Monthly Archives: February, 2010

Two pitchers named Erickson, both right-handers..... �don't get confused...

Jason Erickson was the Pirates' 24th pick in the 2009 draft. �The 23-year-old made 11 starts (14 appearances) for University of Washington in his senior year, and he also split his time between starting and the bullpen in State College. �His ERA was better as a starter than as a reliever (2.27 in 8 starts and 3.24 in 8 relief appearances), but three of his four wins came as a reliever (1-2 as a starter and 3-0 as a reliever). �Erickson made his debut in the Spikes' season opener, with a 1-2-3 inning of relief, including striking out the first batter he faced. �He made one start and three relief appearances in June, �for a total of 10 innings, allowing 5 hits and one unearned run, no walks, and 7 strikeouts. �He had some tough outings in the second half of July, including two in a row in which he allowed 3 runs in 3 innings. �August was better again, as Erickson made 4 starts and one relief appearance, and allowed just 3 runs for the month, despite 19 hits over 20.2 innings (1.31 ERA). �He walked 5 batters in July and only one batter in all of August. �His last outing, on Sept 6th, was unfortunately not one of his best, though he earned a win in relief despite allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 4 innings. �His final ERA was 2.70 in 56.2 innings, with 59 hits, 23 runs (17 earned), 7 walks, and 49 strikeouts. �That should earn him a spot in West Virginia, where he may again alternate between starting and the bullpen.

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Casey Erickson was not a Pirate draftee -- he came to the organization from the Yankees in the trade for Eric Hinske. �This Erickson was the Yankees' 10th round pick in the 2006 draft. �The 24-year-old Illinois native spent two seasons with the Yankees' affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, then most of the 2008 season in the New York-Penn League. �He reached the A level for 3 games at the end of 2008, and then came back to A Charleston to begin 2009. �After 21 games (3 starts) and 44 innings in Charleston, Erickson had a 3-3 record and a 2.25 ERA. �When he changed teams in the same league and joined the West Virginia Power after the trade, Erickson made 3 more starts and 12 relief appearances. �He won all three of his starts, and allowed 3 earned runs on 15 hits and 2 walks over 16.1 innings for a 1.65 ERA. �He was even better in relief, earning a 2-1 record and 5 saves with a 0.82 ERA. �In 22 relief innings, he allowed just 2 earned runs on 21 hits, with 4 walks. �He also struck out a total of 32 batters while walking only 6 for the Power. �Erickson was a little more effective against right-handed batters, who hit .235 against him for a 0.90 ERA (.258 average and 1.47 ERA for lefty batters). �That all should earn him a spot in the A+ Bradenton bullpen for 2010.

Looking at some Pirates' prospects, as the first workouts are underway in Bradenton... �today, a couple of middle infielders.

Brock Holt was drafted by the Pirates in the 9th round of the 2009 draft. �At Rice University, Holt was moved from shortstop to second base. �The Pirates had him playing both short and second at State College, where he reported after signing. �The Texas native committed one error in 18 games at second base, and 8 in 45 games at short, though that isn't bad for Short Season A level. �Holt had hit .348 at Rice, then went on to hit .299 overall at State College. �Like several others, Holt struggled in his first 10 days, hitting just .156, with one homer. �He began his turn-around over four games in early July, when he went 8-for-20, including his second homer. �He had another busy week at the end of July, going 12-for-23, including three 3-hit games. �That boosted his average to .281 for the month of July. �August was even better for Holt: �.326 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, and a homer. �He had 14 RBI in July and 12 in August. �Holt finished the season with another memorable week, going 11-for-25 over 6 games, with 3 doubles and 5 more RBI. �Holt also shows good plate discipline, with 26 walks and 31 strikeouts in 66 games. �Half of the strikeouts came in the month of July, and he struck out just 9 times in August/September. �The walks were pretty evenly distributed throughout the season. �He also stole 9 bases for the Spikes, and was not caught stealing at all. �Holt was named to the New York-Penn League All-Star; he got into the game in the 6th inning as the DH, and grounded out, then walked and scored for the NL team. �The 21-year-old will be ready for West Virginia to begin 2010. �His position in the middle infield may depend on which other middle infielders are there with him.

