Prospect Watch: Domingo Robles Looking yo Become Ace Pitcher in Double-A
Over the years, many good pitchers have made their way up through the Pirates Minor League system. Guys like Gerritt Cole, Jameson Taillon, and Tyler Glasnow have all battled through the Minor Leagues and had good seasons in the Major Leagues. The one common denominator between all those pitchers is that they are right-handed. The Pirates have not had many left-handers have come up through the system, and the ones who have were acquired via a trade. The latest lefty prospect looking to develop his way to the Major Leagues is prospect Domingo Robles. He made the move to Double-A Altoona last season, and he started to get some recognition by season's end.
He ended up pitching between two different levels of the Minor Leagues last year and went 9-11 with a middle of the road 3.49 ERA. He saw the highest workload of his professional baseball career throwing in 165.1 innings of work and made 28 starts between the two levels. He has always had solid control throughout his career and continued that in 2019 walking just 36 batters. He allowed fewer hits than innings pitched and allowed opponents to hit .252 against him. He was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the final week of the regular season and he is looking to become the ace of the Altoona Curve in 2020.
Robles got his start in baseball in his hometown of Imbert, Dominican Republic, where there was a lot of talent. Major League baseball was just starting to test the foreign market in 2014, and the Pirates were the first to dive in headfirst. They saw Robles's plus arsenal and velocity but noticed he was very raw in terms of his stuff. He had a fastball with good sink, a strong curveball, and a changeup that still needed work. He was signed by the Pirates in July of 2014 and would begin his professional career the following season. He signed one of the biggest bonuses of that season at 175,000 dollars and was assigned to the Dominican Summer League Pirates for the 2015 season.
His rawness really showed through during that first season, as Robles went 4-6 with a 3.95 ERA in 15 starts. He showed a decent strikeout rate for a starting pitcher, striking out 44 batters in 68.1 innings of work, and he showed solid control walking just 6.7% of batters. However, during that first season, he allowed way more runs than his ERA suggested as he was tagged for 5.66 Runs Allowed per nine innings. This was true from the first start of that season as he lasted three innings, giving up seven runs, four earned while walking two and striking out three. He gave up two earned runs in each of his last three starts and struck out 15 batters over his final 14.1 innings of work.
He would move to the states for the 2016 season and pitched for the Gulf Coast League Pirates, and his ERA would catch up to his Runs Allowed per Nine. He went 1-2 with a 4.25 ERA in 36 innings of work while splitting time between the starting rotation and the bullpen. He struggled in his first three starts of the season, prompting the move to the bullpen, as he gave up 10 earned runs over his first 11 innings of work. The move to the bullpen would prove beneficial to the young Robles, as he would go on to give up just two earned runs in 6.1 innings of work.
He returned to the starting rotation during the middle of July and would give up no more than two earned runs in any of his final five games. His strikeout rate dropped dramatically from the year before, but his control was still there as he walked four batters in 36 innings of work. However, opponents started being able to handle his breaking stuff as they hit .280 against him. This showed throughout the season as he gave up forty hits during his 36 innings of work.
He continued his run in Rookie Ball in 2017, but this time moved up to the Bristol Pirates of the Appalachian League. Robles was starting a downward trend, as his ERA rose for the second year in a row and he went 4-8 with a 4.83 ERA in 69 innings of work. He continued to get hit around in Bristol with 75 hits allowed in 69 innings of work. He increased his velocity that season and started hitting between 90 and 91 miles per hour and his strikeout numbers benefited from the increased velocity. He fanned a career-high 51 batters that season and ended up walking just 16. He started working longer and deeper into games as the season went on and it was a roller coaster of a year in terms of results. It was some really bad outings that drove his ERA up and affected him for the rest of the season.
Of his 14 starts that season, nine went for quality starts as the young left-hander was navigation the higher grade of competition. The month of August was his best of the year as he gave up just four earned runs in 19.2 innings of work. However, just like the rest of the season, once he got going he hit a rough patch. In his second to last start of the season, he lasted just 3.1 innings of work and gave up eight earned runs on eight hits while walking three. He was plagued for two home run balls that ended up spoiling the outing and earning Robles the early exit. He would rebound in his final start of the year giving up two earned runs and earning his fourth win of the season.
The next challenge for Robles was full-season baseball as he entered 2018 with the Class Low-A West Virginia Power. As work started piling on, Robles got better as he had the best season of his professional career. He worked in a career-high 115 innings of work going 9-6 with a 2.97 ERA. His walk and strikeout rate remained on par with his career numbers as he fanned 88 and walked just 26 batters. After giving up five earned runs in his first appearance of the season starting his ERA off in a bad place. However, he got better and better as the season went on and would end up turning in 16 quality starts. From the end up July to early August, Robles allowed just one earned run in three straight starts and would be promoted to Advanced-A Bradenton.
He would make five starts for the Marauders at the end of the 2018 season and got his feet wet to the tone of a 4.76 ERA. Those stats were inflated due to his bad debut where he gave up nine earned runs in just 3.1 innings of work. After that, he would settle down turning in four straight quality starts to end the season. It dropped his ERA under five. He would return to the Marauders to start the year last season. He would go 5-5 over 10 starts for the team and posted a 2.61 ERA. In 62 innings of work, he struck out 47 batters while walking just 15. He pitched well in all but one start and was promoted to Double-A Altoona at the end of May.
His ERA would go back up into the fours as he went 4-6 with a 4.02 ERA in 103 innings of work. He got hit around more than he ever had at any other level of the Minor Leagues allowing 113 in 103 innings of work. As he was getting acquainted with the new level of competition, he would hit his bumps in the road. He would give up four or more home runs in six different starts as his ERA kept shooting up. However, by the end of the season, he was able to put it all together and was named Eastern League pitcher of the week during the last week of the regular season. He allowed just two earned runs over his final 21 innings of work, including his first career complete game.
Robles will return to the Altoona Curve starting rotation this season and is looking to build off of his end of season success last year. His three-pitch arsenal has improved every year as his changeup continues to get better and his curveball and fastball are working well. He is throwing up in the mid-90s and is trying to use that velocity to generate a higher strikeout percentage. He is trying to become the first Pirates homegrown left-handed prospect to make it to the show and have success at the Major League level. It will take at least another year for Robles to get to the MLB, but if he can put it all together, he could be a strong middle of the rotation pitcher.
It is still uncertain as to when the 2020 MLB season is set to begin, but we at Buccos Cove are determined to continue to bring you strong content. Until the 2020 season begins, we will continue looking at the players who make up the 2020 Pirates organization and how they will impact the organization this season.
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