The rosters for the July 9th Futures Game were announced on Thursday afternoon and West Virginia right-handed pitcher Luis Escobar is the lone representative of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Escobar will play for the World squad, representing his home country of Colombia.
Escobar hasn’t put up the best stats this season, but he is a dominating pitcher when he is on his game. He mixes a mid-90s fastball, with a big breaking curve and a changeup, with all three pitches looking like plus offerings at times. That gives him the ability to use any of the pitches for strikeouts. Escobar has picked up 97 strikeouts in 71.2 innings, but also has a 4.77 ERA. He has had six outings with at least eight strikeouts this season.
Abigail Miskowiec wrote about his inconsistencies earlier this year, and what the Pirates are trying to do to avoid those problems from happening so frequently.
The Futures Game will be broadcast on MLB Network at 4 PM next Sunday. Escobar will likely pitch one full inning if he comes into the game early, or later on in the game the last few pitchers split innings so everyone gets into the game.