Pittsburgh Pirates Stolmy Pimental Could Get the Chance to Start

Jul 26, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez (51) looks on from the dugout steps during the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Wandy Rodriguez has hit the DL a bit sooner than expected.

I knew that it would be a matter of time before the Pirates came up with something to either get another pitcher in the rotation or give him a breather before he gave it another shot, but I was thinking that he’d get a few more starts under his belt first.

The curious piece of this is not that Wandy “miraculously” has a knee injury after putting up another bad line against the Brewers, it’s the fact that they decided to go with Hughes in the bullpen instead of a AAA starter in the lineup.

Both Brandon Cumpton and Casey Sadler are putting up solid numbers in AAA

Brandon Cumpton

19 IP 17H 3ER 11SO 1.42ERA 2-0 record

Casey Sadler

20 IP 13H 5ER 10SO 2.25ERA 2-0 record

There’s always Jeff Locke as well, but he’s only had one start at the AAA level and he still has some work to do to get back into major league form.

That either means that Jeanmar Gomez or Stolmy Pimental could be in line for a few spot starts in Wandy’s absence.

Stolmy being the most likely candidate as he’s the player that NH has had his eyes on for a while now to assume a bigger role in the pitching staff.

We’re all familiar with Jeanmar Gomez who performed admirably last year when called upon to start, but for those of you not quite familiar with Stolmy, we should probably get better acquainted with him.

He was signed at the age of 16 by the Boston Red Sox who brought him in as a project out of the Dominican.

He was always scouted as being a high caliber pitcher that could eventually top out as a solid 4 starter in the majors, however after a truly up and down minor league career witht the Sox he was dealt to the bucs along with Mark Melancon, Jerry Sands, and Ivan DeJesus for Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt.

Brock Holt is actually off to a torrid start with the Red Sox as he’s seeing his first playing time in Bean Town, and we all know what happened with Joel Hanrahan.  Nothing.

Current scouting report on Stolmy:

Four main pitches included a four seam that will be low 90’s and a plus slider.  He also has a changeup that when spotted correctly can be a decent out pitch.

The problem with Stolmy has been location and lack of diversity.  He’s primarily a two pitch thrower with variations of the slider that he can use, but hitters can time him up after seeing a good amount of pitches from him.

He’ll need to work fast and throw strikes to be effective through multiple innings.  Control has been an issue in the past for him.  He’ll also have to keep hitters honest by throwing the changeup.

Fingers crossed on this one.