Majid Branon  
Relief Pitcher | Pittsburgh Pirates

Pitching
Control is his calling card, as he works ahead of hitters without leaving the ball over the middle of the plate. His changeup isn't bad... he fools his share of hitters. Because he can't overpower hitters, Branon has to fool them instead. When you throw a curveball, it better break. Hanging curves equal earned runs in this league, you just can't get away with them. Unfortunately, Branon's curveball tends to hang. He's almost as effective against lefthanders as he is versus righthanders.

Defense & Hitting
His slow delivery makes him fairly easy to steal upon, but Branon helps himself by holding runners with throws to first, and with slide steps and varied deliveries to home. He tends to fall off slightly to the first-base side of the mound, making him vulnerable to bunts toward third base. He makes up for that minor flaw by being aggressive in fielding his position. Branon is a surpisingly good hitting pitcher. And I'm not sure you can say this about a pitcher, but Branon has some pop in his swing.

          -- Emu Nyman, AA/AAA Scout
 

 

Year Team AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp Delivery Slot CH PH SP FA Nyman Rating
1998 CHW 52 57 41 30 52 48 52 52 48 0 67 0 52 30 0 0 22 0 Overhand Low Minors 15 16 41 35 117
1999 CHW 54 57 57 33 52 48 52 52 48 0 67 0 52 32 0 0 23 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 7 38 153
2000 PIT 55 60 77 35 52 48 52 52 48 0 67 0 52 32 0 0 24 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 0 41 207
2001 PIT 55 61 99 38 52 48 52 52 48 0 67 0 52 32 0 0 25 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 0 46 235
2002 PIT 55 61 99 41 52 48 52 52 48 0 71 0 55 32 0 0 26 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 0 50 243
2003 PIT 55 61 99 46 52 48 52 52 48 0 73 0 55 33 0 0 27 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 0 53 250
2004 PIT 55 61 99 48 52 48 52 52 48 0 75 0 55 33 0 0 28 0 Overhand Low Minors 0 0 0 59 252
2005 PIT 55 61 99 49 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 57 33 0 0 29 0 Overhand AA/AAA 0 0 0 59 254
2006 PIT 55 61 99 49 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 58 33 0 0 30 0 Overhand AA/AAA 0 0 0 59 253
2007 PIT 55 61 99 49 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 58 33 0 0 31 0 Overhand Active 0 0 0 59 251
2008 PIT 55 60 99 50 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 58 33 0 0 32 1 Overhand AA/AAA 0 0 0 59 250
2009 PIT 55 58 99 50 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 59 33 0 0 33 2 Overhand Active 0 0 0 59 244
2010 PIT 55 56 99 50 52 48 52 52 48 0 76 0 59 33 0 0 34 3 Overhand AA/AAA 0 0 0 58 242
Ratings Delta     -2                             +1 +1           -1 -2
History generated by Biorhythm v2.6.86 on Sun Nov 14 13:28:08 EST 2004

Data printed in red denotes that player was in the top two percent for that category and year. Blue data denotes membership to the bottom two percent.