Prospect Watch: Aaron Shortridge Coming Into His Own in Starting Rotation
The most important thing for any pitcher to be able to do in their career is getting batters out any way they can. It doesn't matter how many guys you strikeout, as long as you are keeping the opposition off the board in your own way. This is the mentality that Minor League pitcher Aaron Shortridge has gone with throughout his professional career. He never posted very high strikeout numbers in his first two seasons in professional baseball, but he has kept the opponents batting average below the .260 mark and has never posted an ERA higher than 3.25. His velocity isn't the best, but he uses his stuff to try and out finesse the opposition.
Last season, he made the jump to Advanced-A Bradenton and experienced his first full season of professional baseball. He made 24 starts for the Marauders and went 9-5 with a 3.25 ERA. He saw his ERA go up from the year before, but more than quadrupled his workload throwing in 135.1 innings of work. It was a big jump for the 23-year old, and he ended up being a success for the Marauders. He ended up increasing his velocity from the upper 80s to the lower 90s adding some more zip to his fastball. This also helped his off-speed pitches and made him a better pitcher throughout the season.
Shortridge got his start in baseball in Napa, California where he played his high school ball at Vintage high school. He was one of the top pitchers in the school's history and posted a career 1.80 ERA in his four seasons. He ended up setting the school record striking out 215 batters and was a finalist for the High School Player of the Year in 2014, and the High School Pitcher of the Year in 2015. So, when he was looking at where to play baseball at the college level, he had several options available on the table. He ended up going to the University of California where he got the opportunity to pitch in the PAC-12, one of the best baseball divisions in college baseball.
He would make the transition from being a starting pitcher to a reliever during his freshman year, and appeared in 12 games for the Bears. It wasn't the easiest transition for the young right-hander, as he posted a 5.40 ERA in 15 innings of work out of the bullpen. He showed a good strikeout rate setting down 12 batters during the season, but struggled with control issues throughout the season walking 11 batters. With his fastball only hitting in the upper 80s, it was harder for Shortridge to get the swing and misses that he needed, and opponents picked up 22 hits against him in those 15 innings of work. With things not looking good for Shortridge, he would head to the Northwoods League that summer to work on becoming a better pitcher.
It would end up helping Shortridge tremendously as he got to make the transition back to the starting rotation and got back to his high school roots. He ended up going 4-1 for the Eau Claire Express while posting a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings of work. His strikeout rate stayed the same, but he was able to show better control of his pitches with just 10 walks. That summer gave him the confidence he needed, as he returned to California a completely different pitcher the following year. He still spent a majority of the season in the Cal bullpen, making just one start, but posted a team-low 1.99 ERA in 22 innings of work. He did some of his most impressive work against top-15 teams appearing in games against No. 1 Oregon, No. 7 TCU, No. 10 Stanford, and No. 15 Arizona and posted a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings of work.
After spending another season in the Northwoods League, Shortridge returned to Cal for his Junior season with his eyes set on becoming a starting pitcher. He started the year in the bullpen, but would eventually come through as the team's Sunday starter. He ended up having his best season of college ball posting a 2.77 ERA while going 5-3 in 17 games, 12 of those being starts. He more than doubled his workload, pitching in 91 innings, and struck out 74 batters while walking just 14. He ended up throwing three complete games during the season, including one in the final outing of his collegiate career where he allowed six hits against Arizona. He ended up being a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher heavy 2018 MLB Draft when he was selected in the fourth round.
It only took Shortridge a couple of days to sign his contract and by June 14th, he was at Class-A Short Season West Virginia ready to start his professional career. His first pro season was a successful one, as he jumped into the Black Bears rotation and had success right from the get-go. In those eight starts, he went 1-1 while posting a 2.67 ERA in 30.1 innings of work. He increased his strikeout rate tremendously posting a 29.9 strikeout percentage throughout the season. He got a hold of his control that year walking just seven batters, as he started learning how to use his off-speed stuff to compliment his fastball.
His first two starts were a little rough, but by the month of July, he was on fire once again pitching his best baseball of the season. He made five starts during the month of July posting a 1.68 ERA. After throwing in three innings or less in his first three starts, he started to stretch out as the season went on and through five or more innings consistently over four of his final starts. He had three quality starts by season's end and was proving that he could pitch just as well, if not better, in professional baseball than he did at college. However, after July he was shut down for the rest of the season due to soreness ending his 2018 season. No injury was ever specified, but Shortridge was able to go into the off-season with momentum behind him to keep moving forward.
He would get the promotion to full-season baseball last year, and ended up skipping Class Low-A Baseball and went right to Advanced-A Bradenton. The Marauders had a need in the starting rotation and the young right-hander was able to fill that role. He worked in 24 games for the Marauders and posted a 3.25 ERA while going 9-5 during the season. He more than quadrupled his workload from the year before working in 135.2 innings of work while striking out 104 and walking just 25 batters. The biggest bonus for Shortridge was his newfound velocity as his fastball was beginning to hit in the low to mid-90s as opposed to topping out in the 80s.
17 of his 24 starts were quality starts and once again as the season went on he kept getting better. His best start of the year came in his fourth to last game of the 2019 season when he pitched a career-high eight innings of work giving up two hits while walking one and striking out four. He didn't give up more than one run in any start during the month of August except for his last start of the season when he gave up four earned runs over five innings of work. For Shortridge, there is still time to develop and become a better professional pitcher as he will be entering his age 24 season. Look for him to start the 2021 season back in the Marauders starting rotation with a chance for him to move up to the Altoona Curve by the end of the year.
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