The hype around Pirates pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow appears to grow with every start the young right-hander makes and after Saturday’s performance against visiting Lakewood that trend looks like it will continue.
Glasnow has been one of those 75 pitches/5 innings guys so far this season which makes what he has been able to accomplish that much more impressive. Saturday’s line? Five innings pitched, five hits allowed, zero runs, one walk and 10 strikeouts. In his last two starts he has tallied 14 strikeouts to just two walks in 10 innings. Let that sink in.
On Saturday the 19-year old from California was on his game from the start with three first-inning punchouts (with his one walk of the contest coming in the first also) and despite scattering five hits during the next four innings was never in much trouble and seemed to be in command of the situation throughout his appearance. Glasnow’s fastball topped out in the 96-97 miles per hour range (depending on which gun — stadium or scouts — you trust) but he also had his off speed and breaking pitches going and was not just throwing them for strikes but also making Lakewood batters swing and miss.
Glasnow just went 96 on a fastball to 78 on a curveball for a K. Unanimous reaction from the press box: “that was nasty.” #Pirates #MiLB
— Tom Bragg (@TomBraggSports) June 22, 2013
A question we hear a lot is, “When are the Pirates going to move Glasnow up to Bradenton or Altoona?” and honestly I do not know. It is much more likely when he does move up it will be to Bradenton, however with the inning restriction he has been under even that seems unlikely.
Saturday’s win was just Glasnow’s fourth of the season (4-1, 2.60 ERA) and his first since May 12, but in the time since his last win all he has done is rack up 53 strikeouts with 18 walks and 12 earned runs allowed in 29 innings pitched.
To quote one of my favorite series of commercials from a few years ago, “Dem’s numbers”
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Glasnow was not the only Pittsburgh prospect to contribute to the Power’s 8-2 win.
Josh Bell went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, Barrett Barnes continued his solid series with a double and an RBI, Walker Gourley had two hits and an RBI, Max Moroff went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Dilson Herrera had a double, an RBI and scored twice and Jordan Steranka had a three-hit game in just this third game with West Virginia.
The Power close its four-game series with Lakewood on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. with pitcher Luis Heredia scheduled to make his first start for the club.
