Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 sixth round pick Zack Von Rosenberg has been added to the West Virginia roster today. Von Rosenberg had been in extended Spring Training working on his fastball command, with a specific focus of keeping the ball down. The right-hander was hit hard last season in West Virginia, with a 5.73 ERA in 125.2 innings, along with a 1.4 HR/9 ratio. He had better numbers in the second half of the season, although that was due to him pitching more off the curveball, and didn’t signify improvement with his fastball.
In his final Spring Training outing, Von Rosenberg was serving up batting practice, giving up four homers in an intrasquad game, including one to no-power infielder Ashley Ponce. Shortly after that, the decision was made to keep Von Rosenberg in extended Spring Training to work on repeating his delivery and driving the ball down in the zone.
It will be interesting to see what kind of progress he has made. My guess is that he will join the West Virginia rotation, although he could serve in a piggyback role.