida league that season as tried to compensate for the injury his mechanics changed and his command vanished.
According to BA “ . . .He was such a mess that the Brewers shut him down in early August and told him to focus on getting healthy and recouping his mechanics. He also had trouble adjusting to pro ball, often throwing too much between starts and generally failing to pace himself. . .”
He started 2013 back in high a ball but made just 16 starts before a shoulder injury resulted in the Brewers again shutting him down early again.
He started 2014 in high A again but pitched much better even though his velocity was down slightly. He was promoted to AA Huntsville in June and saw an uptick in ERA to 5.38 there but still finished the year with the second highest groundball rate of any qualified minor league pitcher – 2.72.
Next: Homecoming