DET
Zack Burdi, P
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Scouting report
It's been a long, slow ascent for Burdi after his post-surgery velocity tanked into the low-90s (he had TJ in 2017). Once parked in the 97-102 range, he was living 90-92 early on in the 2018 Fall League and was shut down with fatigue. In 2019, he was back in the 94-97 range, topping out at 99, then sat 96-99 and touched 100 during his 2020 big league debut. Burdi was knocked around in a limited major league jaunt and his velocity slowly declined (though always remained good) during that stretch. Just based on his -- and perhaps unfairly, his brother's -- injury history, I think the industry will always value Burdi a little lower than his talent, which is that of a late-inning reliever. It's odd and perhaps a bit of a yellow flag that he was hit so hard in 2020, but I'm still betting on the combination of velocity and two good secondary pitches and project Burdi as a third bullpen banana. His slider is short and cuttery but it's really hard, in the 88-92 mph range, and it has biting two-plane movement when it's located right. His low-90s changeup also has bat-missing tail. All three pitches are capable of missing bats, Burdi just needs to execute more consistently. During his big league action this year, I noticed he'd alter his position on the rubber depending on the handedness of the opposing hitter. I don't know how long Burdi has been doing that or if it's a thing he's yet comfortable with, so perhaps he experienced a learning/feel curve in 2020. (Alternate site, MLB)