Zach Buchanan

azcentral sports

Diamondbacks pitching prospect Archie Bradley was about halfway through an interview at the team's spring-training facility at Salt River Fields before the question he knew was coming finally arrived.

He's already talked about how he's feeling — he's on his second day of playing catch after being shut down for three weeks with a strained flexor mass in his throwing elbow, his follow-up tests were clean, etc. When eventually asked about the comments from Diamondbacks roving pitching guru Dave Duncan, the 21-year-old Bradley laughed softly.

Last weekend, Duncan — possibly emboldened by the hire of longtime friend Tony La Russa in the front office — ravaged Arizona's organizational pitching in an interview with MLB Network Radio. Bradley, who posted a 5.18 ERA in five starts before his injury, wasn't immune.

"He still has a lot to do to be a legitimate guy to consider for the major-league rotation," Duncan said. "He has decent control of his fastball. At times, he's above average in velocity. At times, he's average in velocity. So there's no consistency there with his velocity. His breaking ball is very inconsistent, and he virtually has an unusable change-up."

Bradley respects Duncan. The man has four World Series rings, three from his tenure as a pitching coach. So how Bradley feels about that unflattering scouting report is a mix of confidence in his abilities and awareness of his struggles.

"Pitchers he's helped produce numbers and are All-Stars and everything," Bradley said. "You just take it in stride. Obviously what he said has some meaning to it, but at the same time — agree to disagree. I think my pitches are good. Obviously, they need some work."

The most positive thing Duncan found about Bradley, his fastball command, is what Bradley figures has been the key to his struggles. The Oklahoma native walked 4.4 batters per nine innings at the Triple-A level and gave up 9.6 hits per nine after posting a 6.8 mark in Double-A the year before.

He feels good about his curveball and is finding new confidence in a change-up he didn't feature much in spring. In his last outing he figures he threw it around 12 times, a high-water mark for his career.

"I was getting strikeouts with it, I was getting ground balls," Bradley said. "I felt very good with where it was at."

The last time Duncan saw Bradley pitch in person, as far as Bradley knows, was an April11 road game against the El Paso Chihuahuas, a San Diego Padres affiliate playing out its final season in Tucson before moving to Texas. In that outing, Bradley gave up three hits, two walks and two runs while striking out five in seven innings. He didn't use the change-up much, he said, because he didn't need it.

Things went downhill from there, though. In his next three starts, he posted an 8.76 ERA and opposing batters hit him hard, with a .475 average on balls in play. Bradley is making some minor mechanical tweaks to correct that, but figures his biggest problem was hurrying on the mound.

"Last year I was a lot slower with everything — my delivery, my mechanics," he said. "That's how I was my first few starts. I don't know what changed or what happened, but everything just got quick on me. Everything was really quick. That's something I've been working on here."

Bradley hopes to return to pitching in games before July rolls around, and still believes he can make his major-league debut this season. He's not sure what kind of sustained Triple-A success the organization needs to see before promoting him — expectations are a little muddy with La Russa's voice now at the top — but he has faith he can get there.

He may be working on not hurrying so much on the mound, but he's not letting off the gas pedal when it comes to his major-league hopes.

"I'd like not to think next year," he said. "I'd like to be there as fast as possible."