On January 22nd, the RailCats signed 25 (soon to be 26) year old Brayan Villar, who is from West Orange, NJ. He is 6-2 and 200 lbs. He played college ball at Keystone College in LaPlume, PA. In his senior year, he went 8-0 in 10 starts, struck out 53, with an ERA of 3.70. He helped the team win their 19th straight conference title; he got the start and pitched 5.2 innings while striking out 6. He also received the United East Skye Division Pitcher of the Year award and was named to the First Team All-United East Team. After college, he signed a contract with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the MLB Draft League.

The 3 years Brayan was with Keystone he would pitch in 31 games, start in 28. His record was 18-4 with an ERA of 5.45; he would have 2 complete games, which came in his senior year. He pitched in 135.1 innings, gave up 142 hits, 101 runs, 82 earned runs, 7 home runs, walked 82 batters, and hit 32 batters. He struck out 139, had a WHIP of 1.655, H/9 of 9.4, HR/9 of 0.5, BB/9 of 5.5, and SO/9 of 9.2. Throughout his 3 years of college, he improved every year in each stat.

After Keystone and going to Mahoning Valley, Brayan pitched in 8 games and had a record of 2-2 with an ERA of 5.40. He pitched in 43.1 innings, giving up 46 hits, 26 runs, 23 earned, 2 home runs, 9 walks, and hit 12 batters. Villar struck out 26, had a WHIP of 1.269, H/9 of 9.6, HR/9 of 0.4, BB/9 of 1.9, and SO/9 of 5.4.

What the numbers are telling me about Brayan is that he is a winner and seems to improve his craft every year. He is the type of player that might have been overlooked in his early years and is starting to come into his own. Will he give up hits? Yes, but he keeps the ball out of danger. Going three years of college with some summer ball and the draft league in there and having a home run per nine total of .4, yeah, sign me up for that.

He does minimize the walks, but the batters’ being hit tells me he lives on the inside corners a lot, which helps keep the home run totals down. If Lamar puts a team together that plays great defense, you could see Brayan rise to the top of the rotation.

WELCOME TO THE SOUTHSHORE!