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
 3.60 9.00 1.20 .222
3.60
2000 R (Fla)
6-2-0
11
11
63.0
49
 1
17
58
 2.43 8.29 1.05 .209
2.43
2001 A (Fla)
3-1-0
8
7
39.1
43
 2
14
20
 3.20 4.58 1.45 .281
4.35
2001 A- (Fla)
3-1-0
7
7
39.0
25
 0
6
31
 1.38 7.15 0.79 .174
2.08
2002 A+ (Fla)
4-6-0
19
15
88.1
80
 6
40
79
 4.08 8.05 1.36 .242
4.99
2003 AA (Fla)
4-5-0
11
11
53.1
45
 5
35
61
 5.91 10.29 1.50 .226
3.71
2003 A+ (Fla)
8-4-0
14
14
84.0
68
 2
35
77
 3.75 8.25 1.23 .219
3.21
2004 AL (KC)
0-4-0
5
5
27.2
38
 2
11
18
 3.58 5.86 1.77 .333
6.51
2004 AL (Balt)
0-0-0
2
0
2.0
6
 1
2
1
 9.00 4.50 4.00 .545
36.00
2004 AA (KC)
4-3-0
12
12
81.2
68
 3
32
73
 3.53 8.04 1.22 .228
2.53
2004 AA (Balt)
3-5-0
14
13
62.2
58
 5
33
72
 4.74 10.34 1.45 .242
4.74
2005 AL (KC)
2-2-0
7
7
35.2
36
2
17
23
4.29
5.80
1.49
.259
5.80
2005 AAA (KC)
0-1-0
6
6
13.0
8
0
6
12
4.15
8.31
1.08
.174
2.77
2006 NL (Colo)
0-1-0
4
1
6.2
9
0
4
5
5.41
6.76
1.95
.310
5.40
2006 AL (KC)
0-2-0
8
7
35.0
38
5
17
22
4.37
5.66
1.57
.277
5.66
2006 AAA (Colo)
1-4-0
6
6
36.0
46
2
16
35
4.00
8.75
1.72
.311
4.50
2006 AAA (KC)
2-5-0
10
10
44.0
52
3
32
28
6.55
5.73
1.91
.304
7.36
2007 NL (Colo)
2-1-0
9
1
8.2
18
0
4
8
4.16
8.31
2.54
.429
12.46
2007 AAA (Colo)
3-2-0
51
0
64.2
54
1
31
63
4.31
8.77
1.31
.228
2.92
2008 AL (Det)
0-1-0
16
0
19.0
15
1
14
10
6.63
4.74
1.53
.231
3.32
2008 NL
4-3-0
35
0
41.1
46
5
28
34
6.10
7.40
1.79
.295
6.10
2008 AAA (Det)
0-1-0
5
0
6.1
2
0
3
7
4.26
9.95
0.79
.095
0.00

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 is eligible for arbitration. He'll be 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. In addition, the Pirates will have to carry the even more control-disabled Craig Hansen in the majors, so they can't afford to fool with Bautista, especially not at an arbitration salary. Given his arm, he was worth a try, but it didn't work out. Time to move on.

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