Prospect Watch: Hunter Stratton Finding Path as a Professional Pitcher
The junior college scene has produced its fair share of Major League Baseball players over the years. They are some of the best college players that for one reason or another they were passed up by the Division I, II, and III scouts. One of the products of the Junior College circuit is Pirates Minor League pitcher Hunter Stratton. The left-handed pitching prospect has jumped between the bullpen and the starting rotation throughout his collegiate and professional career performing well in both roles. He has got good velocity with his fastball hitting in the low to mid-90s, but his control has been an issue throughout his career, and something he needs to work on.
Last season, he made it to Advanced-A Bradenton and has his share of ups and down pitching to a 4.25 ERA in 72 innings of work. His control was his biggest issue throughout the season as he had a walk rate just north of 13%. However, he made up for his control issues by allowing an opponent batting average of .209, the lowest mark of his career. He is a good left-handed talent that the Pirates still haven't decided if they are going to make a starting pitcher or a reliever. He produced about the same numbers in both roles, and his success is going to bank on whether or not he can get his pitches under control.
After being passed up by some upper college programs, Stratton decided to play his college ball at Walters State Community College. The move gave him the opportunity to be a member of the starting rotation right from the get-go and he succeeded. During his freshman season, he went an impressive 7-2 with an elevates 4.40 ERA in 19 games, while making eight starts. While his stats might not have jumped off the page impressive, but the right-hander did hold opponents to a .225 batting average against while striking out 51 batters. It was these strengths that made up for the control issues, and he went into his senior year trying to work on those.
He took on more of a starting role during his senior campaign and saw his stats improve across the board. He posted a 3.93 ERA and saw his strikeout rate skyrocket as he fanned 79 batters in 66.1 innings of work. His greatly improved stats bolstered his draft status and was named the 20th overall prospect in the state of Tenessee, according to Baseball America, and was just outside of their top 500 prospect list. The Pirates got a good look at Stratton throughout the season as they were scouting Stratton and fellow teammate Hunter Wolfe. Wolfe was taken in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft and Stratton wasn't so sure if his name would be called.
However, four rounds later, the Pirates would go back to Walters State CC and chose Stratton with the 478th overall pick in the draft in round 16. It took Stratton a couple of weeks to sign as he and the Pirates were working out the logistics of a deal but he would officially sign on June 21st, 2017. Being that he only pitched two years of college baseball, he would begin his professional career in the Rookie Ball ranks pitching with the Bristol Pirates. After being a starting pitcher almost exclusively during his senior year, he would go back to that role for Bristol entering into their starting rotation.
He ended up making 11 starts in 12 appearances and went 0-2 with a 4.81 ERA in 43 innings of work. While he continued to hold opponents at bay on the offensive side of the ball, his control was still awful as he walked 32 batters during the season. His control has been an issue throughout his baseball career and it has gotten him into trouble leading to the higher ERAs. Opponents still only hit .228 against the right-hander while striking out 38 batters for a 19.3 strikeout percentage. His control issues did not allow him to work very deep into games, as he lasted four innings or less in seven of his 11 starts.
He had a rough introduction to professional ball as his first start only lasted two innings and he gave up two earned runs during the outing. He followed that up with three straight scoreless outings and he had a respectable 2.33 ERA. However, as he started working later into games, the struggles mounted and the month of August turned into a bad one for the right-hander. He gave up three earned runs or more in each of his final five appearances and lasted five innings just one time. He did end the year in a positive note when he turned in a quality start in his final start of the season. He went five innings allowing three runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three.
Despite a little bit of a rocky start to his professional baseball career, Stratton was moved to full-season baseball the following year and pitched for Class Low-A West Virginia. He would once again be worked as a starting pitcher and ended up making 20 starts in 22 games for the Power. He saw his numbers get better as he started to work more innings, posting a 4.15 ERA in 101.2 innings that season. The walk rate went down slightly to just over 11%, but it still wasn't where he wanted to be as a starting pitcher. His strikeout rate also dropped by nearly a point that season as he was only striking out 7.3 batters per nine innings as compared to eight the season before.
However, he was still doing a good job of not allowing the contact his opponents made against him turn into hits. He allowed an opponent batting average of .244, which was respectable for the number of innings he worked. After making it into the fifth inning in less than half of his starts the year before, Stratton came back strong in 2018 and worked five innings or more in 14 of his 20 starts including 12 quality starts. His best stretch of the season came in mid-July through the end of the season when he posted eight straight quality starts and a 2.40 ERA. The stretch was enough to send him into the off-season with confidence and earned him another promotion, this time to Advanced-A Bradenton.
The promotion came with a slight change for Stratton as he moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen. He would still be used in a long-relief role, but instead of going five or six innings night in and night out, he would end up working two or three. His ERA saw a slight uptick with the promotion as he posted a 4.25 ERA in 72 innings of work while posting a 5-4 record. The control numbers continue to be extremely high for Stratton as he walked 42 batters, but he was able to once again miss bats like he used to. He allowed an opponent batting average of just .209 last season allowing a career-low seven hits per nine innings. He also got back to his strikeout numbers from his rookie season as he set down 64 batters that season for a strikeout percentage of 20.3%.
The first two months of the season saw him pitch some of the best baseball of his career as he had a 1.76 ERA in his first 30.2 innings of work. His fastball was working, and he mixed in his other two pitches effectively to get batters out. However, he got lit up in the month of June which caused his ERA to soar as he gave up 20 earned runs over 14 innings of work. He would heat back up during the month of August, but it was too late to salvage his ERA as he would have to settle for finishing in the low fours as opposed to the threes.
Stratton has shown some promise both as a starter and a reliever, but the Pirates now have to decide which path he will take. If they want him as a starter, I see him heading back to Bradenton for the entirety of the 2021 season to see what he can do. However, if they want to stick him in the bullpen, look for him to start at Bradenton, but earn a promotion to Double-A Altoona by the end of the season. The only sure thing is no matter what the Pirates decide to do, Stratton has got to work on lowering his walk rate and gaining more control of his pitches.
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