With a little time to kill here at work, I thought I'd point out what has become perhaps my very favorite statistic thus far: Huntsville reliever Steve Bray has walked zero in 30 innings this year. Zero is, well, quite low. He's also got 26 K's in those 30 innings and is sporting a nifty 1.80 ERA.
Where did he come from? Why, the Royals, who could definitely use the help at the moment. The Brewers picked up Bray in the minor league portion of last year's Rule V draft, the basic rules of which you can read here. The Brewers actually had a rather busy Rule V; though Bray was the only player they picked, they lost four of their own to other teams:
- Augustin Septimo, a middle infielder, was chosen by the Marlins and is currently hitting .291/.353/.430 in A ball.
- Reliever David Bradley was taken by the A's and is having a decent season in AA.
- Former first round pick Ben Diggins, acquired by the Brewers in the Tyler Houston trade, was drafted by the Astros but was released before pitching at all this year. I assume he's injured.
- Wisconsin native John Vanden Berg, a catcher, was picked by the Phillies and has since retired.
- Bonus transaction! Justin Barnes has nothing to do with the Rule V draft, but was traded by the Brewers to the Royals in the offseason for Chris Demaria. I'm sure most of you would rather have even a pallet of Budweiser than Chris Demaria, but check out Barnes' numbers this year. 27 K's and only 3 walks in 21 innings in the hitter's paradise of High Desert, where his 4.29 ERA is positively gaudy. Look at the park factors; High Desert increases runs by 16% and decreases strikeouts by 9%.
Tags: Milwaukee Brewers, Stephen Bray, Kansas City Royals, Rule V Draft, Augustin Septimo, David Bradley, Ben Diggins, Tyler Houston, John Vanden Berg, Justin Barnes, Chris Demaria, High Desert Mavericks