Luis Escobar is going to have a buzz around his next start after striking out 23 batters through 11 innings in his first two games. It will be something similar to what Mitch Keller had after three starts last year when he had 23 strikeouts over 15 shutout innings. Escobar has walked just one batter, while Keller didn’t give up a walk until his fourth start. The two pitchers weren’t much different in the overall rankings going into their West Virginia season.
We have Escobar as our 18th best prospect now, which is just one spot below the #19 spot we gave him in the 2017 Prospect Guide. He moved up a spot after Josh Bell lost his prospect status. Keller was ranked #18 coming into last year. For both players, we noted that they had huge breakout potential, although I’ll admit Keller exceeded where I thought he could end up. That was until I watched him make two of those three early season starts and he absolutely dominated.
I watched Escobar’s game last night and posted a recap in the Prospect Watch. I made sure to note something, which is the biggest difference between watching Keller last year and Escobar, who I also saw pitch six times last year on MiLB.tv. They have similar velocity and throw the same three pitches, but the difference is that Keller dominated by filling the strike zone, while Escobar relies more on batters chasing his pitches. Keller has the command that works at higher levels, while Escobar is probably going to run into more patient hitters as he advances, so he will need to command his pitches better. Escobar also has more effort in his delivery, while Keller has an easy, repeatable delivery.
There are a lot of similarities between the two pitchers, but there are also a lot of differences. Part of the reason we rated Mitch Keller #2 going into this season is the safety involved in his prospect status. No pitcher should be considered “safe”, that’s just the nature of the game. For a pitcher in High-A though, you won’t get much safer than him. Escobar would really need to improve this season to make a Keller type of jump in the rankings. Between the control and effort in his delivery, he won’t have that safety factor to get him rated that high. It’s hard to imagine he ends up at the top, but I could definitely see him ending up around #4-5. Other prospects in the system will ultimately decide where he ends up, but it seems possible now, and that’s something we said before he threw a pitch this season.
I’m hoping to get many more looks at Escobar this season. West Virginia doesn’t broadcast games, but they have eight more series against teams that do broadcast, plus I’ll see the team live later in the season.
** If you missed my tweet about it, the Pittsburgh Pirates finally made the signing of Cuban pitcher Yoandy Fernandez official. The holdup was over some paperwork issues, but Fernandez had already thrown three bullpens down at Pirate City before the signing became official. The early reports have been very good, much like what we heard from his trainer before he signed the deal. He throws five pitches for strikes and has decent velocity, topping out at 94 MPH last month. We should be able to get some live looks at him before he leaves Pirate City, since he’s still in the bullpen phase, up to 30-35 pitches in his last outing.
** Two former Pittsburgh Pirates were named to the Negro League Museum’s Hall of Game class for 2017, the fourth year the museum has bestowed such honors. Al Oliver and Maury Wills were part of the five player class, which will be honored in June. They join Roberto Clemente, who was part of the inaugural class in 2014. According to the Negro League Museum, the Hall of Game was created to honor players who “competed with the same passion, determination, skill and flair exhibited by the heroes of the Negro Leagues.”
** A couple former Pirates pitchers released during the spring have signed elsewhere. Julio Vivas just recently signed with the Normal CornBelters of the Frontier League. Yoandy Fernandez pitched for that team briefly in 2015, before joining his current trainer, who helped him make the improvements to get signed by the Pirates. Vivas is going to be a starting pitcher according to the Normal team manager. Also, Nick Neumann has signed with the Miami Marlins, which seems to be a popular destination for former Pirates.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs by a 4-2 score on Friday afternoon. Tyler Glasnow will now make his second start, trying to bounce back from his debut in which he went 1.2 innings and allowed five runs. The Cubs will send Jake Arrieta to the mound for his third start. Gage Hinsz will get his second start for Bradenton tonight. He allowed four runs over 3.2 innings in his debut. Cam Vieaux’s turn in the rotation is today. He will need to be added back to the West Virginia roster for this game. He was assigned to Extended Spring Training on Tuesday so the Power could add a bullpen arm.
MLB: Pittsburgh (4-6) @ Cubs (6-4) 2:20 PM
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (27.00 ERA, 5:1 BB/SO, 1.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (3-6) @ Toledo (6-3) 5:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Josh Lindblom (0.00 ERA, 0:7 BB/SO, 6.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (6-3) vs Akron (2-7) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tanner Anderson (1.80 ERA, 3:3 BB/SO, 5.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (8-2) @ Tampa (6-4) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (9.82 ERA, 2:2 BB/SO, 3.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (2-7) @ Lexington (3-6) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cam Vieaux (2.08 ERA, 1:1 BB/SO, 4.1 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Thursday night for Indianapolis, Tyler Eppler threw six shutout innings. Check out his fourth strikeout, which includes the full at-bat
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
4/13: Julio Eusebio added to Bradenton roster. Pedro Vasquez assigned to Extended Spring Training
4/11: Albert Baur placed on disabled list. Ty Moore added to West Virginia roster
4/11: Cam Vieaux assigned to Extended Spring Training. Mike Wallace added to West Virginia roster
4/11: Jordan George assigned to Extended Spring Training. Trace Tam Sing added to Bradenton roster
4/10: Victor Fernandez placed on West Virginia disabled list. Carlos Munoz added to active roster
4/7: Junior Lopez suspended 25 games
4/4: Pirates sign pitcher Yoandy Fernandez
4/4: Pirates release Francis Rodriguez, Adrian Grullon, Robbie Coursel and Nestor Oronel
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
There have been five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date and one small trade of note. Among the players born on this date, Ed Abbaticchio, infielder for the 1907-10 Pirates. He was a favorite of Pirates’ owner Barney Dreyfuss while with the Boston Doves (Braves) and Dreyfuss was willing to pay a large price to acquire him. The Pirates gave up center fielder Ginger Beaumont and second baseman Claude Ritchey, stars from the 1901-03 teams that won three straight NL pennants. They also included pitcher Patsy Flaherty in the December, 1906 trade.
Abbaticchio didn’t put up great stats for the Pirates and he was a seldom-used bench player for the 1909 World Series champs, but he is well-known for one reason. He was the first Italian star in baseball, and possibly the first Italian player in the league, making his debut 26 years after the first MLB game. We say possibly, because there is one player from the 1880’s named Lewis “Buttercup” Dickerson, who has very questionable Italian heritage, though he is in the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame.
In four years with the Pirates, Abbaticchio hit .253/.348/.318 and spent most of his time at second base, losing the job in 1909 to rookie Dots Miller.
Other players born on this date include Jeromy Burnitz, Mike Diaz, Bill Pierro and King Cole. Pierro is an interesting player to read about because he was a strong minor league pitcher, who had his career cut short by a near-tragedy. He had just one year in the majors and was on his way to make the 1951 Pirates when a mystery illness shut him down. It turned out to be brain inflammation and he never played again. Pierro lived until 2006, so he had a long life, but the illness ended his baseball career at age 24.
On this date in 2009, the Pirates traded two minor league pitchers, Eric Krebs and Harvey Garcia, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Delwyn Young.
