At the end of March, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed right handed reliever Tim Wood to a minor league deal, shortly after he was released by the Washington Nationals. Â Wood threw 27.2 innings in the majors in 2010, with a 5.53 ERA, and coming in to the 2010 season, he had a 4.02 ERA in 53.2 innings at the AAA level.
In his first outing for Indianapolis, Wood was hit pretty hard, allowing three runs on three hits in an inning of work. Â Since then he’s made four appearances, allowing one run in 4.2 innings, striking out six in that span. Â That includes 1.1 perfect innings today, with two strikeouts, getting the save for Indianapolis. Â The most impressive thing about Wood so far has been his velocity.
In the past, Wood has touched 97 MPH with his fastball. Â I received a report today that Wood hit 97 in his two shutout innings on Saturday, and in today’s game he was sitting at 95 MPH, and hit 98 MPH two times. Â His slider was 84-86 MPH, which is a good compliment to his fastball.
If Wood can continue this success, and show that his first outing was just a fluke, he could be a good addition to the major league bullpen at some point this season. Â He’s had success in the majors before, with a 2.82 ERA in 22.1 innings in 2009, although his biggest issue has been a lack of control, with a 26:25 K/BB ratio in 50 innings. Â Wood hasn’t had that trouble so far, with a 7:2 K/BB ratio in 5.2 innings, although he had a 49:21 K/BB ratio in 53.2 innings at the AAA level heading in to this season, which means the question remains as to whether he can avoid the control issues in the majors. Â He’s definitely a sleeper relief option to keep an eye on.
