Bradenton’s Adrian Florencio was named the Low-A Southeast League Pitcher-of-the-Year today. The announcment was made by Minor League Baseball.

The 22-year-old Florencio went 6-4 with a 2.46 ERA (95.0ip/26er), 30 walks, 117 strikeouts, .198 batting average against and 1.05 WHIP in 20 appearances (19 starts) while spending the entire season with the Low-A Southeast League champion Bradenton Marauders. Florencio becomes the second pitcher in Marauders history to take home Pitcher-of-the-Year/Most Valuable Pitcher honors along with Tyler Glasnow in 2014 when the team played in the Florida State League. Florencio is also the first full-season Low-A Pirates farmhand to take home pitcher-of-the-year honors since Mitch Keller was named the South Atlantic League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher in 2016 while playing for the West Virginia Power. Florencio was also named to the league’s post-season All-Star team as the right-handed starter.

Florencio led all Southeast League pitchers in strikeouts while finishing fourth in innings pitched and tied for fourth in games started. He also ranked first in the Southeast League in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (11.08), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.90), home runs allowed per 9.0 innings (0.47), strikeout percentage (29.8), WHIP (1.05) and Fielding Independent Pitching (3.25) among pitchers with at least 90.0 innings of work. He also finished with the second-lowest Batting Average On Balls In Play (.280) and walk percentage (7.6) among all pitchers in the league with at least 90.0 innings of work.

Florencio, who recorded an organizational-leading 117 strikeouts this season, started and allowed one run in 6.0 innings while also striking out seven batters in Bradenton’s Game One win vs. Tampa in the Low-A Southeast League championship series on September 21.

Mejia began the year with Bradenton, where he went 4-1 with eight saves and four unearned runs allowed while also recording 35 strikeouts in 26.1 innings of work. The 22-year-old righthander was promoted to High-A Greensboro on August 10, where he posted a 1.10 ERA (16.1ip/2er), 18 strikeouts and .193 batting average against in 11 appearances. For the season, Mejia recorded a combined 0.42 ERA (42.2ip/2er) in 32 relief appearances between the Marauders and Grasshoppers.

Mejia, who was signed by the Pirates as a non-drafted free agent on February 20, 2019, has now posted a combined 7-3 record with 16 saves, 0.85 ERA (63.1ip/6er), 90 strikeouts and .161 ba