Today we focus in on two pitchers from the Indianapolis Indians rotation that could help the Pirates down the line this season. Casey Sadler has already pitched four games out of the bullpen for Pittsburgh, but he has been pitching great this year as a starter and could get a chance to start a big league game this year. Sadler returned to the Indianapolis rotation on Monday night and threw five shutout innings. It was his first start since May 25th. Here he strikes out Brandon Boggs, who has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors, and Boggs played the entire 2012 season for Indianapolis.
The other strikeout from today is A.J. Morris, who has put up terrific numbers all season for Altoona, where he started the year, and now for Indianapolis for his last three starts. Morris was a fourth round pick in 2009 and looked like he was on track for the Majors until a 2011 should injury and subsequent surgery cost him an entire season. When he returned in 2012, he pitched out of the bullpen and did well, leading to his first shot at AA last year. The overall results were average at best, but the Pirates no doubt liked his strong 2.35 GO/AO ratio.
This year, he has a 1.56 ERA in 75 innings, with a 1.07 WHIP and a 2.04 GO/AO ratio. It looks like he could be back on track to reach the Majors at some point this year. The interesting thing to watch with him is just how many innings will he pitch this year. He is only 11 IP short of his career high, but he is also 27 years old, so his limit could be higher than most minor leaguers, who rarely go 30-40 innings over any previous total. Here he gets Joey Terdoslavich looking.
