9:25am: Glasnow will actually debut tomorrow against the Cardinals, Olney now tweets. Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets that Glasnow’s promotion was in part driven by uncertainty surrounding Niese’s left knee. Niese’s start has been pushed from Thursday to Sunday, and he’s being examined in Pittsburgh today.
8:39am: The Pirates will promote top prospect Tyler Glasnow to make a start this weekend against the Cubs, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter).
The 22-year-old Glasnow entered the season rated as a consensus top 15 prospect throughout the game and has worked to a 1.78 ERA through 96 innings at the Triple-A level this season. While he’s averaged 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in that time, he’s also averaged 4.9 walks per nine, so there are certainly some control issues that need to be further smoothed out. That high walk rate notwithstanding, Glasnow has yielded just 13 hits over his past 40 frames.
Entering the season, Baseball America rated Glasnow as the No. 14 prospect in baseball, writing that he featured a fastball that sits 94-96 mph but tops out at 99 mph and appears even faster than that to hitters due to his 6’8″ frame. Glasnow also offers a curve and a changeup, the former of which BA termed “unhittable when he has command of it.” MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis rated Glasnow as the No. 10 prospect and praised his clean delivery but noted that he struggles to consistently repeat it due to his size. ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him fourth on his midseason update of the game’s Top 25 prospects, calling him a future ace. Virtually any scouting report one can find on Glasnow agrees that his ceiling is that of a top-of-the-rotation starter, and the Pirates undoubtedly have visions of Glasnow and fellow top prospect Jameson Taillon joining current ace Gerrit Cole atop their rotation for the next several years in their perfect-world scenario.
Pittsburgh currently has Cole, Taillon and Ryan Vogelsong on the Major League disabled list, so the need for some rotation help is understandable. Those injuries, combined with struggles from veterans such as Francisco Liriano and Jon Niese, have led to season-long rotation problems. As such, the Bucs have had to dip into their farm system on multiple occasions to help patch things up; Pittsburgh received four good innings from left-hander Steven Brault in his big league debut yesterday and, and rookie right-hander Chad Kuhl has also made a pair of starts in the past week. The overall results for the starting staff haven’t been pretty, as Pirates starters rank 20th in the Majors with a 4.67 ERA and 21st with 464 innings thrown. Glasnow will become the 11th player to make a start for the team in 2016.
Innings don’t figure to be as significant of an issue with Glasnow as they are with Taillon, who didn’t pitch in 2014-15 due to injuries. However, Glasnow did total a fairly limited 109 1/3 innings last season between Double-A and Triple-A (an ankle injury cost him about a month of the season), and his career-high for innings pitched came back in 2014, when he totaled 143 2/3 frames between Class-A Advanced and the Arizona Fall League. As such, the Bucs will probably keep an eye on his workload moving forward.
Exactly how he factors into the rotation plans moving forward is yet unclear — this could be a spot start, or Glasnow could make regular starts with innings/pitch limits moving forward — but given the team’s injuries and the presence of Brault and Kuhl in the current rotation picture, it certainly seems possible that there’s a permanent spot to be won. If Glasnow is indeed in the Majors to stay, he’d be controllable through the 2022 season and would not be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 season. He won’t sniff Super Two eligibility as it stands right now, as he’d finish the year with 87 days of Major League service time if he’s promoted on Friday and sticks through season’s end.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
YES FINALLY!
Their rotation was bad. Now it could suddenly become a major strength. Tallion (who is nursing a shoulder – should be back soon), Cole (should be back soon), and now Glasnow. They also have Kuhl and Brault who are two rookies that are very, very solid but not viewed as top prospects. These guys could form a 1990s Atlanta Braves type staff. Scary stuff.
I have strong doubts they will come close to any thing the Braves did even if you are talking about the young guns which didn’t include Maddux not even close.
I also doubt they will be anything like the 90s Braves. They may be solid, but not that solid
The Pirates could easily have the top rotation in baseball in a year or two if the prospects develop into what everyone thinks they will.
Mets and Nationals rotations will still be around in a year or two. If we are talking if’s Giolito is a better prospect than either of these guys too. Indians don’t seem to be going any where either in that time span.
You can compare them to the 2010-2013 Braves if you would like Medlen, Beachy, Minor, Teheran, Wood, Jurrjens, Hanson. Injuries have a real way of ruining nice things.
Hanson died didn’t he?
Indians rotation is pretty good as well.
Yes just last year,
All I can think of is the line in Major League—Rachel Phelps replied “Cross him off, then” No offense to Mr. Hanson or his family intended.
Pirates’ rotation will be better than Nationals and Mets. Come on man.
Yeah I don’t see that potential at all.
Bout flippin time
Over/under on his innings limit 160? Fair?
