This afternoon, the Braves placed beleaguered pitcher Jose Ramirez on the 10-day DL and called up left-handed relief prospect Jesse Biddle to Atlanta.
The Player
Jesse Biddle, LHP
Age: 26
OFR Prospect Rank: 51
2018 Level: AAA Gwinnett
The Results
2018: 0.00 ERA | 1.27 FIP | 4 G, 0 GS | 6.1 IP | 11.37 K/9 | 1.42 BB/9
Minor League Career: 3.72 ERA | 3.72 FIP | 164 G, 132 GS | 733.1 IP | 8.85 K/9 | 4.31 BB/9
The History
Biddle was signed with much fanfare by the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the 2010 draft. Biddle was a high school stand-out at Germantown Friends High School in Philadelphia.
Biddle struggled with control as a starter in the Philadelphia system, and after initial success at the lower levels, he started getting hit hard at AA in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 while playing in AA Reading, Biddle got caught in a freak hailstorm that shattered the windows of the car he was driving, spraying him with glass. As he ran from the car, another huge chunk of hail hit him in the back of the head, giving him an undiagnosed concussion. He tried to come back too soon, and in his next five starts pitched to a 9.82 ERA while he “felt out of balance”. Biddle was reevaluated and correctly diagnosed with a concussion. He returned in August to Reading and made one more start.
Despite questionable results while playing for Reading in 2015, Biddle was promoted to AAA Lehigh Valley and pitched to a 6.65 ERA in 9 starts. After the season, it was discovered that Biddle had a partially torn UCL, and Tommy John surgery was performed. The Phillies sought to pass him through waivers to get him off their 40-man roster, but the Pirates claimed him. The Pirates then tried to sneak him through waivers themselves, but the Braves pounced on him.
Biddle spent all of 2016 on the Braves 60-day DL while he rehabbed. When Biddle emerged with AA Mississippi in 2017, the Braves had converted him to a full-time reliever. Biddle appeared in 27 games and was one of Mississippi’s most effective relievers before the Braves shut him down in mid-July once he reached 50 innings pitched. Biddle looked sharp in spring training, allowing two hits but no runs in 3 innings of work.
The Report
Biddle is a large man, listed at 6′-5″ and 220 pounds. He has an uncomplicated delivery, with a minimum leg kick and a three-quarters arm slot. He had a four-pitch repertoire with the Phillies, but has limited that to three pitches: a 91-94 mph fastball, a curveball, and a change-up. It’s the curveball that got him drafted in the first round, but it was overly loopy with the Phillies and was hit hard; the Braves have helped Biddle tighten it up, and he can now throw it for strikes regularly. Biddle ideally works down in the zone, getting groundballs and using the hook for swing-and-miss.
In the video below, Biddle uses the fastball, change-up, and curve in succession to strike out third baseman Drew Dosch of the Norfolk Tides in the 8th inning on 4/6/2018.
What’s Next
Biddle has a shot to stick with the club as a left-hander who can pitch effectively to both left-handed and right-handed batters for multiple innings. Perhaps more importantly, Biddle has shown the ability to limit walks since his full-time conversion to the bullpen, something that has been a well-documented bugaboo for the Braves bullpen early on in 2018.
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