Stephen Tarpley, the 22-year-old left-hander that the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up from the Baltimore Orioles in the Travis Snider trade, will make his season debut on Monday for the West Virginia Power. He was shutdown at the end of Spring Training with shoulder soreness and has been building his pitch count back up in Extended Spring Training. On Tuesday, he threw 70 pitches in his five innings, sitting 90-92 MPH with his fastball, 78-80 MPH with good tilt on his slider, and 83-85 MPH with his changeup. He has hit 97 MPH in the past.
Tarpley spent last season in the New York-Penn League, where he had a 3.66 ERA in 66.1 innings, with 60 strikeouts and a 1.95 GO/AO ratio. That only tells half the story, as he was much better in the second half of his season. He switched to a three-quarters arm slot last year and struggled with it early. His first start will come on the road in Lakewood.