Since we are halfway through the season do you think there will be a cap at all? I would assume not. But I am not sure.
the cap would include minor league innings. He has thrown 96 major league innings. I think 160 total for the year is reasonable. That would leave him with 60-70 major league innings. I would expect 8-12 starts from him, or less if he goes into the bullpen at some point.
how is this all going to play out for the buccos? They’ve won 6 in a row after everyone had them falling apart. sure, it’s mid season, but if the buccos are still alive for the wild card (or divison) by Sept 1st, will management give the big SD to the young guns? This is what we have all envisioned for a few years now: the cole, taillon, Glasnow rotation. Kuhl has showed promise. Hopefully, they are still in the playoff race. however, if they arent, they’ll definitely have them shut down for the year and we’ll all look to 2017. let’s go bucs.
I predict they get a WC spot
FWIW, Niese’s start was moved back from Saturday to Sunday. Kuhl was scheduled to go Thursday and has been now bumped to Friday, and Liriano, supposed to start Friday, is now going Saturday.
Good call
I bet the Pirates trade Liriano and roll with a rotation of Cole/Tallion/Kuhl/Glasnow/Neise, with Locke relegated to a long relief role. They could get a decent player or prospect for Liriano even though he has had a down year. I think they’ll look for a prospect or reliever. Jaso will be switched to bench duty when Josh Bell arrives. This team has an amazing future with these prospects. Was gonna say they could upgrade 1B then just remembered Bell!
If they trade Liriano, I would agree but flip Niese with Locke. Locke as pitched very well since Colorado. Will be interesting to say the least on what they do over the next couple of months.
Agree completely, this is going to be very interesting… and fun. The Bucs can quite probably get more in return for Locke than for Niese, because Locke is both younger and cheaper and has at least sometimes pitched better. Niese hasn’t been terrible, but hasn’t been what they hoped for either. Locke is so maddeningly inconsistent that I’ve started to wonder if it might be better for both him and the Bucs if he is traded to get a change of scenery. As for Liriano, he is still going to command a solid trade return despite his struggles this year.
But honestly, I’m excited whether or not the Bucs can get back into the playoffs or not. The future is now on the mound… and don’t forget that Josh Bell and possibly Elias Diaz could be right behind the pitcher parade coming from Indianapolis.
Bell prob later in the year. Sooner if they get a good offer for Jaso. Diaz I can see spending the year in AAA and possibly early next year. Depends on his health and rehab along with both Cervelli and Stewart. I am assuming Brault get sent down to make room on the 25. Glasnow has been on the 40 so no move needed there.
Brault might have to start Sunday depending on the news of Niese’s knee. I wouldnt be surprised if Hughes is the one that gets sent down, I believe he has an option left, right?
Forgot about him. Wondering if he has had any type of injury issues. He was good then got hurt a couple years ago, Stunk till got healthy again.. He started the year on the DL. Since they really don’t have to have him up right now, could be a way to get him healthy again.
Now that Scahill has been DFA’d, Hughes is the weakest link in the bullpen. Caminero has his confidence back, Nicasio seems better out of the pen.than starting. Hughes could be demoted… or dealt, although their bullpen organizational depth isn’t anything like their rotation depth.
If it is an injury thing that Hughes is pitching through, would hate to lose him because how he had been effective. I had forgotten how he was on the DL to start this year. Maybe never quite healed. If he has that option left, it may be good to use it and get him healthy or put him on the DL
I know it’s weird but Locke could potentially win his 9th game tonight putting him on track for 18 wins?
Although the ERA appears horrible, he’s actually pitching to under a 3 ERA except for a few blowups… My point is that he is generally tossing very effective outings… which is why he’s got 8 wins.
Neise and Liriano should be considered available… I like them both actually as capable starters but they’re both way off their games this year and that just doesn’t work for a team shooting for playoffs.
Typically you don’t toss rookies into a playoff chase but these aren’t your average rookies with each tossing 97-99mph with the exception of Brault.
Very exciting staff and if I’d compare them to anyone it would be to the Mets last year.
One game that really killed him was the Colorado make up game that they were working with a short bullpen. He was in no matter what in that game. in most other games he was decent to pretty good. Pretty much the definition of a 5th starter.
“except for a few blowups” should be Locke’s scouting report. Unfortunately, that’s his story: a good stretch, then 1 or 2 horrible ones. But your post in general is spot on: he has been mostly good this year. That might make him more appealing to other teams except for the fact that gozurman1 is also right: Locke is a 5th starter and probably will never be much more. There has been talk on and off the last couple of years about moving Locke to the bullpen, and they do need another lefty there. I don’t expect Liriano to still be a Pirate by the end of July, Niese might be harder to move if in fact they are shopping him.
Niese may be great in the pen as he usually is good for at least 1 time through a lineup. Good LH long man.
I think Niese is actually easier to move than Liriano. I find it hard to believe anyone gives up anything for a guy due almost $14 million next year with ERA and FIP north of 5
I would love for the rotation to be Cole, Glasnow, Taillion, Kuhl, and Brault the rest of the way but I know it won’t happen. Trading Liriano for me would be all about financial relief, which would be a reason to trade Niese too, possibly even Jaso once Bell is up. That would free up 13.5, 10.5, and 4 million respectively for next year and give the Pirates some flexibility to sign/resign some guys, particularly Melancon.
Cole / Taillon / Glasnow / Liriano / Kuhl
Trade Niese or Locke. then I’m pretty sure by next year or 2018 Nick Kingham will be up