Keury Mella *, RHP, ARI

Keury Mella has been getting a taste of the major leagues for the past four years. Now that he is up again, let’s get to know Mr. Mella.

Video courtesy of the Reno Aces
  • Born: August 2, 1993
  • B/T: Right/Right
  • 6’2″, 230-lbs
  • Signed by the San Francisco Giants in 2012 out of the Dominican Republic

The Numbers

His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:

We saw some skill progress in 2018, and then backwards it sent in 2019. In particular, that BB% trend is worrisome.

Lefties hit him hard, so using him against righties only would be smart.

Throws that four-seamer most of the time, and increasingly his slider has become his main secondary pitch.

Here it is visually: He made progress in late 2017 and early 2018, and then AAA undid the progress. He simply hasn’t shown dominance at that level yet.

The Scouts

Warnings

He walks too many.

He hasn’t mastered AAA hitters, yet alone major leaguers.

Conclusion

A starter in the minors, he doesn’t have the pitch mix to maintain that job in the major leagues at this time other than as a spot start here or there. But if he can get the walks under control, that fastball could work nicely in the bullpen. Against righties.