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One of the middle infielders Holt may share duties with will be Ty Summerlin.�Summerlin was the Pirates' 30th pick in the 2009 draft. �He reported to State College, where he shared middle infield duties with Holt, mostly playing second base while Holt was at short. �Summerlin had 5 games at short and had 4 games at third base. �He committed 9 errors at second base, and two each at short and third -- again, not bad for that level. �Summerlin was another in the group who struggled early, with just one hit in his first 6 games. �He too did better in July, hitting .261 with 3 doubles, a triple, and 7 RBI. �But, he couldn't keep it going, and his average dipped again in August/September, when he hit .206, with 2 doubles, and 3 RBI. �That gave him a .224 average for the season, with 5 doubles, a triple, and 11 RBI. �Strikeouts were a problem, even during July, with a total of 41 for the season (24% of his at-bats). �Holt will need to improve his plate discipline and hit hitting going forward. �His ability to play more than one position in the infield will help him, but if he isn't hitting, he's going to find himself squeezed out by Holt, Jarek Cunningham, and the Gonzalezes (Benjamin and Elevys) and Gift Ngoepe coming up behind him.

Taking a look at a couple of the Pirates' outfielder prospects:

Evan Chambers was the Pirates' 3rd round pick in the 2009 draft. �The Florida native had hit well in the spring at Hillsborough Community College -- .338 average, 14 doubles, 10 homers, and 32 RBI -- but he had also struck out 45 times (27% of his at-bats). �Chambers signed quickly enough to get in 58 games with State College, where he played exclusively in center field. �He struggled in his first month, hitting just .176 in July (26 games), with 6 doubles, one homer, and 5 RBI. �The strikeouts were again a problem, with 37 K's (44% of his at-bats). �The rest of the season went much better, as Chambers settled in. �He hit .296 for the month, with 9 doubles, 3 homers, and 17 RBI. �His strikeout rate was still high (36%, 41 K's) but it was better. � He finished with an overall .245 average. �Chambers did better against southpaws (.333 average) than against right-handed pitching (.215), though it's hard to know whether or not that means much after just half a season. �In the outfield, Chambers has good speed, particularly for a player who is 5' 11" and 210 pounds. �His arm is said to be "adequate". �He did ok in center field in State College, but could also fit into one of the corner outfield spots. �Chambers, who will turn 21 next month, should begin the 2010 season in West Virginia. �Clearly, the strikeouts will be a big thing for him to work on.

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Outfielder Pat Irvine came to the Pirates in the 33rd round of the 2009 draft. �The 23-year old (at the time) had come back from an injury-filled junior year season at Elon University (in North Carolina) with a power-filled senior year. �He hit .402, with 14 doubles, 5 triples, 17 homers, and 57 RBI. �After signing with the Pirates, the Massachusetts native joined the State College Spikes, where he split his time between third base (47 games) and left field (16 games). �Like Chambers, Irvine struggled at the plate early, hitting only .187 in June and July, with 3 doubles, 4 triples, one homer, and 18 RBI. �Irvine did strikeout 26 times (24% of his at-bats). �The second half of his season was much better, too. �Irvine hit .303 over August and the first week of September, with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, and 23 RBI. �He struck out only a little less, though -- �23 times (21% of his at-bats). �All that gave Irvine a .245 average for the year. �It's not clear why Irvine spent so much time playing third base when he was supposed to have been drafted as an outfielder. �He doesn't seem to have played that position much, if at all, in college. �It isn't surprising, then, that he made 15 errors in his 47 games at third. �It will be interested to see what position he plays in 2010, when he will probably be moved up to West Virginia.

