While many winter leagues are still in full swing, the Dominican League’s Toros del Este are already out of playoff contention, bringing their short winter season to a close, and with them, an interesting name – right-handed pitcher Paolo Espino.
Espino signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers on Nov. 10 and looks to be a low-risk add with considerable upside, even for a rotation that is already fully loaded at the major league level.
Although he’ll be turning 30 in mid-January and has not yet made the leap to Major League Baseball, Espino sports some favorable numbers that should help garner him some consideration for a call-up later this season.
He’s spent a majority of his minor league career with the Cleveland Indians and after being drafted in 2006, touched Triple-A in 2010. Unfortunately, he continued to jump back and forth between Triple-A and Double-A over the next few years until finally electing free agency in 2013. After a short stint with the Chicago Cubs minor league affiliates, Espino spent two years in the Washington Nationals system but again failed to reach the majors, blocked by a rotation already full of young arms like Joe Ross, A.J. Cole and top prospect Lucas Giolito.
Espino may not have the benefit of youth or pedigree but what he lacks in traditional upside and potential longevity, he provides in improvement and consistency. Despite years of inconsistency before landing in the Nationals farm system, he finally found his stride in 2014 and has shown regular progress since.
Over the last three seasons, he’s improved his earned run average from 3.84 to 3.47 to 3.30 just this past season – a majority of which was in Triple-A. Over that span, he’s also posted excellent walks plus hits per inning numbers from a low of 1.036 in 2014 to the 1.146 he posted in 2016. He’s improved an already impressive walk rate from 1.8 BB/9 to 1.7 BB/9 and although his strikeout numbers seem to have peaked in 2013 (9.9 K/9), he maintained a respectable 7.8 K/9 just this last season.
Of course, his progress didn’t end there. Outside of a rough start that looked to compromise his off-season in the Dominican League with a 9.00 ERA, Espino dominated his other five starts, giving up a total of three earned runs and two walks while striking out 28 in 25 1/3 innings. The performance allowed him to finish the off-season with a 1.91 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with 31 strikeouts and only three walks in 28 1/3 innings.
Unfortunately, Espino is slated to start 2017 in Colorado Springs’ Security Service Field — a notoriously hitter-friendly park. He will also face quite a bit of competition from those already primed to enter the MLB ranks. Josh Hader, the Brewers’ best pitching prospect, is slated to make the leap sometime in 2017, as is Jorge Lopez, who is currently experiencing the most impressive stretch of his entire career this off-season.
Hiram Burgos, despite ending the season with a 4.40 ERA, has also been on an absolute tear in the Puerto Rican Winter League, posting a 4-1 record, 2.05 ERA and 0.93 WHIP while striking out 43 and walking only 9 in 48 1/3 innings.
But above all else, Espino is undoubtedly adding one thing no team can have enough of – not only pitching depth, but good pitching depth, a luxury the team has not seen for quite some time.
If Espino does continue to develop, the Brewers will have one more MLB-ready pitcher waiting in the wings. Should they choose to make some of their more tenured starters like Wily Peralta, Chase Anderson or Matt Garza expendable, Espino looks to be an apt fill-in, given he get the opportunity. If nothing else, allowing him to surface through the organization also means Milwaukee will have one more trade chip to deal from in a position that is already loaded with potential options. For a simple minor league signing, Espino is already showing he could have quite a bit more value than the minimal salary he signed for.
Jonathan Powell is the Managing Editor of Outside Pitch MLB and the Milwaukee Brewers writer. Follow him on Twitter @jonathannashhh.
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