Pirates Prospects has learned that the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted right-handed pitcher Kyle Nicolas and left-handed pitcher Anthony Solometo on Wednesday. Nicolas moves up to Triple-A Indianapolis, while Solometo is headed to Altoona.
Solometo has had no trouble in his run through Greensboro to start this season. That’s not surprising because we have seen a lot of left-handed pitchers not run into any trouble until they reach Double-A. They face a lot of batters who in the lower levels who haven’t seen lefties often enough in their career, especially not someone with a funky delivery like Solometo, combined with his improved velocity and strike-throwing ability.
Double-A is where the left-handed pitchers get sorted out between legit prospect and someone taking advantage of being a southpaw.
The 20-year-old Solometo went 2-3, 2.30 in 12 starts for Greensboro, with 68 strikeouts and a 1.16 WHIP over 58.2 innings. Making those numbers even more impressive is that seven of his starts came at Greensboro’s hitter-friendly home park. He had a 1.30 ERA in his last eight starts.
The 24-year-old Nicolas has spent some time with Altoona since being acquired from the Miami Marlins for Jacob Stallings. He has made 34 starts and two relief appearances for the Curve. He also had eight Double-A starts before joining the Pirates.
He pitched better for Altoona last year, posting a 3.97 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP over 90.2 innings. This year he is 3-5, 4.36 in 53.2 innings, with 63 strikeouts and a 1.47 WHIP.
Baseball America just released their new Pirates top 30 list, with Solometo ranked eighth and Nicolas ranked 12th in the system.
