Prospect Watch: Mitchell Tolman on Comeback After Suspension
Infield prospect Mitchell Tolman has gone through his fair share of adversity during his baseball career. Between ineffectiveness and a suspension early in his career, Tolman has had to scratch and claw his way to the Triple-A level last season. The Oregon product is trying to continue to uphold the winning tradition the university sets forward and will try to make the MLB squad. He is one in the line of many middle infield prospects in the Pirates Minor League system and is looking for a way to stand out from the rest of the competition. Over his professional career, Tolman has put up middle-of-the-road numbers and continued that in 2019.
Between Double-A and Triple-A, Tolman managed to bat .256 with six home runs and 36 RBI in 128 combined games played. It was a career-year for Tolman in terms of power and run production, but he saw his batting average dipped to almost ten points below his career average. Tolman showed decent speed stealing 10 bases in 15 chances and used that to help him record the second-best defensive season of his young career. He has also started to take some reps at third base as well as second base to add some versatility to his game and to allow him to get some more playing time at the Triple-A level with Hayes slated for a move to the Majors soon.
Tolman started his journey to professional baseball at a PAC-12 powerhouse, playing four seasons at Oregon. He was a starter from year one and showed he had what it took to hang with the big boys by batting .315 during his freshman season. He didn't show much power in college, with his highest college home run total being only three, he did show an ability to drive in a lot of runs. He finished his college career with 127 RBI and set a program record for most career RBI, which still stands today. He was also among the program leaders in several other categories including games with multi-RBI, hit by pitch, intentional walks, and multi-hit games. Some say he was making a case to become the best position player in Oregon baseball history.
The Pirates took notice of all these achievements and ended up taking Tolman in the seventh round of the 2015 MLB Draft, 217th overall. He would sign with the Pirates just weeks later and jumped right into his professional baseball career, heading to the Class-A Short Season West Virginia Black Bears. He would make an immediate impact hitting .304 with 23 RBI in 63 games played. He put the bat on the ball more often than not and took advantage boasting a .407 on-base percentage and a .411 slugging percentage. He was one of the hardest men in the Black Bears order to strikeout as he went down just 33 times in 224 at-bats.
However, as his offense was starting to soar his defensive numbers were not making as smooth a transition. Tolman's fielding percentage sat at just .929 at his primary position at second base and was even worse at third base (.925) he committed a combined 17 errors in 551.1 innings played with the Black Bears. As a middle-infielder, the defense is a priority on the field so Tolman knew he would have to improve that side of his game if he was going to stick as a second baseman on his path to the Major Leagues. His offensive numbers were enough to earn him a boost to Class Low-A West Virginia where he would continue to work on his defensive game.
He would do just that playing in 119 games at second base for the Power and raising his fielding percentage to .984. He committed nine errors in just over 1,000 innings played at the position while picking up 215 putouts and 335 assists. The one part of his game that he really excelled at was turning the Double Play. He was involved in a team-high 81 double plays that season, a number that still sits as his career-high at the position. While his defense was on the rise, he was also adding another element to his game as power was starting to develop.
Because of this, his batting average stated to dip as he went from a .304 hitter in 2015 to a .265 hitter in 2017. However, he set career-highs in home runs (8), RBI (48), and extra-base hits (20). He became a more patient hitter at the plate, walking 71 times in 434 at-bats while his strikeouts also saw an uptick as he struck out 68 times. With this newfound power, it was looking like Tolman would turn into a strong middle-infield prospect. He was bumped up to Advanced-A Bradenton to start the 2017 season and saw his career kick into high gear.
He spent most of the 2017 season with the Marauders and his batting average jumped two points to .267. However, his power once again saw an uptick as he hit nine home runs and drove in 62 RBI in his 115 games played. His speed also became a bigger part of his game as he stole a career-high 14 bases in 19 opportunities. Because of all this success, Tolman was rewarded with a promotion to Triple-A during the final weeks of the 2017 season. He would appear in three games for the Power and went 2-9 (.222) with one home run and two RBI. With the success he was seeing, Tolman was slated to make the move to Altoona full-time for the 2018 season.
However, his career would hit it's first major roadblock as he was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball for the second positive test of a drug of abuse. This would force him to miss a little under half of the 2018 season. When he did come back, he would take a demotion and play out the 2018 season with the Bradenton Marauders. He would only get to play in 68 games that season and his offensive numbers went down both in contact and power. He hit just .250 with just two home runs and 17 RBI in 285 at-bats. His numbers went down across the board and didn't make a good case for the young middle-infielder.
After a stint in the Arizona Fall League, Tolman returned last season and found his way to Double-A Altoona last season. His offense didn't get much better as he hit just .254 with four home runs and 32 RBI. He wasn't seeing the power or run production that he was early in his career and his value as a middle-of-the-order was on the decline. However, his speed has become a more essential part of his game as he nabbed 10 stolen bases in 15 opportunities and started showing value as more of a top of the order hitter. With so many people being called to the Major Leagues, Tolman advanced to Triple-A for the first time in his career over the final month of the Minor League season.
In a short stint with Indianapolis, his numbers did show improvement, especially as a contact hitter. He hit .275 (9-33) in 12 games played with two home runs and four RBI while playing both second and third base for the Indians. Tolman still has a ways to go in his development and a lot of competition for playing time at the Major League level. For the time being, it seems as though most of the 2020 season will be spent in Triple-A for the 25-year old as he continues to work on becoming a true contact hitter and a force to be reckoned with at the top of a batting order.
Comments
Post a Comment