Pirates Caffeine: Eyes on Tim Alderson, Aaron Thompson

Looking at the boxscore, one would think Aaron Thompson might

not have had his best last night. He pitched 4.2 innings, allowed 8 hits and one earned run. He struckout seven and walked one. Thompson threw 94 pitches with 62 going for strikes.

A closer look at the third inning shows Thompson deserved better. The big blow was an error on Jordy Mercer with the bases loaded on a ground ball destined to be a twin killing.   A three-run double followed and it was all the Flying Squirrels would need.

Fielding wasn’t a strong point for the Curve all night as Starling Marte had a fly ball deflect off his glove and Tony Sanchez had a throwing error behind Thompson, the left-handed starter from Beaumont, Texas.

But if you are looking for another pitcher with promise in the Pirates system, Aaron Thompson certainly has shown some nice stuff this season.  He has held opponents to a .231 batting average against in 33 innings pitched. The 6’2″ starter has given up 28 hits, walked nine, and struckout 20 this season in six starts.

Clipped from: altoona.curve.milb.com (share this clip)

Cory Giger took a look at Tim Alderson in the Altoona Mirror.

Taking a look at the numbers Alderson has put up out of the Curve bullpen one can easily see improvement across the stat sheet. His WHIP is improved, batting average against and strikeout/walk ratio also is much better than last season. As we wrote in spring training his pitch speed is up a tick or two, which is a great sign for the 22-year old right hander.

Also a return of Alderson to the rotation is predicted by Curve Manager P.J. Forbes saying it is “down the line.”

"“I can’t say that for sure; that’s above me,” the manager added. “I just know that when I get him in there [in relief], I’d like to get him multiple innings. He seems to thrive in that situation.”Clipped from: www.altoonamirror.com (share this clip)Follow RumBunter on Twitter"