Miami Palms Blog

Brett Hayes has been the   back up   catcher for the Palms for a few seasons at this point, and he has settled into his role nicely. He had a   break out   season in 2014, but has returned to his backup role behind Carlos Ruiz. He hits for a low average, but with a little bit of power, but mostly supplies some good relief and plausible defense, and maintains a good relationship with the pitching staff.

After a few rough seasons, Lucas Harrell bounced back in 2016, working to a 3.46 ERA out of the bullpen. The biggest zone of improvement was a reduction in his walks and home runs allowed, and generally not allowing balls to be hit quite as hard. He increased his workload as a result, and he is being stretched out to take on a starting role once again. The Palms hope he can be a stablizing force in the rotation like he was in the bullpen, a move that Manny Parra and Blake Johnston have made in the past.

Keith Harding is known for one thing in his career. He simply does not walk anyone. He's now in his third season in the Majors, and he has issued only 25 career walks, with 16 of them coming in his first season. He walked only 4 last year. With his attacking of the strike zone, he has been prone to a strikeout here and there, but even those numbers have been reduced significantly over the course of his career. So long as Harding keeps finding the zone, he will maintain a spot in the pen.

The Palms got a good performance from their first year outfielder at the plate last season. Pat Grant had 2 homers in his 22 hits, to go with a .349 average. With numbers like that, it seems difficult to imagine he won't be a significant player in this season's team, but those numbers are buoyed by some unsustainable peripherals, and his defense simply doesn't match a very good group of fielders ahead of him. If Coco Crisp needs to be spelled a bit more frequently this season, though, there is definitely a window for more playing time for Grant.