The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve signed right-hander Braden Shipley to a minor league contract. The former first-rounder and top prospect will presumably be in Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets that he’ll make $600K if he cracks the MLB roster.
Now 28 years old, Shipley was the 15th overall pick by the D-backs in the 2013 draft and ranked among baseball’s 100 best prospects in each of his first three pro seasons, per Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. But after strong showings up through the Double-A level, Shipley’s strikeout rate began to deteriorate while his walks increased. He received big league looks from the Diamondbacks each season from 2016-18 but scuffled in each showing, ultimately compiling a 5.49 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.71 HR/9 and a 42.9 percent ground-ball rate through an even 100 innings in the big leagues.
Shipley has worked both as a starter and a reliever during his pro career, showing greater velocity and swinging-strike tendencies when working out of the bullpen. He’ll give the Kansas City organization some depth in either role and will likely head to Triple-A Omaha to begin the season if he doesn’t crack the roster.
Who?
i say this a lot when looking at the Mariners 40 man roster.
Lol his name is Marner#16, not Mariner#16.
Idiot
relax david
Braden Shipley. Reading is tough.
vtadave,
Might be for you but its never too late for you to get on a “program” for it.
This is nothing signing waste of time to write an article about a awful pitcher!
Keep bringing in these reclamation projects on minor league deals. Love it.
TLB2001,
Total waste of money. There has to be way better options available!.
How is this a waste of money??? He isnt taking up anything on your payroll. If he makes the team, he will be making slightly above the minimum MLB salary. If he doesnt, he will be making minor league money. Money that would have been spent on another minor leaguer with even less potential.
If Shipley fails, this has absolutely no impact on your team. There is no risk here at all.
This has no impact on who else you can/will sign. There is no reason to get upset about it. You’ll either get lucky with him or you’ll lose absolutely nothing in the process of trying him out
The perfect no lose situation. Good signing by a team in a rebuild.
Exactly the right way to think about it. Most of these don’t work out, but at worst they can serve as minor league depth. Every once in a while you strike gold.
Honestly not a bad signing by the Royals. Having a veteran (Duffy and Kennedy) lead a rotation and bullpen full of former top prospects isn’t a bad strategy
kennedy is the closer right now, he was moved to the pen to protect his health.
That’s what he meant.
He fell of quickly. He seemed like a pretty safe pick at #15.
Hes a guy that can make that jump from failed starter to above average bullpen arm. I’m surprised more teams do not try to transfer failed starters with good stuff into bullpen arms.
Earl,
Hes garbage over 5 era career wise!!!!
Earl, dont mind him. Apparently the guy who doesnt know an ex first round pick is suddenly an expert. Funny how that works.
wow i didn’t see that coming, mostly because i dint know who the heck that is
I always wonder about these promising prospects that fail to launch. Was it injury? Is it mental? Poor coaching? Prospect development is such an imprecise process that it almost seems like magic when it all works out.
someguy,
ya either have it or you don’t and clearly he doesn’t!
Yeah, I hear you, but that’s a bit tautological, isn’t it? And what is ‘it’? Because it seemed like Shipley had it at some point at some point and then it just went away.
Look no further than Andrew Miller. A first round pick who flamed out big time as a starter. Then around age 27, found himself in the bullpen and became a stud reliever. This is a good low cost risk by the Royals. Worst case, he makes $250K pitching in the minors.
Helps in minors too if he don’t make the roster