Of all the prospects Milwaukee Brewers fans had on their radars as the September 1 roster expansion neared, Damien Magnifico was probably not one of them.
He was not a top prospect or highly-regarded or even really talked about but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t productive, nor does it mean he won’t be.
Originally selected by the Brewers in the 2012 amateur draft, Magnifico has existed solely within the confines of Milwaukee’s farm system. He began his minor league career as a starting pitcher in rookie ball but was largely inconsistent early on, landing himself an earned run average over 4.50 in his first two years.
By the time he reached his second year of High-A ball with the Brevard County Manatees in 2014, he seemed to get things a bit more sorted out, pitching to a much more productive 3.74 ERA and 1.27 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP). But despite obvious improvements like achieving a career-best walk rate (3.2 per nine innings), his strikeout rate had depleted, falling from a minor-league career average of 7.7 per nine innings to only 5.7.
After pitching over 120 innings, Magnifico returned the following season as a relief pitcher with Double-A Biloxi and absolutely flourished. Over 53 2/3 innings of relief, he put together a nearly untouched 1.17 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP to match with 38 strikeouts and 22 walks. He even logged himself 20 saves in the process.
Magnifico started in Triple-A Colorado Springs as a reliever once again this season but the thin mountain air was less kind to his ERA (4.06) and WHIP (1.45) over 62 innings of relief work.
But despite the inflated numbers that make separating performance from environment nearly impossible, Magnifico’s strikeout numbers have not only returned but surpassed any other season in which he’s pitched more than 22 innings, rising to an impressive 8.9 K/9.
More important than almost any other aspects of his pitching, however, are his incredibly low home run rate (only 2 in 62 innings) and high ground ball rate – 62 percent compared to the 44 percent league average — which is likely to fare extremely well given the dimensions of Miller Park.
Magnifico has already pitched a pair of innings with the Brewers in mid-August when he gave up one earned run, two walks, and no strikeouts to the Chicago Cubs.
Given the potential he has shown to making adjustments throughout various stages of his career, Magnifico could be poised to show the Brewers either average bullpen production or a true manifestation of his last name.
And even if it’s not magic, he’s still got the potential to solidify himself a spot in a bullpen that could definitely use some clarification.
Jonathan Powell is the Managing Editor of Outside Pitch MLB and the Milwaukee Brewers writer. Follow him on Twitter @jonathannashhh.
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