DENNY BAUTISTA

10/23/82; NDFA '00 (Florida); Dominican Republic
R/R; 6-5, 190

Level
W-L-Sv
G
GS
IP
H
 HR
BB
K
 BB/9 K/9 WHIP OAVG
ERA
2000 A- (Fla)
0-0-0
1
1
5.0
4
 0
2
5
 3.6 9.0 1.20 .222
3.60
2000 R (Fla)
6-2-0
11
11
63.0
49
 1
17
58
 2.4 8.3 1.05 .209
2.43
2001 A (Fla)
3-1-0
8
7
39.1
43
 2
14
20
 3.2 4.6 1.45 .281
4.35
2001 A- (Fla)
3-1-0
7
7
39.0
25
 0
6
31
 1.4 7.2 0.79 .174
2.08
2002 A+ (Fla)
4-6-0
19
15
88.1
80
 6
40
79
 4.1 8.1 1.36 .242
4.99
2003 AA (Fla)
4-5-0
11
11
53.1
45
 5
35
61
 5.9 10.3 1.50 .226
3.71
2003 A+ (Fla)
8-4-0
14
14
84.0
68
 2
35
77
 3.8 8.3 1.23 .219
3.21
2004 AL (KC)
0-4-0
5
5
27.2
38
 2
11
18
 3.6 5.9 1.77 .333
6.51
2004 AL (Balt)
0-0-0
2
0
2.0
6
 1
2
1
 9.0 4.5 4.00 .545
36.00
2004 AA (KC)
4-3-0
12
12
81.2
68
 3
32
73
 3.5 8.0 1.22 .228
2.53
2004 AA (Balt)
3-5-0
14
13
62.2
58
 5
33
72
 4.7 10.3 1.45 .242
4.74
2005 AL (KC)
2-2-0
7
7
35.2
36
2
17
23
4.3
5.8
1.49
.259
5.80
2005 AAA (KC)
0-1-0
6
6
13.0
8
0
6
12
4.2
8.3
1.08
.174
2.77
2006 NL (Colo)
0-1-0
4
1
6.2
9
0
4
5
5.4
6.8
1.95
.310
5.40
2006 AL (KC)
0-2-0
8
7
35.0
38
5
17
22
4.4
5.7
1.57
.277
5.66
2006 AAA (Colo)
1-4-0
6
6
36.0
46
2
16
35
4.0
8.8
1.72
.311
4.50
2006 AAA (KC)
2-5-0
10
10
44.0
52
3
32
28
6.6
5.7
1.91
.304
7.36
2007 NL (Colo)
2-1-0
9
1
8.2
18
0
4
8
4.2
8.3
2.54
.429
12.46
2007 AAA (Colo)
3-2-0
51
0
64.2
54
1
31
63
4.3
8.8
1.31
.228
2.92
2008 AL (Det)
0-1-0
16
0
19.0
15
1
14
10
6.6
4.7
1.53
.231
3.32
2008 NL
4-3-0
35
0
41.1
46
5
28
34
6.1
7.4
1.79
.295
6.10
2008 AAA (Det)
0-1-0
5
0
6.1
2
0
3
7
4.3
10.0
0.79
.095
0.00
2009 NL
1-1-0
14
0
13.2
15
1
7
15
4.6
9.9
1.61
.306
5.27
2009 AAA
2-3-1
36
0
48.0
54
2
34
58
6.4
10.9
1.83
.284
4.88

Bautista has the unusual distinction of being rated by Baseball America among the top five prospects for three different teams: Florida, Baltimore and Kansas City. He's long been regarded as having an outstanding arm, featuring a mid-90s fastball that reaches the upper-90s, and three other decent or better pitches. Unfortunately, his command has always been bad, possibly the result of poor mechanics. He seemed finally to have started making some progress as a reliever in AAA in 2007, but despite the good ERA with the Tigers in 2008, his walk and strikeout numbers were scary.

Nevertheless, the Pirates acquired Bautista from the Tigers, after he'd been designated for assignment, for minor league reliever Kyle Pearson. They did so despite the fact that they'd been crippled up to that point by horrible BB/K ratios. He pitched reasonably well for his first month or so, but after that reality set in. Specifically, the more hitters saw of him the fewer pitches they swung at. Bautista frequently fell into a pattern in which he couldn't throw his fastball for strikes, causing him to lose confidence in it and start throwing only sliders, which he seems to control a little better. The hitters would simply wait on the slider and tee off. Bautista eventually replaced Franquelis Osoria as the worst reliever in a horrible bullpen. No matter how bad he got, though, John Russell kept using him. From mid-August on, Bautista had an ERA of 10.06 in his last 16 games. In September, he walked 13 and fanned only 4 in 10 innings. Russell, however, saw fit to use him in 11 games while September callups Romulo Sanchez and Marino Salas combined to appear in only 8.

Bautista was a good test of GM Neal Huntington's willingness to cut bait on failed experiments, rather than clinging to them the way his predecessor did. This is especially important in building a bullpen, which should be a matter of trying lots of pitchers until a few prove themselves to be keepers. Clinging to bad relievers who can't be sent to AAA defeats this strategy. Anyway, the Pirates non-tendered Bautista just before the deadline, making him a free agent. Somewhat surprisingly, he agreed to return on a minor league deal, with a June 1 out clause if he wasn't on the major league roster. The fact that he'd agree to such a deal at that stage probably shows that there was little interest in him. In an indication of the very bad state of the Pirates' bullpen resources, Bautista was still in contention for a major league spot until the end of spring training even though he continued to pitch poorly.

Bautista opened the season in Indianapolis and pitched very poorly there, fanning a lot of hitters but allowing far too many baserunners. Nevertheless, the Pirates called him in mid-August as their bullpen was falling to pieces. It was expected to be a brief callup due to a shortage of relievers, but it ended up lasting the rest of the season when Evan Meek and Jose Ascanio were lost for the year. Bautista pitched well in the first few games, but he quickly reverted to form. The Pirates outrighted him to AAA shortly after the season and he opted for free agency.

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