The "I's" have it -- two pitching prospects:

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Phillip Irwin was the Pirates' 21st round pick in the 2009 draft. �The right-handed starter had just finished an 8-3 season with the University of Mississippi, where he had a 3.84 ERA over 15 games (14 starts, 86.2 innings) with 73 strikeouts. �That was a lot more innings than in his previous college seasons, since he'd had Tommy John surgery in 2006. �A Tennessee native, Irwin reported to State College after signing with the Pirates, and proceeded to put up the best numbers of any of the Spikes' starters: �in 10 games (7 starts), he had a 2.12 ERA and a 1-2 record, with 27 hits and 8 runs (7 earned) in 29.2 innings, only 6 walks, and 32 strikeouts. �Irwin made his debut on June 30th, same as Victor Black, and pitched one inning in relief. �Like Black, Irwin began his pro career by striking out the first batter he faced. �In fact, Irwin struck out the first two batters he faced, then got a ground out to finish the inning. �He earned a win with his second outing, in which he allowed one hit and one walk over 2 innings, with 3 strikeouts. �Irwin started in all but one of his remaining appearances, and generally was able to go 4 innings for most of them. �Irwin allowed just one earned run in his first seven appearances, which totalled 22 innings, and his ERA for those first seven was a miniscule 0.41. �He struck out 24 batters over those appearances, including one outing with 7 strikeouts and one with 6 K's, both in 4 innings. �On August 25th, Irwin had a little trouble, allowing 6 hits over 4 innings, but he did not walk any batters and struck out 5, and so it resulted in only one run scoring. �His next outing, on August 31st, was hit only disaster of the year. �Irwin made the start but did not make it out of the first inning. �The first five Batavia batters of the game reached base (three singles, a double, and a walk), and after a sacrifice fly, four runs had scored and Irwin was heading to the showers. �His last outing was better -- he gave up one run in the 1st inning on a walk and two singles, then retired the next 7 batters he faced. �Unfortunately,�he suffered the loss because the rest of the Spikes did not score any runs. �Though his season did not end on a high note, Irwin had a very successful debut year. �He should be ready to take a shot at the A level batters in West Virginia in 2010.

Righty�Jeff Inman is a prospect from California, who the Pirates lured away from his senior season at Stanford. �He was their pick in the 12th round of the 2009 draft. �Inman signed late, but he arrived in State College in time to start twice in the last week of the season. �Both times, he pitched two scoreless innings, and both times he gave up two hits; in the second outing he also struck out two batters. �It wasn't much of a chance, but he did well with the little time he had, and it might have been enough for Inman to be promoted to West Virginia for 2010.

Looking at Pirates' prospects while waiting for spring....

Victor Black was the Pirates' pick in the first supplemental round (between the first and second rounds) of the 2009 draft. �A Texas native, Black signed and was assigned to State College, where he appeared in 13 games over the rest of the season. �Of those 13, 7 were starts. �The righty made his pro debut on June 30th with a 1-2-3 inning in relief, including two strikeouts. �He had some tough outings in late July, when he allowed 6 runs and 10 hits over three outings, and lasted only 2.1 innings in a start (one run on three hits and a walk). �His ERA in July was 6.97, but in August, Black settled down and recorded a 1.59 ERA. �He had three outings in which he allowed just one run and three in which he did not allow any runs. �His best performance came on August 16th, when he pitched 3 hitless and scoreless innings, allowing just one walk, while striking out 4 batters. �Black finished the season with a 1-2 record and a 3.45 ERA over 31.1 innings of work. �He allowed a total of 26 hits and 12 earned runs (plus 5 unearned runs), with 15 walks and 33 strikeouts. �Batters hit .213 against him, with right-handed batters hitting .159 (2.70 ERA) and left-handed batters hitting .283 (4.76 ERA). �Black's pitches include fiery three-quarters angle fast ball (92-94 mph), a slider, and a change. �Black looks ready to move up to West Virginia for 2010.