Did The San Francisco Giants Strike The Pittsburgh Pirates Again Or Are We Just Gun Shy?

The San Francisco Giants strike again.  Over the years, it’s pretty easy to remember the pain that the Giants have caused the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Giants claimed minor league 6’4″ 220 pound pitcher Hunter Strickland today.  It’s always difficult to see the World Champions grab a player, especially a pitcher from the Pittsburgh Pirates, who aren’t the World Champions.

Strickland had been designated for assignment as the roster was cleared to make room for left hander Jonathan Sanchez and the man with the broken shoulder blade, Brandon Inge.

The 24-year old had been added to the Pirates 40-man roster this offseason.  Strickland missed all of 2011 after being acquired in the Adam LaRoche trade.  Last season he pitched in 33 appearances in Bradenton and Altoona where he put up 58 strikeouts in 87.2 innings.

Can you see Strickland amounting to much of anything in the bigs?  It’s hard to see it, but we’ve said that before too.

Here was Strickland’s bio on the Pirates web page when he was acquired from the Red Sox:

Hunter Strickland, 20, went 5-4 with one save and a 3.35 ERA (83.1ip/31er) in 18 appearances (12 starts) this year for the Single-A Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League. He entered the season with a career record of 5-5 and 3.94 ERA (96.0ip/42er) in 24 games (16 starts) since being selected by the Red Sox in the 18th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.

"“Strickland is a young developing right-handed starting pitching prospect with a good frame, solid delivery, clean arm action and an interesting pitch arsenal,” said Pirates Senior Vice President and General Manager Neal Huntington. “He is a quality strike thrower with a fastball that has averaged as high as 93 miles per hour, with the potential for a Major League caliber breaking ball and changeup to complement his fastball.”"

• Last year with Single-A Lowell of the New York-Penn League, Strickland posted a 3.18 ERA (70.2ip/25er) in 15 games (10 starts), which ranked fifth among all Red Sox minor leaguers.
• Strickland also finished the 2008 season by posting a 0.43 ERA (20.2ip/1er) in his last four starts