MICHAEL FELIX

8/13/85; '06 2nd; Troy University
L/L; 5-11, 190

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP	OAVG	ERA
2004 NCAA	4-4-0	18	15	61.2	51	5	41	50	6.0	7.3	1.49	.224	4.52
2005 NCAA	0-2-0	7	5	14.1	23	3	20	12	12.6	7.5	3.00	.390	11.93
2006 NCAA	9-4-4	28	8	101.2	85	6	49	134	4.3	11.9	1.32	.223	3.45
2006 A-	1-6-0	13	13	48.0	41	3	33	49	6.2	9.2	1.54	.236	3.56
2007 A	0-2-0	25	3	35.2	44	3	46	37	11.6	9.3	2.52	.289	8.83
2007 A-	2-1-0	19	0	25.2	25	0	23	31	8.1	10.9	1.87	.263	5.26
2008 A	4-7-2	35	11	86.2	71	5	71	62	7.4	6.4	1.64	.231	5.50
2009 A+	0-0-0	7	0	9.1	8	0	9	5	8.7	4.8	1.82	.235	7.71
2009 A-	1-2-1	12	4	35.0	31	1	18	13	4.6	3.3	1.40	.235	3.60

Felix started his college career at Auburn and was primarily an outfielder, but came on as a closer after transferring to Troy for 2006. His selection started a succession of picks on which the Pirates overdrafted players. Baseball America regarded him as a prospective setup guy, which is a low ceiling for a second round pick. He throws mainly in the high 80s, reaching 93, and his out pitch is a late-breaking curve. He doesn't have much of a change and may not need it as a reliever. He's considered athletic and has been compared to Mike Hampton. At Williamsport in 2006 the Pirates used him as a starter, probably to get him more innings. He never went past five innings and usually came out sooner than that, often after just two or three innings. This may have been due to very cautious pitch counts or to the fact that he had a great deal of trouble throwing strikes, or both. He has good stuff, but the control problems were pretty severe. Oddly, LH batters hit .379 against him, although he faced very few of them.

Felix opened 2007 in the rotation at Hickory, but his season quickly turned into a disaster due to his inability to get the ball over the plate. The numbers speak for themselves. He was sent to the bullpen after just three terrible starts, then was demoted to State College when the NY-P season opened. Things never really improved; even in September, when he had an ERA of 3.00, he walked seven in six innings. His GO/AO ratio in 2007 overall was 3.54 and he fanned over a batter an inning. In 2008 he showed some improvement, but it was mainly in the sense that he managed to last all season at Hickory and his performance was extremely erratic instead of consistently disastrous. He remained hard to hit, but the same factors that make him so-the break on his curve and the movement on his fastball-also contribute to his severe wildness. He actually managed two fairly good months, April and July, but he followed a 3.57 July ERA with an ERA of 14.59 in August, along with 20 walks in 12.1 IP. The Pirates moved him to the rotation in mid-July, but he averaged so few innings per start that there probably isn't a valid distinction between his performance as a starter and reliever. His K rate dropped sharply in 2008, probably as the result of taking something off his pitches to get them over the plate. He still was much tougher on RH hitters.

To start 2009 the Pirates assigned Felix to the Lynchburg bullpen. He continued to struggle and was sent back to extended spring training. He resurfaced with State College and showed some progress, but his K rate cratered. He continued to be an extreme groundball pitcher (GO/AO of 2.79 for the entire season) and this time he held LH hitters to a .120 average. He probably didn't score any points with the organization by getting arrested for DUI late in the season. Felix' stuff is good enough that the Pirates may keep trying with him, but so far it's just not going anywhere.

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