Baltimore Orioles: A Look at the 3 Players from the Zach Britton Trade
By Ben Palmer
Cody Carroll – RHP
Cody Carroll is where the return in this trade starts to get pretty interesting. Carroll was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Yankees and has been dominant during his career in the minors.
He’s a pure reliever and has been his entire professional career, but he’s been a really good one, with his highest ERA in a season being 3.15. Last year, between High-A and Double-A, Carroll was excellent, pitching to a 2.54 ERA with an 11.94 K/9 over 67.1 innings pitched.
So far this year in Triple-A, he’s continued that dominance, pitching to a 2.38 ERA with an 11.88 K/9 over 41.2 innings pitched.
Carroll has a nasty plus, borderline plus-plus fastball that comes in around 94-99 MPH with the ability to touch 101. He also throws a slider and a splitter that both come in around the mid-80s and both look to be above-average breaking pitches that complement his heater very well.
He’s had some control issues in the past, as evidenced by his double-digit walk percentages every year, though this year he’s done alright, limiting walks to a 10.5% clip with a 1.08 WHIP.
Carroll projects to be a solid major league reliever with closer potential. Combined with Zach Pop, who was acquired in the Machado trade, the Baltimore Orioles bullpen looks like it could be pretty strong in the future.